How summer holidays have changed since the 1950s
Aah, the halcyon days of glamorous air hostesses, demure swimming costumes and not a selfie stick in sight… This is what travel looked like in the 1950s – and it’s fabulous
05 August 2015
Inflight entertainment: You played bridge, not blockbusters
BOAC cabin service, early 1950s (British Airways Heritage Museum)
Air travel was a novelty in the 1950s, but if you needed a distraction on long journeys you had to make your own fun. A game of cards, a novel, or a spot of letter writing – not an iPad or inflight entertainment system in sight.
Air hostesses: The epitome of glamour
BOAC cabin crew, early 1950s (British Airways Heritage Museum)
Oh, they were so well dressed, so demure, so darn fabulous.
Airports: They were exciting, not exasperating
DC-3 airliner loading passengers 1951 – ©iStock.com/Nancy Nehring
In the 1950s, you didn’t have to walk for miles to find your departure gate – and there were no ridiculous check-in queues. When did they turn into soul-destroying capitalist monstrosities? And when did we all turn into onesie-wearing zombies?
Aeroplane attire: You wore your best clothes
Passengers boarding a BEA Vickers Viking (British Airways Heritage Museum)
You dressed up, not down, when boarding a flight in the 1950s – and kept your trilby hat on too. It was style over comfort every time: nobody flew in their bobbly Sponge Bob pyjamas.
Holiday snaps: No pouts allowed
©iStock.com/malerapaso
Can you remember the days before selfies? When people actually faced the monument/sunset/elephant they were taking a photo of? And didn’t do a duck-face pout? No, us neither…
Beachwear: ‘Less’ wasn’t always ‘more’
Stockbyte/Getty images
Ok, so those shorts aren’t great, but at least they’re not budgie smugglers. But that swimsuit? Lovely.
Like this? Don’t miss Expedia’s Golden Age of Travel – was the 1950s the heyday of travel, or are we living the dream now? You decide…
