As I spend my days recuperating from The Voyage of the Cursed, I have spent time viewing various past happenings. One matter that interested me was watching movies of people back some decades traveling by plane, train and even bus. In so doing one particularly horrifying thing stood out. You are not going to believe this, but all the folks traveling, including even petite ladies had to carry their suitcases. These carriers of possessions had no wheels or a pull handle. That meant that people had to huff and puff to their dedicated mode of transportation holding heavy suitcases. The funny thing is that none of the people seem to be sweating or even bothered by carrying the suitcases as they traveled along.
It may be that there was a particular bliss that you don’t have today. That is, you could stroll into the airport back then, pick up your ticket, check your bag, and then head on to the appropriate gate. The only one who might stop you from doing that would be an old friend who wanted to talk. That was no problem as you could talk away, and if it got too late you could just run on to your gate and be welcomed. Today, if you tried to run, you would probably be tackled by several TSA people since you would probably be considered a suspected terrorist, especially if you didn’t notice the security lines where all hope of dignity expires. Today, you would also probably miss your flight.
Missing your flight back then was bad as the people you were to meet at the other end, would have arrived early at the airport so that they could wander up to the arrival gate for your plane and spend some time watching the flights land. They were able to do this, if you can believe it, without a gate pass – I mean they weren’t going anywhere themselves. They just wanted to meet relatives or friends who were coming to see them. Heck, in some airports the planes just taxied up and let the passengers emerge on the tarmac. Once that occurred, then the waiting folks could troop out and greet their friends as they got off the plane.
Everybody would then head down to pick up the suitcases which usually didn’t take too long. If they were heavy, everybody could take turns carrying them, and nobody worried about the lack of wheels. They did not have to worry about a number of things back then. One was that those meeting the arrivals did not have to be concerned about their needing nourishment as the airline actually fed them food and drink – good stuff too. Then after eating, they could even push back their seat without crunching the person behind them and take a little nap. The stewardess might even put a blanket over them.It was kind of rough on long flights as nobody had iPads or cell phones. However, there was a good chance that some screens would roll down, and a movie would pop up for you to enjoy. The movies did not include the “F” word repeated many times or even constant explosions. In fact, there might even be a cartoon for the kids!
One thing of which you could be certain was that the movies back then probably showed the hero and heroine strolling along in the airport carrying their own luggage.
Barry Evans writes about Life in The Villages for Villages-News.com
