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The Way We Once Traveled: Postmarks from the Middle of the Ocean

We'll fully admit that we save our ticket stubs even sometimes our bag tags. Of course travelers of decades ago were no different; in fact, they were worse. Sometimes we dig up vintage gems that deserve to be shared. All week, we'll look at a few lost pieces of ephemera that continue to inspire.

Check out that postmark on the above postcard from 1924. It seems that this little greeting, from folks sailing onboard the SS President Grant of Admiral Oriental Line between Seattle and "The Orient," made it all the way from somewhere off the coast of Japan to a teensy-weensy town in Northwest Ohio. Serious, Google Map Tontongany, Ohio and count how many roads it has on your hands. Then think about it back in the 1920s; it boggles the mind.

The point of all this is really to draw your attention to the words of the traveler who mailed this card, as their situation onboard says all you need to know about the pace of getting from Point A to Point B in the days before airplanes and taxis and turbojet ferries. Here ya go:

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Retro Travel / The Way We Once Traveled / New York City / Helicopters / Vintage Travel / Architecture Travel / → All Tags

The Way We Once Traveled: Helicopter Transfers to the 1964 World's Fair

We'll fully admit that we save our ticket stubs even sometimes our bag tags. Of course travelers of decades ago were no different; in fact, they were worse. Sometimes we dig up vintage gems that deserve to be shared. All week, we'll look at a few lost pieces of ephemera that continue to inspire.

The 1960s were a great time to hop a helicopter ride in New York. These were the days when buying a First Class ticket on Pan Am or TWA meant the inclusion of a chopper transfer to the airport, and helicopters weren't yet clogging the skyways above the rivers, causing the accidents and concerns that exist today. In 1964 specifically, families keen on spending a day at the 1964-1965 World's Fair could take a scenic ride on New York Airways' helicopters from Manhattan out to the fair at Corona Park in Queens.

Landing was the fun part, actually; the choppers set down atop the first completed structure for the fair, the Port Authority Exhibit Building, which counted the helipad, a restaurant ("Top of the Fair"), cocktail bar and 360-film feature theater as attractions. Coincidentally, the 360-degree film shown was also shot by helicopter, as the cameras dangled and captured the beauty and geography of the New York region.

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Retro Travel / The Way We Once Traveled / Cruise Travel / Ships / Cunard / Queen Elizabeth / Vintage Travel / → All Tags

The Way We Once Traveled: 'Orchestral Selections' on the Queen Elizabeth

We'll fully admit that we save our ticket stubs even sometimes our bag tags. Of course travelers of decades ago were no different; in fact, they were worse. Sometimes we dig up vintage gems that deserve to be shared. All week, we'll look at a few lost pieces of ephemera that continue to inspire.

Water Aerobics. Mixology. A lecture on wildlife photography. Hairiest Chest Contest. These are just a few standard daily activities you'll likely find listed on the schedule of a modern cruise ship. However, it was back when passenger ships were called "liners" that schedules focused on the social, rather than the active and educational, advantages of the journey.

It's within this schedule for the old Cunard liner RMS Queen Elizabeth—her third day of a crossing from New York to Cherbourg/Southampton—that we see this for sure. Where iPad classes would be listed on a 2011 cruise shop activity list, the 1949 version favors watching horse racing or listening to the news broadcast.

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Retro Travel / The Way We Once Traveled / American Airlines / Vintage Travel / 737 / Boeing / Airplanes / → All Tags

The Way We Once Traveled: American Airlines' Astrojet

We'll fully admit that we save our ticket stubs even sometimes our bag tags. Of course travelers of decades ago were no different; in fact, they were worse. Sometimes we dig up vintage gems that deserve to be shared. All week, we'll look at a few lost pieces of ephemera that continue to inspire.

In the 1960s, when the World's Fair was taking over New York City, American Airlines had nice little pamphlets printed to attempt to entice people who didn't live in New York into taking their planes to visit the event. What planes, exactly? Oh, just the newest Boeing dressed up in a shiny silver paintjob complete with red lightning bolt, a look called the Astrojet.

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