Travel Weekly Blog

We all know the golden age of travel was a gentler time but it’s always nice to have it reaffirmed. This is why here at TW we are bringing to your attention this email from one of our many great agents, Eton Travel retail assistant manager Elaine Kane.

She spent her weekend ripping up carpets and in the process found a load of newspapers dated September 1957 which had been used as lining.

While there was the normal (rather dated) scandals about a doctor admitting to be homosexual on TV and an actress in court accused of “making violent love in the back row of a cinema”, there was also this rather charming travel story.

Elaine writes . . .

“The travel story of the day was a BOAC plane that was taking passengers from London to Trinidad. It took off from London, landed in Glasgow to pick up passengers and refuelled then set off on its way.

“On approaching Newfoundland, where it was due to land for refuelling, the pilot found the airport closed due to fog, so radioed back to London to say he was turning back.

"Most of the pax were asleep and did not know that they were heading back to London until they landed. They had spent 16 hours getting nowhere! Amazingly, they were pacified with tea and sandwiches before being put back on the plane to do the journey all over again!! Glad they weren’t my customers!!”

Of course had they been Elaine’s customers we are sure they wouldn’t have caused too much of a fuss. After all in those days the stiff upper lip never weakened, even when on holiday.

Ed Robertson, reporter