Whipped Cream Difficulties

Travel Thursday!

I’m 99 44/100ths percent sure I haven’t used this one before, and I feel like I’m reaching the end of the string of Pan Am videos. So…

“Wings To Europe: Grand Tour” from 1959.

… a tour of Europe in the grand style of the 20th century world. A day in each of the Grand Tour cities: Lisbon, Madrid, Rome, Florence, the French Riviera and Paris.

Bonus: ’tis the season. Let’s go skiing!

“Winter Olympic Playground 1960” is a vintage promo film for Squaw Valley, California, and the facilities there. Squaw Valley was the site of the 1960 Winter Olympics, and is about 40 miles from Reno. (The film was done by the Harrah’s Club casino in Reno: it looks like it was still there when I was there (with a slight name change), but it closed permanently in March of 2020.)

Happy New Year! And happy Travel Thursday on Friday!

I thought we’d go someplace exotic today. Namely, “The Land Called New Jersey”, a 1960s promo film from Humble Oil.

Bonus: I may be fudging the definition of “travel” a little bit, but this popped up and I couldn’t resist for two reasons. “Come Fly With Me”, a documentary (about one hour long) about the history of Pan Am. Reason #1 being: Pan Am.

Reason #2: this is narrated by the late Honor “Pussy Galore” Blackman.

(Speaking of Ms. Blackman, we actually did watch “Cockneys Vs. Zombies” (affiliate link). And…it’s not bad. I don’t think it is one of the great zombie films, but for $8 it gives you about 90 minutes of solid fun entertainment. And both Ms. Blackman and Alan “Brick Top” Ford are quite good.)

Travel Thursday!

How would you like to go to Sweden this week? I feel like I’ve done Sweden in the past, but not with…the US Army?

From 1958, “Modern Land of the Vikings”.

Bonus: As far as I can tell, I haven’t done this one before. Certainly, it doesn’t show up in a search. So let’s fix that: “Wings to Scandinavia”. The YouTube notes date this to 1962, and it covers Norway and Finland as well as Sweden. (I have done “Wings to Suomi”, which is Finland specific, before, but I think this is different enough to qualify.)

Travel Thursday!

Where would you like to go this week? Would you like a relatively short trip to someplace that hadn’t become a banana republic at the time?

Okay then. From our favorite defunct airline, Pan Am, “Wings to New York”. circa 1948.

Bonus: I’m probably fudging the definition of “travel” a bit here, but I don’t have a better place to put this. Here’s a Pan Am promo film documenting their history of crisis and emergency response, including the 1979 airlift out of Iran.

Travel Thursday!

If you’ve figured out what my theme this week is, you’re probably wondering: how do military history and military heroism fit in with travel?

Answer: This is an episode of a documentary series called “True Adventure”, which according to the YouTube notes, ran in the 1950s and 1960s.

This episode is “Return to Guadalcanal”. One of the men in this video, Martin Clemens, was on Guadalcanal when Japan invaded: instead of evacuating, he stayed behind and became a coast watcher. He later wrote a book, Alone on Guadalcanal: A Coastwatcher’s Story (which is available in reprint and Kindle editions from Amazon).

Bonus: from the Kadena Air Base channel, members of the 18th Wing tour Iwo Jima.

Travel Thursday On Friday!

How would you like to visit exotic Central America? And Mexico?

“Wings To Central America and Mexico”, from Pan Am about 1959.

Bonus: “Some Impressions of Travel In Central America” by Quintus Curtius.

I’ve heard good things about Lives of the Great Commanders (affiliate link) and it is on my Amazon wish list to purchase eventually.