The Past Retold: Travel

I’ve been thinking…History has been known to repeat itself. And maybe the present is really just the past retold again and again with a different cast and a few set and costume changes.

For example, I hate airports. I hate to fly. I hate the recycled air that blows on you from that ridiculous circular vent above your head. The cramped space sitting next to a stranger, the hours of waiting, the way the change in air pressure makes your ears pop, and the hassle of going through security. I hate the engine noise on the plane, the fact that you only get a ½ ounce of peanuts with a ½ cup of water for a snack, and the nausea I feel within 30 seconds of take-off. It’s relatively expensive, and leaves you feeling exhausted, dirty, and sore. It’s boring if you’re traveling alone, and I can’t read (because of the nausea) I can’t listen to music because the engine noise is too loud and there’s all that fluid in my ears that refuses to pop, and if I take a Dramamine I fall asleep for the next 48 hours. Not to mention that there’s nothing to look at except for clouds or if you’re lucky the geometric shapes drawn by the city’s roads, housing developments, and farms thousands of feet below. The list goes on and on; suffice it to say, I hate to fly.

Which brings us to railway cars. There were many people who were less than impressed with the railroad when it first started to make its way into mainstream 19th century travel. After all, it was loud, uncomfortable and dirty; steam engines traveling at 25 miles an hour kicked up a lot of dust and soot. And the waiting. What was 3 o’clock in one town, might be 2:34 in another. It wasn’t until locomotive travel gained popularity that a more standardized time was established in cities around the country. The food was awful and the journey was bumpy and arduous. Women were advised not to travel alone, and guidelines were published in the unfortunate event that she was left sitting next to an odd gentleman who wanted to talk. It was bumpy, and there were patterns published in fashion magazines for bonnet covers to keep them from getting soiled from the soot. The railroad was expensive, yet compared to the alternative it was fast. So fast in fact, that people started to worry life was moving at too quick a pace.

So….as I mentioned before, I hate to fly, but I can get from Cleveland to New York City, for example, in an hour and a half rather than 10 hours by car. On a cloudy day I can’t see the ground, let alone the countryside, but it saves me time. And in a similar scenario a few years previous, a 19th century lady chose the railroad in lieu of a serene canal boat ride traveling at 3 miles an hour. The railroad was faster, and it saved her time even though she complained it was too loud, she had to sit next to a stranger, and the velocity with which the cars moved made it impossible for her to see the countryside.