MILLENNIALS JUST WON’T UNDERSTAND …
But these aspects of travel were once totally normal, recalls Anthony Peregrine
Smoking on planes:
Cigarettes were confined to the back of the plane — from about row 25 — on the sound scientific principle that, at 27,000 feet, smoke couldn’t possibly drift forward to row 24 and annoy anyone.
No security checks at airports:
There was a time when you weren’t obliged to hold your trousers up because the belt was in a tray, could keep your shoes on and your toothpaste secret, and you weren’t subject to the whims of airport staff whose combined IQ wouldn’t out-gun a shoal of tuna. (“You pack this yourself, sir?” “No, I employ a team of elves.”)
Back then you’d wander through customs and, so long as you weren’t actually toting a Luger, generally you went untroubled.
Hitch-hiking: There was a time when flights cost a year’s rent (not the price of a sandwich), so youths would gather in droves outside towns, raise their thumbs and chuck themselves upon the hazards of life.
Hitch-hiking carted us round for free in the company of people who’d open up about their dreams and deceptions precisely as they were never going to see us again.
Postcards: Back then you had four lines on one postcard per trip. Today it’s 1,000word blogs, hourly posts on Facebook and 173 Instagram pictures of your dinner.
● LS © The Telegraph