When Air Travel was FUN – Memories of Me Monday

{approx. 1966; me, Mike, Denise, Steve and Lisa at LAX}

TODAY’S MEMORY JOGGER: “What is your favorite form of travel (plane, car, etc.)?  Describe one vivid memory of a car trip you’ve had, and one vivid memory of a plane trip.”

Airplane travel was a Big Deal when I was a child.  It was expensive, a luxury that most families couldn’t afford, and people dressed up to fly.  In the photo above I am about 9 years old.  I have always thought that we 5 kids (in our Sunday best, notice) were at the airport waiting for my dad to return from a trip, but my mom recently told me that, no, we were waiting to board the plane ourselves; we were returning to Minnesota after a trip to California to visit my grandmother.

I don’t remember any of that which is amazing; you’d think I’d remember my first airplane trip!

I do, however, remember my second.  I had gone to Washington state to visit my best friend from 5th grade, Teri Fiscus.  Teri’s family moved there the summer between 5th and 6th grades.  I think I was about 12 when my own family, on our way back from a trip (to Canada?), dropped me off there to spend a month with Teri’s family.  At the end of the visit Teri and her parents took me to Seattle where I saw the Space Needle and boarded an airplane for home – ALONE.

All by myself at 12 years of age!

That’s what makes the trip so memorable.  I felt very grown-up, yet at the same time a bit terrified.  I wasn’t afraid of flying – I’m not sure I had enough smarts to even realize that airplanes sometimes crash.  I was only nervous because it was all so new, and strange, and exciting.

After I first boarded I sunk down into my seat, put on my seatbelt and gripped the armrests tightly.  Then I realized that other people would notice and know that I was scared, and new at this flying stuff.  So I relaxed, sat up straight, crossed my feet neatly at the ankles and took out a book.  I think I may have even put my nose up in the air, just slightly, as I impersonated a worldly young girl who, oh, goodness, travels all the time by air!

I loved every minute of that flight, from the stewardesses in their matching outfits (dresses and heels and hair swept up), to the compartmentalized (metal!) lunch tray that held a breaded chicken breast, a ball of mashed potatoes and gravy, mixed vegetables and a square of yellow cake with chocolate frosting.  The grandmotherly type lady in the seat next to me gave me her cake and I ate it, too!

I’m pretty sure I only flew on an airplane four times while I was growing up.  The third and fourth times were the summer between my junior and senior years of high school.  I flew to Utah and back. 

{I’m at the top of the stairs, just behind the guy in the grey suit; Salt Lake City airport – amazing – we boarded from the tarmac!}

While there I spent about two weeks attending a medical laboratory class at BYU.  It was a blast.  I stayed in the dorms, learned about how to type blood, run tests on urine (we used our own), and made a lot of new friends.  At the end of the course we travelled by bus to Sundance Canyon where we had a picnic and listened to the bus radio as Richard Nixon resigned the presidency.  It was 1974.

FOR NEXT WEEK: “What do you think of television?  Describe a few of the shows you have liked or disliked, and why.”