What International Air Travel Was Like in the 1930s

[CHamilton]

What International Air Travel Was Like in the 1930s

...passengers paid incredibly high prices to hop around the world. The longest flights could span over 12,000 miles and cost as much as $20,000 when adjusted for inflation.

A flight from London to Brisbane, Australia, for instance, (the longest route available in 1938) took 11 days and included over two dozen scheduled stops.

 

[ALC Rail Writer]

I read the published letters of British author Aldous Huxley (1893-1963) and he wrote extensive travelogues and correspondence back home. During one trip in 1925-26 he took a train from London to Italy, boarded a liner that went through the Red Sea to Bombay, a few weeks up and down elephants, trains and cars through north India and Pakistan and then a week's long boat ride through the Siamese peninsula, caught a boat to Manilla that went through Panama up to Jamaica then to New York and back to London. On a trip in 1936 he took an ocean lined to New York and then flew to Mexico City, explored Central America, flew back to Los Angeles and then went by train to stay with D. H. Lawrence before driving to Los Angeles and taking a flight to New York and a liner back to Europe.

 

[railiner]

If you want to enjoy a good read, and learn about transaltlantic air travel around 1939, I would highly recommend the novel "Night Over Water", a best-seller by Ken Follett.

It is a thriller with a splendid description of travel on Pan American's Boeing 314 Super Clipper.