I will be going to the States with Morgan this year for a month, during my vacation, which is scheduled for mid-August to mid-September.
I remember the days (until about 2003) when I would wait, procrastinate, and then finally buy a Lucky Fare from Icelandair. It would cost about 350 dollars for round trip airfare from Stockholm to New York. The ship from Tallinn to Stockholm? Don't mention it -- about thirty dollars for a spot on the deck.
Now, of course, there are no more deck spots or people sleeping in the sunroom. You have to get a stateroom, with the cheapest berth running well over $100 and entailing sharing a cabin with strangers (probably fierce smokers and drinkers). Springing for the whole coupe -- as one would do on Eastern European trains in the 1990s -- would be well over $300. Worth it last year, when three of us travelled.
Airfare, as many know, is double what it used to be. Things have now got to the point where I am considering a transatlantic cruise on the Queen Mary. For the thrill of entering New York the proper way, of course, but also for a taste of the future.
It's only a six-day crossing (though that, too, will change by 2025). For only slightly more than a high-season plane ticket, you get six nights in a cabin with board.
I came across something very enticing about a "free return flight to London" (too good to be true, right?) from as recent as last year, when the QE II still plied the Southampton-New York line. I take it it no longer exists, but that would make a sea crossing very competitive indeed. SleazyJet to London and then Southampton Dock.
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3 comments:
We have had these discussions too. That as our children age, it may make sense to spend more time in each place (US and Eesti) and take a ship across the sea, the "old fashioned" way.
Plane tickets definitely are more expensive. My uncle suggested that the reason I have been on more bumpy flights lately is because they are flying at lower altitudes to preserve gas.
Having done 4 crossings by sea I highly recommend it. Bounteous food seemingly served continuously, swimming, sunning, all sorts of entertainment, etc. Truly a unique experience. Not as much fun perhaps with a toddler (I've done it both ways)...but then what is, except maybe the zoo ; ) If seas are calm...should be that time of year...and no seasickness...then very idyllic.
Perhaps lower speeds. Flying in thicker air might save gas -- if a plane could be rigged to catch thermals and then glide to the next one.
As someone who doesn't fly very well and being an information junkie, I think those monitors showing speed and altitude are great, esepcially when they are active on takeoff and landing. But I noticed once that one of them didn't change at all when we hit an airhole.
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