Indulge us as we look to the past of travel and, in some aspects, compare it to modern travel. In many ways, today’s air travel is light years away from even the 1970s. Those of us who flew in that time period would slump into our “state-of-art” jet liner seats and marvel at how spectacular they were and in, many ways, they were. There was actually space between the seats and rows enough to be able to get comfortable.
Today’s aircraft are, of course, minor miracles in almost every aspect, but so much of the past’s allure and sheer sexiness of flying has turned into thin stiff seats and a tiny packet of peanuts as your “meal.” Don’t mistake this as complaining, because we here at Matouring are as avid fliers as you’ll ever find. But, being of a mature age, we can also look back at what things were really like to compare. Maybe it’s a toss-up. Who knows? To each their own.
But let’s change the playing field and really do a comparison, and our competitor today is 1950’s travel.
Most of you will know Shell: Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New York Stock Exchange. But in the past, they also regularly created films highlighting what they did for the rest of us, and, happily, some of those videos have surfaced on YouTube. Watch below to be whisked away into the past.
The video above is a shameless plug for the company at the time, but it also allows us to go back in time in order to make an informed view of whether we’ve moved on since then. Sit back and watch Song of the Clouds.
Either in the 1960’s or now: airplane food. What do you think he’s thinking? Or what his stomach is saying.
Want to visit the past? The Smithsonian in Washington DC, USA is your next stop. Click here to book.
If your history range is a bit more forward thinking, you can step into the modern age with an Airbus A380. Global Airlines in London, UK intends to keep these magnificent airships aloft. Click here to learn more.