Travel in the past was way different to what we have now. No high speed trains, cars or airplanes to jet us across the world in a matter of hours, travel was a long and cumbersome process. Travelling across the ocean could take weeks, months even. Boy am I glad that technology caught up in this generation!
1800 – 1890
Travel in the 1800s involved stagecoaches, ships, trains and hot air balloons. Yes, the hot air balloon happened after Henry Cavendish discovered how to isolate hydrogen and it became a prominent form of travel because of man’s fascination with flight. Those who couldn’t afford a hot air balloon flight would have to travel by sea. Voyages on the sea were often wrought with shipwreck or seasickness, inadequate food, lack of privacy, cramped living quarters, and spreading illnesses. Not your idea of a 5-star cruise for sure.
From Liverpool each passenger receives weekly 5 lbs. of oatmeal, 2 1/2 lbs. biscuit, 1 lb. flour, 2 lbs. rice, 1/2 lb. sugar, 1/2 lb. molasses, and 2 ounces of tea. He is obliged to cook it the best way he can in a cook shop 12 feet by 6! This is the cause of so many quarrels and…many a poor woman with her children can get but one meal done, and sometimes they get nothing warm for days and nights when a gale of wind is blowing and the sea is mountains high and breaking over the ship in all directions.
—Anonymous, New-York Daily Times, October 15, 1851
It was only in the late 1800s that train travel became possible, and even then, it would still take weeks to get from coast to coast. Even though rooms started from $1 in this century, it would be a hard pass from me to travel in this era.
1900 – 1990
You know why airships never came to pass? Because the airplane happened. This was a time when air travel started to boom and the pinnacle of luxury cruises (think Titanic). You’re automatically a someone if you could sail on one of these extravagant ships that hosted facilities which were on par with high-class hotels and restaurants. New ships were launched every few years promising to be bigger, better, more luxurious, safer and swifter than anything every sailed before. Much has changed in this era, travel was evolving and upgrading and a status.
You would find everyone dressed to the nines at the airport, flights were taken very seriously and those who could afford it had to own it. Forget those all-in-one plastic cutleries, meals were served with silverware, whew talk about high-class. Yes, this was the 90s, the golden age of travel as many would fondly remember it.
What a lavish affair travelling used to be!
Photos courtesy of Dailymail.co.uk & Gettyimages
2000s
Travel has slowly become more affordable to the masses in the 2000s (lucky us!) It’s not all a bed of roses though, terrorism placed a stigma on tourism in the early 2000s, it was only after the rapid advancement of technology (and after the smartphone) that information became widely accessible and tourism started to boom again. Now, it’s no longer uncommon to hear of someone who has travelled around the world solo or made a career out of travelling, technology has opened up so many doors for us sometimes we don’t know even know which door to choose.
Sometimes the congested airport or flight delays make things a tad more frustrating, but we really have it good compared to our great-great-great grandparents. So maybe the next time you want to yell at the counter-staff for your flight delay, just take a deep breath and remember how lucky we are to be living and travelling in this day and age. And for me… SOMEONE PLEASE BRING BACK THE 90s!
Want to know what travel was like before the internet happened? Check out the video here.
Travel posters courtesy of Vintage Ad Browser
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