Throwback Thursday: What transportation memory sticks with you? #TBT

[#1]

It's Thursday!

When I was 6 years old, my parents took us on a vacation to the islands of Guernsey and Jersey. My transportation memory is about that flight. First time in an airplane and going to a different county. It was huge!

Soooo tell us, what transportation memory sticks with you?

Let’s make it a great Thursday!

KGM

[Jack Brickey]

I took a bare boat vacation in the Bahamas for 14 days. It was an amazing trip that started with very rough seas due to recent  Hurricane Bob, passing through. Sidenote, some of you may recall that that hurricane was associated with the perfect storm depicted in the movie with the same name. However, the rough seas subsided after day two, and it was smooth sailing the rest of the way. We lived on the boat and went from island to island most uninhabited. We would catch our dinner (fish, lobster, conch) every day and only occasionally go into port to restock. It was amazing being on the ocean in that beautiful boat. Certainly living on a boat was quite different but immensely fun.

[Sayed Bares [ServiceRocket]]

My first trip to Perhentian Island was very memorable in both good and bad ways.

I went with my friends and we were students back then and we went there without planning the trip.

When we arrived to the island, it was really difficult to find a place to stay for the night.

After lots of searching we finally found a place but it wasn't comfy and it had lots of mosquitoes. They had quite a feast from our blood for the whole night. However, it was all worth it. The water was clean as crystal and the scenery was outstanding.

[Dan Breyen]

Not that exciting for me.  I remember lots of car rides as a kid, back when you would get in the back of a station wagon and sit backwards in the jump seat, or just stretch out and lay down behind the second row of seats and look out the window at the stars at night on the drive home from your Aunt & Uncles after a holiday.

[Amanda Barber]

My first road trip as a teenager is probably what sticks with me the most. My friend's dad lived about 7 hours south of us in St. Louis. For years I had been going down there with her in the summers, but that usually meant her mom would take us down and then my parents would pick me up after a week or two. However, when she had her license we were able to go solo. I remember it was snowing and very slippery and seeing cars all along the road in the ditches. Somehow we made it unscathed though!

[Walter Buggenhout]

A couple of years ago, we went on a memorable trip in Holland on what is called a blokhutboot. I wouldn't know how to translate that, but it is basically a small garden house attached to a boat, as you can see here:

Being mindful about the environment, our boat was powered with solar panels. And as it is a slow vehicle, you can take it out own your own, without prior experience or sailing license of any kind.

We had the boat for a couple of days and ran into all kinds of (maybe even slightly too) adventurous happenings. For example, when the sun sets, you need to find a good spot to anchor the boat so you can sleep through the night and (hopefully) find yourself in the same spot the next morning. At the first occasion, the ladder we had on board to climb ashore fell overboard, so we had to dive into the shallow water to recover it.

On the second day, we noticed a problem with the batteries that were no longer being charged by the panels. Since we had taken of downstream on a major river, we decided to sail on at the slowest possible pace to save battery. And by the time we went back, we had to fight our way upstream quite a big river. That last half day (and very last drops of battery power) must have been one of the most stressful ever vacation moments. But in the end, we made it back safely to the dock we departed from, with yet a couple of more exciting stories up our sleeves.

[John Funk]

Taking the bus multiple times on the Yungas Road when we lived in Bolivia.  It's also known as the World's Most Dangerous Road or the Death Road locally there. 

[Milos Ristic]

Unfortunately, my first memory said that I somehow remember when the first bombs in the Serbian Civil War was dropped on Bosnia which I, off course had been watching over TV because I live far away from Bosnia... in the 1992.

[Andy Gladstone]

Train rides from near my home on the South Shore of Long Island to NYC as a kid. I always liked trains, but being on one and watching the world roll by was mesmerizing. I remember my brothers and I all trying to get window seats and just staring out of the window for hours. I can still recount the list of stations we passed in the conductor's voice today. And then at the end of a long fun day in NYC coming home as the sun was setting or in the dark. The landscapes have changed over the years, but the wonderment still remains!

 

[Debbie Jolley]

As the OP mentioned their first plane journey I immediately thought back to my first plane journey - although technically not sure it really counts as a journey as that means "an act of travelling from one place to another"...

When I left home and started my time at uni, it was standard to join at least 1 club during freshers week.  I couldn't decide what to join, so spoke to some of the 2nd and 3rd year students who were looking after the newbies...one of them belonged to the parachute club and she made it sound awesome...

Bear in mind at this point I had never set foot in a plane in my life - so of course the parachute club was a natural fit for me lol.

To make the story more scary (with the benefit of hindsight/age) it was solo static line parachute jumps NOT tandem (google it if you're not sure what I mean :-) ).

So, my first ever plane 'journey' was in a very small Cessna - which I jumped out of - oh, and I landed in the wrong field because it was in the dark.

Over the following few weeks I then did 3 more jumps - such an amazing feeling floating in the air 

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

I think I was 9 when my family took a trip to one of our favourite holiday destinations.  Both the outward and homebound journeys were memorable.  

Outward, I got to fly the helicopter (the trick where the pilot or co-pilot give up their seat and let a kid fly for a couple of minutes, with intense supervision).  On the way home, there was a massive storm, and we were on the last 'chopper out, with the wind behind us.  What was normally a 25 minute flight was done in 12, and was a bit scary.

[Summer Hogan]

I think I was 13 when my family and I went to Durango to go on the https://www.durangotrain.com/. As an adult I really wanted to take my boyfriend on the same trip so in 2021 we did it! We took the train from Durango to Silverton, spent 2 hours while we ate the best grilled cheese sandwich I've ever had, and then took the ride back. It was so nice, even though it poured in Silverton! 

[Milos Ristic]

Awesome picture and unforgettable memory, that's for sure. Cheers 

[A A Ron Geister _Trundl_]

I have always wanted to travel out of country as a kid. I still haven't got to do that as an adult but its on my board of "to do's"

Very awesome throwback!

[Brant Schroeder]

@Kristján Geir Mathiesen I take trips into remote locations and use bush planes to get their.  I love them because they make my trips possible.

[Craig Nodwell]

The train.  Ever since I was a child I love the train.

[Chris K]

The night train from Venice to Rome 🚈

After graduating, I scraped all of my money together and went on a train tour through Europe with some friends. We had agreed on a rough route beforehand but decided from day to day whether we liked a place and where we would go next. Anyway, we spontaneously took a night train from Venice to Rome. The train came earlier than expected, and we were super happy because it gave us a comfortable seat. The train kept getting fuller and fuller. Just before departure, a group came into our compartment with a ticket in hand. I remember the words like it was yesterday: "Sorry, we have a reservation."

So we had to get up (there were 5 of us) and of course we couldn't get a seat anymore. So we had to sit on the floor the whole ride. In the 7 hours to Rome, we hardly got a wink as people kept walking past us. Arriving in Rome, we were completely devastated. But the train was suddenly empty. So we decided that we would continue to Naples to get at least 3 hours of sleep. In Naples, we went back directly with a faster train and were able to doze a little longer. We were in Rome around 4 p.m., looked at the Coliseum and then moved on to a campsite outside and just chilled there for 3 days. That was a memorable adventure. But I can tell you one thing: After this incident, there isn't a long train ride that I don't have a reservation for! :D

[Mike Clarke]

My earliest transportation memory was when I was flying to New Zealand from England when I was 4 years old.
The flight staff gave my younger brother and I a toy each (probably to help keep us quiet!).

I remember he got an amazing metal crocodile with a snapping jaw - I got a plastic cow!
Spent much of the flight trying to swap the toys 

[Chu Dam]

One of my favorite souvenir in Vietnam... I took the train from Hue et Hoi An... An incredible slow train trip with amazing views! 😃🚂 On one side, you can enjoy jungle view, monkeys and others incredibles animals, then on the side you can spend hours looking at the sea and islands... 

[Randy O_Neal]

@summer.hogan I took that Durango to Silverton train ride back when I was a young teenager... absolutely loved it!  It's a narrow-gauge railroad... don't know how many of those exist these days.  The ride is stunningly beautiful.  Thanks for sharing your memories and the pictures!!

Randy

[Ram Kumar Aravindakshan _Adaptavist_]

I still remember returning from a hill-top hotel in Ooty (India). It was a very windy trip going in circles down the hill, and I ended up throwing up.

[ABR]

Hi, @Kristján Geir Mathiesen

Although it isn't my earliest memory of transportation, it certainly is the most interesting!

When I was about 14 years we visited a dear friend of my father who lived in a remote village.

We started a long drive right in the morning. After a five-hour drive, we reached a river which we crossed by boat, Then boarded a bus for 1 hour, took a 3-hour open-van ride, then a long 3 km walk. By early evening, we reached our destination, after a long tiresome travel! I'll remember it always!