#  >  > Non Asia Travel Forums >  >  > Travel the World Travellers Tales Forum >  >  First Time on a Plane: Where Did You Go?

## tomcat

BDL-JFK-LHR

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## russellsimpson

LAX, first and second time.

Out of KVR.

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## hallelujah

Manchester to Barcelona for 2 weeks in Calella when I was 7. I was sick before I went and my mum and dad didn't believe me.

I spent a week in hospital on my return to England with a combination of measles and pneumonia after being wrongly diagnosed while I was there. I had been hallucinating in my bed - I would pay good money for that 10 years later  :Smile:  - and reached a fever plus 39 whereupon even the hotel staff were concerned for my survival.

I have no idea where my subsequent urge to travel came from.

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## hallelujah

> BDL-JFK-LHR


Two points/Qs:

Where is BDL?

There are few better cities to arrive in than London whether it's your first or fifty first trip abroad.

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## S Landreth

Opa Locka airport (in Miami) to Montgomery Alabama in a twin engine Cessna my father was piloting

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## Saint Willy

Fraser Island (Queensland) for a 4WD camping holiday with a girlfriend.

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## tomcat

> Where is BDL?


...between Hartford (CT) and Springfield (MA)...i.e., southern New England...

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## panama hat

When I was two years old.  Bangkok - Frankfurt.

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## hallelujah

> ...between Hartford (CT) and Springfield (MA)...i.e., southern New England...


I'd be intrigued to know your first impressions of arriving in London from relatively small town USA in the swinging 60s/early 70s (I'm guessing from your age)?

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## misskit

ATL-MIA

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## misskit

> Fraser Island (Queensland) for a 4WD camping holiday with a girlfriend.


There’s an airport on Fraser Island now? When I went was only a ferry!

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## marcusb

About 18 yrs old. Penticton-kelowna-regina. 

Funny thing was I packed an 8 inch Bowie hunting knife in my carry on by mistake. They noticed it at security, they said tsk tsk, make sure you leave that in the bag. Travel was so easy in the past.  :Smile:

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## Joe 90

Manchester to Majorca,  yep I wore my mod parka on the beach Cyrille. 

First night, chucked all the poolside tables and chairs in the pool.
Then got hit by a swing in the park and had to have emergency hospital treatment wiping out my parents spends.
Flight home puking all over the plane with sunstroke after falling asleep in the sun with my parka on.
My poor parents, must have been a nightmare for them.
They should have taken us to Pontins, would've been less trouble and a hell of a lot cheaper.

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## Buckaroo Banzai

It was a 747 and it was Athens to JFK,
 I was very young then but It was a couple of days before Christmas and I remember being amazed by all the lights.

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## hallelujah

> Manchester to Majorca,  yep I wore my mod parka on the beach Cyrille. 
> 
> First night, chucked all the poolside tables and chairs in the pool.
> Then got hit by a swing in the park and had to have emergency hospital treatment wiping out my parents spends.
> Flight home puking all over the plane with sunstroke after falling asleep in the sun with my parka on.
> My poor parents, must have been a nightmare for them.
> They should have taken us to Pontins, would've been less trouble and a hell of a lot cheaper.


Blue mong

See what I mean, Cy?

They're not the same as us.

The only thing we have in common with these retards are our postcodes.

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## tomcat

> I'd be intrigued to know your first impressions of arriving in London from relatively small town USA in the swinging 60s/early 70s (I'm guessing from your age)?


...I was staying with an English family who met me at the airport. My first impression of London was through their eyes: fish and chips, Dr. Zhivago (my hosts were anxious to see it), a number of parks, the underground to various urban sights (but nothing royal: no time)...I had visited NYC and Boston a number of times so large urban areas weren't daunting...I was fascinated, however, by my English hosts and their daily routines...

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## hallelujah

> ...I was staying with an English family who met me at the airport. My first impression of London was through their eyes: fish and chips, Dr. Zhivago (my hosts were anxious to see it), a number of parks, the underground to various urban sights (but nothing royal: no time)...I had visited NYC and Boston a number of times so large urban areas weren't daunting...I was fascinated, however, by my English hosts and their daily routines...


So not so much swinging, but rather sedate and genteel then...

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## tomcat

> So not so much swinging, but rather sedate and genteel then...


...my next stop was Amsterdam where I spent the night in a rooms-by-the-hour hotel near the train station...the scales began to fall from my eyes...particularly when I ran into my male high school French teacher arm in arm with a...man (!)...

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## Saint Willy

> There’s an airport on Fraser Island now? When I went was only a ferry!



Good catch, I think we flew to Brisbane, or Harvey Bay (saw whales) then drove to the ferry to get to Fraser Island.

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## hallelujah

> ...my next stop was Amsterdam where I spent the night in a rooms-by-the-hour hotel near the train station...the scales began to fall from my eyes...particularly when I ran into my male high school French teacher arm in arm with a...man (!)...


Brilliant! 

I've been to Amsterdam probably 50 or 60 times, and Manchester is a very open city, but I'll always love the anything goes attitude of the 'Dam...

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## naptownmike

BWI to MIA non-smoking  :Smile:

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## Joe 90

> I'll always love the anything goes attitude of the 'Dam...








> See what I mean, Cy?
> 
> They're not the same as us.
> 
> The only thing we have in common with these retards are our postcodes.





> particularly when I ran into my male high school French teacher arm in arm with a...man (!)...


If buggery and drugs is your thing then I'll wish you teflers a merry holiday  :Bukkake:  :Doggy Style:  :Wank:  :Stooges:  :Notworthy:  :3some:  :Spank:  ::chitown::

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## sabang

Adelaide to Sydney, January 1976. It was the day I joined the Navy.

First international- Adelaide to Hong Kong, 1978 or 9. My first overseas holiday. Turned out the old schoolmate travelling with me had expected some sort of exotic beach destination, so he was in for quite a surprise! So was I really- HK was quite a surprise package, when you expect Asia to be people wearing funny hats and swaying palm trees. :Smile:

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## Storekeeper

Can’t remember how I got from Cleveland to Naval Station Great Lakes. So I’ll go with Great Lakes to Meridian, Mississippi for “A” school.

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## tomcat

> If buggery and drugs is your thing then I'll wish you teflers a merry holiday


...I medicate differently now...

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## panama hat

> but I'll always love the anything goes attitude of the 'Dam...


Not if you live there, I can assure you.  
Upon arrival from Sydney to take up a posting in Amsterdam I rented a canal-boat for a few months because . . . well, because. 

The real estate agent I had been dealing with didn't mention that the boat was moored right next to a Leather BDSM Nightcub . . . many a night I didn't bother to check out why the boat was rocking nor what the noises coming from the deck were.  

After a few months moved to quiet Haarlem . . . and its church bells right across the road - The Netherlands will always be remembered as a noisy place by me.  :Smile: 

Anyway, I digress.

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## Joe 90

Loving this thread already,  can't beat comparing travelling experiences. 

First time I took my kids abroad was to Thailand in 2006, spent 3 wonderful months chilling out on Phuket,  Koh Samui, phetchabun and Bangkok sorting the missus UK Visa application out.

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## Saint Willy

> The real estate agent I had been dealing with didn't mention that the boat was moored right next to a Leather BDSM Nightcub . . . many a night I didn't bother to check out why the boat was rocking nor the noises coming from the deck.


Ugggh.

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## Joe 90

> ...I medicate differently now...


I assume you don't require poppers with a wizard sleeve..

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## Joe 90

> many a night I didn't bother to check out why the boat was ro


Save it for the judge.

Did you wear your lederhosen?

Dill, get photo cropping :tieme:

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## panama hat

> Did you wear your lederhosen?


Different part of Germany






> Dill, get photo cropping


Did you have to mention its name?  

As you said:



> Loving this thread already

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## Joe 90

> Anyway, I digress.


 :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

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## tomcat

...to extend the thread a little: my second time on a plane was a flight to St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands for 6 weeks of intensive area and language training prior to Peace Corps service in Ethiopia...now, that was an adventure...

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## aging one

1954, Dhahran/Beirut/Rome/Lisbon/The Azores/NYC. On our  Aramco DC 3, The Flying Camel.

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## BoganInParasite

CSI-SYD in 1978 on a Fokker Friendship turboprop.

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## mudcat

July, 1966 LaGuardia to O'Hare enroute to boot camp at Great Lakes.

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## MarilynMonroe

> ...I was staying with an English family who met me at the airport. My first impression of London was through their eyes: fish and chips, Dr. Zhivago (my hosts were anxious to see it), a number of parks, the underground to various urban sights (but nothing royal: no time)...I had visited NYC and Boston a number of times so large urban areas weren't daunting...I was fascinated, however, by my English hosts and their daily routines...


haha, great stuff. 

---
My first flight was to London from Montreal to work in England on a year contract. 
I was scared to death on my first flight.

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## Happy As Larry

London to Stockholm when I was 17 for a school exchange.
I pestered my parents to allow me to participate as I thought it would be my one and only chance to go overseas. 
We didn't do family holidays and certainly not overseas
Little did I know that I would end up almost living on planes for a good portion of my adult life.

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## MarilynMonroe

> First time I took my kids abroad was to Thailand in 2006, spent 3 wonderful months chilling out on Phuket, Koh Samui, phetchabun and Bangkok sorting the missus UK Visa application out.


That's awesome, how did they like flying, and Thailand for that matter?

---
When I came back to Canada from England after a year .. three months later I took a 16 hour flight to work/live in South Korea. From then on I've flown many many times.

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## Joe 90

> That's awesome, how did they like flying, and Thailand for that matter?


They loved it, although for me it was stressful at times. 
Thailand was not a baby buggy friendly place back then.





> took a 16 hour flight to work/live in South Korea.


That's not a bad idea for a flight endurance thread.

I did a Manchester, London Heathrow, Moscow,Malta,Angola,Lusaka flight many moons ago. 
Nearly 36 hours from start to finish.cost £400 back in 1991.

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## MarilynMonroe

> ...to extend the thread a little: my second time on a plane was a flight to St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands for 6 weeks of intensive area and language training prior to Peace Corps service in Ethiopia...now, that was an adventure.


That sounds amazing, I'd love to hear more about it. 



> I did a Manchester, London Heathrow, Moscow,Malta,Angola,Lusaka flight many moons ago.
> Nearly 36 hours from start to finish.cost £400 back in 1991.


Wow, that is intense. Shanghai to Montreal was not bad, 14 hrs direct. 
I enjoyed getting free flights from my employers, so I went from Korea to Australia (vacation) then to the Middle East (to work) paid by both employers. Was living the dream . lol

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## MarilynMonroe

> They loved it, although for me it was stressful at times.
> Thailand was not a baby buggy friendly place back then.


Yes, no doubt.

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## Headworx

Archerfield (light aircraft airport in Brisbane) to a freshly bulldozed and graded 1000 yard strip of sand between 2 dunes somewhere in the Simpson Desert, coordinates unknown. The aircraft was a private charter Beechcraft King Air. 

Would also like to add a longest journey trip by air to see if anyone can beat it, all were connecting flights with 2 to 6 hours transit time at each airport. Bangkok - Sydney - LA - Miami - Rio - Fortaleza. Saw the sun come up thru the window of a plane 3 days in a row getting to work, it was all done in business class and I don't believe anyone sane (or tall) could have done it in cattle.

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## Saint Willy

> Would also like to add a longest journey trip by air to see if anyone can beat it, all were connecting flights with 2 to 6 hours transit time at each airport. Bangkok - Sydney - LA - Miami - Rio - Fortaleza. Saw the sun come up thru the window of a plane 3 days in a row getting to work, it was all done in business class and I don't believe anyone sane (or tall) could have done it in cattle.


I think you win.

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## tomcat

...I flew the Singapore Air flight from bkk to Singapore and on to NYC...22 hours in the air as I recall...in Premium Economy with a side of xanax...

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## Davis Knowlton

69 years ago - NY to Paris

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## Headworx

> with a side of xanax...


*Nods head knowingly*

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## Davis Knowlton

^^My avatar is my passport picture taken before that flight

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## cyrille

London to Singapore, changing planes in Islamabad and Kuala Lumpur.

My first teaching gig, with the ticket posted to me.

Singapore rather than Birmingham in March 1988 seemed a good idea.

It still does.

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## bsnub

Seattle-Ohare-Rhein-Main airport in Frankfort, Germany. The second flight was on a 747, and I was 12 years old.

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## Saint Willy

> 69 years ago - NY to Paris



hooly dooly!

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## Davis Knowlton

^My Mom with three sons - 5, 3 and 1 - I was in charge of passports. My dad - a wise man - had gone ahead and was already there in his new job at SHAEFE.

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## qwerty

SFO (San Francisco) to LHR (London).
I was 17 and was traveling with my mother, aunt and two big sisters.

I enjoyed the trip, but in retrospect could have enjoyed it more!

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## Fondles

Brisbane to Washington DC, had to change a windscreen in an Armoured car I built.

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## OhOh

Manchester to Calgary with a change at Toronto. Myself, my new wife and a Gordon Setter.

No quarantine, humans or dog.

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## pickel

> Manchester to Calgary with a change at Toronto. Myself, my new wife and a Gordon Setter.


You were already married by the time you took your first flight?

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## strigils

LHR to NCE with parents on my first foreign holiday in 1973

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## Troy

Hercules: Brize-Norton to Saintes 1978. We spent most of the flight playing football, using the cargo door as a goal.

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## panama hat

> You were already married by the time you took your first flight?


He also said he was in Canada first, from China then the UK . . . 







> Singapore rather than Birmingham in March 1988 seemed a good idea.
> 
> It still does.


 :Smile:  I'm sure it was/is.

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## moose65

Dubbo to Sydney, Fokker Friendship.
On my way to School in Sydney.

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## Shy Guava

I think my first flight was Brisbane to Perth in early 1965 - can't remember what the aircraft was.




> Funny thing was I packed an 8 inch Bowie hunting knife in my carry on by mistake. They noticed it at security, they said tsk tsk, make sure you leave that in the bag. Travel was so easy in the past.


About 3 years after my first flight I remember flying from Brisbane to Mt Isa with about 10 metres of primacord, detonators and perforating charges in my suitcase. I don't believe there were any security checks at all in those days. If my recollection is correct, the plane was an Electra. There was a bar in the tail of the cabin where you could sit and get pissed - very civilized.

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## sabang

> Would also like to add a longest journey trip by air to see if anyone can beat it, all were connecting flights with 2 to 6 hours transit time at each airport. Bangkok - Sydney - LA - Miami - Rio - Fortaleza. Saw the sun come up thru the window of a plane 3 days in a row getting to work, it was all done in business class and I don't believe anyone sane (or tall) could have done it in cattle.


Lets see-

British Virgin Islands- Pto Rico- Miami- O'Hare- Heathrow- Singapore- Hong Kong

That was a return journey, done in one shot. Took about 38 hours from memory.

The outward journey was even more 'epic', as it also involved a return flight from London to Amsterdam. But seeing as there were stopovers in Sing, Ldn, Amsterdam & BVI it doesn't really count.

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## Lostandfound

Ibiza. 1972

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## Pragmatic

1970. Luton to Hanover on a Britannia prop. I wus flying out to join my unit based at Bergen-Hohne. Age 18.

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## Iceman123

First flight Edinburgh Scotland to Mallorca Spain 1974

Longest flight - Adelaide to Nashville via Ghuanzhou and New York. Business class but took over well over 40 hrs.

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## MarilynMonroe

> Longest flight - Adelaide to Nashville via Ghuanzhou and New York. Business class but took over well over 40 hrs.


That is long!! Must have been tired!

I went from Seoul to Narita to Montreal before which seemed long. 
Also, went from Montreal to O'Hare to Seoul which was insane because American customs takes forever. I said never again going through the US to Asia.

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## armstrong

Left the UK somewhere. I think Gatwick but it could also be Heathrow or Norwich. To sunny Yugoslavia, Dubrovnik.

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## Topper

As a kid, we did a family trip driving from Albany, Georgia to Sacramento, California to visit my father's parents for a few days and then drive back.  While we were there, my mom and grandma were out and about in our car and totaled it.  Mom spent about a week in the hospital before she could be released and since the car was totaled, we had to fly home.  I think I was 8 or 9.  As a kid you're excited as all fook to fly on a plane, but also having to take care of your mom while doing it.

However, my next plane flight was from Jacksonville, Florida to Honolulu on a work assignment when I was 19.  I learned what it was like to travel on the company's tab.

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## helge

1982 from Odense to Søndrestrømfjord/kangerslusuag- Greenland via Copenhagen

Next, and more exiting. Str. Fjord-Paradise Valley by Cessna or Piper or something




> to a freshly bulldozed and graded 1000 yard strip of sand


You would wish  :Smile:  landed on the dry riverbed. Gravel and small stones smashing the belly of our poor plane.

Trout and musk country

If you'll take a look, you'll see the biggest forest in Greenland  :smiley laughing: 

Not my video, but looks pretty much the same 30 years later

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## hallelujah

What about your worst time on a plane?

I was flying from London to Bangkok with Austrian Airlines in 2007 and we had shocking turbulence for the whole of the London - Vienna leg. I'd been back for a wedding, so I was already feeling pretty fragile after the weekend's excesses and this almost sent me over the edge. I was shaking like a shitting dog, gulping for air, yet I turned to the left of me to see an Austrian businesswoman sipping a glass of wine, barely batting an eyelid and calmly reading a newspaper.

Clearly, the horrors of the turbulence had been magnified by the the beer fear and, since this experience, I always try to avoid drinking the night before a flight.

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## Saint Willy

:rofl: 

She might have if you power chucked all over her...

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## hallelujah

> She might have if you power chucked all over her...


I was almost at the point of asking her to hold my hand!!! :smiley laughing:

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## S Landreth

> What about your worst time on a plane?


I think a couple years ago. Over the water,…..ANA smoke in the cabin (there were some frightened passengers), emergency landing south of Tokyo. Overnight and then another flight/plane into BKK.

Edit: There are some Veterans on this forum. Could get interesting

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## bestvue

1956- 6yr old Army brat. Evacuated from Tripoli Libya due to Suiz crisis. Don't know what sort of plane or even where we went.

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## Saint Willy

> What about your worst time on a plane?


Flying home from Palembang to Jakarta, after witnessing a solar eclipse, on a local flight during a wet season thunderstorm. Flight was bouncing all over the place, lighting off the starboard bow.

2 of my kids were throwing up with mom joining them and my eldest was hyperventilating and asking if we were going to die...

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## hallelujah

> I think a couple years ago. Over the water,…..ANA smoke in the cabin (there were some frightened passengers), emergency landing south of Tokyo. Overnight and then another flight/plane into BKK.


Thank fuck you were close enough to dry land when that happened.

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## hallelujah

> on a local flight


That's scary enough already in Indonesia.

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## Backspin

First time on a plane ?  Abbotsford to Chilliwack and back

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## hallelujah

Did the pilot want to throw you out of the window after about 60 seconds in your company?  :Smile:

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## Saint Willy

> That's scary enough already in Indonesia.


Indeed. 

Sriwijaya or Batik Air or Manado. One of those types, not becaues I was skint, but the better airlines just didn't bother with those minor routes.

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## HuangLao

About 6 years old. 
Saigon to Udon. 
C-130 transport [with escort]

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## russellsimpson

> First time on a plane ? Abbotsford to Chilliwack and back


There's only thirty miles between them. How long was the flight, ten minutes?

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## tomcat

> What about your worst time on a plane?


...on an EgyptAir flight (1977) from Cairo to Kano, Nigeria: the pilot accidentally (I assume) raised the plane's braking flaps mid-flight causing the craft to suddenly drop like a stone until he corrected his action: no apology, no explanation...plenty of Allah-this and Allah-that from soiled passengers...

...on a PanAm flight from JFK to London, the turbulence was particularly bad. A number of passengers (probably drunk) continued to flop around the aisles despite pleas from the flight attendants to strap in. One harried attendant managed to reach the intercom and shout: "If you want to die, that's your business, but think of others whose bodies your flying corpse might hit! Sit down and strap in!"...

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## tomcat

> C-130 transport [with escort]


...you were allowed to bring your escort?...

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## russellsimpson

Evening flight out of Bangkok (the old airport) heading for Kolkata.

On board, around sixty already lubricated Sikhs all sporting a huge orange plastic garbage bag on their head, myself and perhaps four others.  They were a noisy lot and after ordering a drink or two they were becoming downright rowdy. Soon the cabin crew had lost effective control of the passenger compartment, the Sikhs were yelling for more booze, and the hostesses had withdrawn towards the captains quarters closed the curtains and turned down the lights. I swear I heard one of the mob screaming "I'll crash the plane, I'll crash the plane" It turned out to be a very very long flight to Kolkata.

I guess the nature of that particular flight was that it was rowdy as there were no police to meet us on arrival.

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## Saint Willy

> On board, around sixty already lubricated Sikhs all sporting a huge orange plastic garbage bag on their head, myself and perhaps four others. They were a noisy lot and after ordering a drink or two they were becoming downright rowdy.


Sikhs do not drink alcohol.

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## KWAN

First flight circa 1960. London to Paris. Coach/Air. Flying from Lyd/Lympne (?) Airport in Kent. Landing in Beauvais - then coach into Paris. One week B&B on the Left Bank. All together change out of 15 Quid.

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## Joe 90

Aeroflot flight from Zambia to Angola to Moscow. All non Africans upgraded to business class and the party of all parties started. Everyone getting pissed and smoking, someone playing a guitar. The trollied dollys getting onit.
A magical flight.

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## Mandaloopy

Norwich to Amsterdam when I would have been 5. First solo flight with no parents London-Houston-Anchorage when I was 16.

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## russellsimpson

> Sikhs do not drink alcohol.


That's interesting KW because I had wondered why I was running into Sikhs in Bengal. 

However, Sikhs are some of the biggest boozers I've known (as far as your alcohol comment is concerned).. 

They were certainly dressed like Punjabi's. 

Still, a very unrelaxing flight.

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## Headworx

> What about your worst time on a plane?


On a 747 somewhere between Singapore and Manila, so long ago that smoking was allowed and I was sitting in the very back row. They'd just served a meal when we hit turbulence and the plane littererally dropped out of the sky, I've never experienced a feeling anything like that even on theme park rides like roller-coasters. By pure luck I had my seatbelt on, unlike pretty much everyone else onboard, and from the back row I watched a sea of people in front get launched upwards with many hitting the roof of the plane. We dropped for a few seconds before abruptly levelling out and the screaming stopped but by then quite a few people were hurt and the plane looked like a tornado had passed through it with all the meal service items strewn around, there was coffee  dripping off the roof! Once it was all over people were bleeding everywhere and moaning in pain asking for help, many were crying, the smell of vomit was strong, and others dropped to their knees in the aisles to pray. Got to Manila where it took hours to disembark as medical staff took hurt passengers off first, and there were a _lot_ of them. 

Never seen anything like that since and don't want to, have never sat in an airline seat without my seatbelt on either.

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## tomcat

> have never sat in an airline seat without my seatbelt on either


...nor have I...loosely buckled...

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## reinvented

they bloody do
some cracking Sikh pubs

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## Headworx

> ...nor have I...loosely buckled...


Exactly. For take-off and landing I adjust it tightly but for in-flight, just tight enough to know it would keep me planted if we ever dropped out of the sky again.

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## Troy

I've never had what is considered a bad experience when flying on a civil airline. A couple of bumpy rides during the monsoon season but that's about it.

My wife did have a bad experience flying Thai Airways, Udon to Bangkok, during the monsoon season. The plane hit clear air turbulence and dropped a couple of thousand feet. The trolley girls ended up lying on the floor and there were several injuries on board. 

The worst experience I've had was sitting on a Virgin Flight at LAX waiting for an engine fault to be fixed. It was Christmas eve and we had to sit on board for 4-5 hours before they declared the plane U/S.

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## Lantern

Very first flight, 1984 flying out of Heathrow going to Australia, with no intention of ever going back. Due to dock strike, got off in Bombay, went to Goa (Anjuna Beach)  for a month, when dock workers returned to work flew out of Bombay and headed to Brisbane.

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## OhOh

> You were already married by the time you took your first flight?


I was looking to move jobs. At the time there were rolling blackouts due to Arthur Scargill's coal miners/government battles. Not as bad as today's lockdowns, just different parts of the city being blacked out

I saw a 3 line add in the Telegraph, travelled an interview in a London hotel, was offered a good package and went back to see my then girlfriend. She wanted to come along with me. I suggested it would be easier if we were married. Both being UK citizens we would be granted, landed immigrant status, as I had a job offer.

A  discussing with her family was positive, a quick marriage, and we left a drizzling Manchester. A large box of things went by sea, a couple of suitcases, the dog in its crate in the hold and a few hundred pounds in our pockets. We had a great life in Alberta.

5 years latter, after us being "interviewed" and getting most of the questions correct. One I failed was, "What is Prince Edward Island famous for"? I had no idea. I was informed the acceptable answer was, "Potatoes". I did know who was head of state, the name of the PM and the type of government.  :Smile: 

We received, at an organized event and after singing en masse "Oh Canada", our colourful certificates and credit card sized non-chipped citizenship cards.

We had great lives in a great province, Alberta. Hot summers, frigid winter, Saturday night ice hockey, city and rural route living, prairies to the east, Rocky Mountains to the west, swimming in lakes, rivers and the Pacific Ocean, winter skiing, hot spring relaxation under star-studded night skies ....

After that any time anyone suggested, "We'd like you to go to .... here's the deal". I said, "Sure, when, how long for ...." ?

Third wife, four kids later and Thailand is my resting place now. Still having great lives.

What about you?

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## OhOh

> He also said he was in Canada first, from China then the UK





Find a fairy, you need counselling

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## cyrille

> Sikhs do not drink alcohol.


There are at least three different strands of Sikhism - in at least one of them alcohol is not prohibited.

There is no shortage of Sikhs who are very fond of a drop - many communities in the UK include some very keen boozers.  :Very Happy:

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## pickel

> What about you?


A small Cessna for a couple hours when I was about 10.

Or were you asking for my life story?

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## OhOh

> Or were you asking for my life story?


"It's up to you"

 :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

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## dirk diggler

My first flight was in a Chinook chopper during a test flight that my old man had got me onto as a kid.

As this is planes though, first flight for me was when we went Aberdeen to Torquay Paignton. Not sure where we landed though.




> Would also like to add a longest journey trip by air to see if anyone can beat it, all were connecting flights with 2 to 6 hours transit time at each airport. Bangkok - Sydney - LA - Miami - Rio - Fortaleza. Saw the sun come up thru the window of a plane 3 days in a row getting to work, it was all done in business class and I don't believe anyone sane (or tall) could have done it in cattle.


Trying to get back in time for an offshore job, on the cheap, a week after Sonkran, during the Easter school holiday with Offshore Europe going on in Aberdeen

Hat Yai - Bangkok - Muscat - Milan - Riga - Manchester - Aberdeen

Cattle Class.

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## Topper

> Hat Yai - Bangkok - Muscat - Milan - Riga - Manchester - Aberdeen
> 
> Cattle Class.


That had to suck.

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## Backspin

> A small Cessna for a couple hours when I was about 10.
> 
> Or were you asking for my life story?



where

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## pickel

> where


Up in the air, then back down again to the same landing strip it took off from, somewhere in rural Saskatchewan. Can't remember the name of the "airport". More of a dirt and grass strip and a windsock, with no "terminal". They are quite common on the prairies.

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## beerlaodrinker

> Archerfield (light aircraft airport in Brisbane) to a freshly bulldozed and graded 1000 yard strip of sand between 2 dunes somewhere in the Simpson Desert, coordinates unknown. The aircraft was a private charter Beechcraft King Air. 
> 
> Would also like to add a longest journey trip by air to see if anyone can beat it, all were connecting flights with 2 to 6 hours transit time at each airport. Bangkok - Sydney - LA - Miami - Rio - Fortaleza. Saw the sun come up thru the window of a plane 3 days in a row getting to work, it was all done in business class and I don't believe anyone sane (or tall) could have done it in cattle.


Same. Aged 16. Perth to a Graded airstrip in the Gibson desert  near Warberton in a single engine cessna stopping in leonora for fuel to join a siesmic  crew

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## dirk diggler

> That had to suck.


That did suck, and I had to collect my luggage and check in again at every stop.

Joe90, no medication other than booze.

Froze my bollocks off in Milan as it was snowing and baltic even in the airport. was glad to pick up my bag there and get some warmer gear on. 

I was so impressed with the atmosphere in Riga airport that I promised I would go back there when I get a chance to visit the City.

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## VocalNeal

Round and round some air force base in the rear of a transport aircraft with the ramp down and open. When I was in Air Cadets.

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## Davis Knowlton

^ I recall being much amused by lots of guys in my jump school class - who had never flown, and took off in a plane five times without ever landing in one.

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## Arman Ahmedi

KHI-BKK in 1979 when I was 15. My father was expelled from Iran by the government for protesting against the Shah so we were kicked from Iran and then we went to Pakistan. 
When first arrived here we seeked for asylum and got detained. Laws in the past were different because so many Vietnamese and Khmer entered Thailand that time. If remember correctly Permanent residence was easy to obtain in the past as because of Vietnamese and Khmer refugees entering the nation.

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