Well, you said you only wanted one answer per poster. As an old steamboater, that one was, indeed, a gimme.
To let other folks guess, too.
tomndebb nailed it. I was trying to think of a hint that wouldn’t give it away…I know!
The Marines: “From the halls of Montezuma, to the shores of Tripoli…”
Hindenburg if you want it correct.
I was hoping for one answer per post for some reasonable amount of time. I just didn’t want one person to wrap up the thread in the first five minutes.
Hint for #4: “He put ten cents in his pocket, kissed his wife and family…”
I’m still working on astorian’s list. I’m trying to hold to my own rule of no internet searches, but I’ve never even heard of some of those places.
- Callao to Raroia
The Contiki raft captained by Thor Heyerdahl with a Norwegian/Swedish crew.
[bragging]
The Swedish crewmember, Bengt Danielsson, and I grew up at the same place (although I only met him once) and when I was a child I was given some seashells collected by his daughter on Raroia.
[/bragging]
Robot Arm, your #4 is as good as your #6.
Astorian’s #5 almost had me stumped (because I associate the beginning of the journey with the English name for the islands and forgot Tonga).
Just to pick one: Astorian’s #3 is the Bataan Death March.
I’ll throw out some easy ones:
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Independence to The Dalles
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Cair Paravel to World’s End
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Bundren’s to Jefferson
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Babylon to Trapezus
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Devenport to Falmouth
Ooh, ooh! I know #3- from my favorite of the Narnia Chronicles. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (loved Reepicheep).
As for my batch:
Robot got #1 (the Orient Express) and #7 (the flight of Wrong-Way Corrigan).
Tom got #3 (the Bataan Death March) and probably knows #5 (I may not have phrased it in the… ahem… “Friendliest” possible way).
Sunspace got #4 (Mao Tse-tung’s Long March)
Floater got #6 (and impressed me in the process, with that Raroia seashells anecdote)- the voyage of Kon-Tiki.
That leaves #2… which I thought was fairly easy, and which Joni Mitchell certainly would have gotten by now.
Wow! No other Kingston Trio fans around here?
#4 - Charlie on the MTA
I knew all those folk records my mom used to play would come in handy someday. Hear me out - this could happen to you.
Oh, and Robot’s #4 WAS darn good. I’m kicking myself because my Dad used to listen to… those 3 guys all the time (he was a huge fan of the genre), and I must have heard that song 1000 times when I was a kid.
My wife, who has zero interest in trivia, got that one instantly, and to rub it in, began singing the whole song!
Tom’s #1 is the Oregon Trail.
(Broken axle. Lose two days.)
astorian, I’m pretty sure you meant #2 for the Dawn Treader.
With that in mind, a quick recap here:
Roosevelt Field to Le Bourget: Charles Lindberg in the Spirit of St. Louis
Frankfurt, Germany to Lakehurst, New Jersey: Last flight of the airship Hindenburg.
Superior, Wisconsin to Cleveland, Ohio: Last voyage of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
Kendall Square to Jamaica Plain: Charlie on the MTA.
Baikonur to Saratov: Yuri Gagarin aboard Vostok 1.
Gare de L’Est to Sirkeci Station: The Orient Express.
Mariveles to Camp O’Donnell: The Bataan Death March.
Kiangsi to Shensi: Mao Tse-tung’s Long March
Callao to Raroia: Thor Heyerdahl’s Kon-Tiki.
Floyd Bennett Field to Baldonnel: Trans-Atlantic flight of Douglas “Wrong-Way” Corrigan.
Independence to The Dalles: The Oregon Trail.
Cair Paravel to World’s End: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
Still up for grabs:
Robot Arm #6 - From Mexico City to Derna? The solution’s in a spoiler box, for those playing along at home.
astorian #2 - Mecca to Yathrib?
astorian #5 - Tonga to Timor? Probably solved by tomndebb, who’s being quite coy with us all.
tomndebb #2 - Bundren’s to Jefferson?
tomndebb #4 - Babylon to Trapezus?
tomndebb #5 - Devenport to Falmouth?
And an easy one for y’all:
Robot Arm # 7 - St. Joseph to Sacramento?
Astorian #2- flight of Mohammed?
Okay, a few more:
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The Servian Wall to Brinsidi
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Battery Park to Long Beach
AKA The Hejira. Quite correct, Blanx! (Yathrib was an ancient name for what is now Medina.)
Take that one off the board!
Well, I’m not trying to be coy, just letting other folks have a shot. The only ones that’ve stumped me were Charlie on the MTA and Kon Tiki (cut me some slack: I haven’t read it in 38 years).
Tonga (in the Friendly Islands) to Timor is Captain William Bligh’s open boat voyage after Fletcher Christian threw him off HMS Bounty.
The Via Appia
I’ll give you another one:
Edwards Air Force Base to Edwards Air Force Base
Chuck Yeager’s flight breaking the sound barrier for the first time?
Sorry, I didn’t think of him, but in a way he didn’t start from EAFB (which was named Muroc AFB at the time) as the X-1 was carried by a bomber to high altitude and started from there.
London to London - eastward