The Journey

6 January 1977

I am writing this while we are in the first hour of our flight from Chicago to Luxembourg. Alice and I have just finished a Manhattan and Susanna a Coke. We took off at 8:23 a.m., not too far off from the scheduled 7:30 departure time.

Preparations for this trip began months, even years ago. And even now we are not sure what will happen once we touch down in Luxembourg. We started in the fall trying to find the cheapest ticket. After checking with Vista Travel Agent and discovering that average regular fare -- even Icelandic -- would cost more than $2,000 we (or rather, Alice) kept looking for better rates. Finally, through National Center for Educational Travel (NCET) we are arranged to fly on an Affinity Flight as members of AAUP (American Association of University Professors). Alice had to re-activate her 1968-70 membership to qualify for the 6-month prior membership requirement. After some initial problems of determining the price -- first a misprint, then a fare increase -- we paid around $1,100 for tickets for the three of us (Susanna goes half faire). So far these tickets seem valid. At least, we are on our way.

I’ll not go back so far as to detail the many months of thinking about the trip before any actual preparation began. During the fall, however, we asked questions and got advice from many other people who had been abroad. The notes we took are included in the last pages of this book. Most helpful were Steve and Jean Dill, Steve and Ann Ward, Jack and Phyllis Noble, Ray and Kathleen Block, Bob and Lee MacLaird.

The final days of preparations were not helped by Alice’s illness. She was sick Christmas and several days afterward. We did manage to get the house cleaned and our personal items into the attic so that our renters, Stephan Chester and Lori Scully, could move in by the 10th of January (Beth Elbe is to take care of Antigone the cat in the interim). We got most of the packing done and left Vermillion on Saturday January 1, 1977, getting to Eau Claire at about 9:00 p.m.

During this period I made most of the arrangements for the financial matters concerning this trip. Bob Stark is handling most of this (at National Bank of South Dakota) we have arranged for him to send a draft of $1,500 per month (in US dollars to a bank that we choose when we get to London.)

At Eau Claire, we relaxed a good bit and repacked most of our luggage, weeding out nearly half of what we had originally packed. I think we kept our weight below the 44 lbs per person authorized for International Travel; but I don’t think the Icelandic counter people even looked at the scales when we weighed in.

Our connecting flight from Eau Claire to Chicago was uneventful, although we stopped twice -- Green Bay and Milwaukee -- and had time to take a walk into the terminal building each time. Mother and Dad Tealey took us to the airport at Eau Claire and we said goodbye to them there.

With a five-hour wait in Chicago, we took our time getting off the North Central plane. Our luggage was there waiting and the first of what will no doubt be many luggage headaches began. We loaded our three suitcases onto the luggage cart we bought in Eau Claire and set out with that and with Susanna pulling the suitcase on wheels. Progress was slow, but we finally made it to the International Terminal and to Icelandic Airlines desk. They put our luggage right through, even checking the cumbersome luggage rack.

We then ate lunch (4:30), at the airport coffee shop. I went to call the Austrian tourist office while Alice and Susanna finished.

Susanna introduced herself to a couple from England with two children. We later met them in the waiting area and Susanna and the two children had a fine time playing. We learned that their names were Pat and Brian O’Connell and their children’s names are John (4} and Alexandra (a girl, age 3).

Their address is in the back of this book. While waiting, I managed to write letters to Reaves, Daddy, and Greg Jember, which will probably arrive after we do. I also exchanged $50 ($49.88) for 1,750 Belgian Francs.

Intercontinental Travel

When we moved to the Icelandic Gate (C4) -- going through security was much easier than Eau Claire; I did not allow my camera and film supply to go through the x-ray but handed them around -- we had to stand in a large crowd for maybe 45 minutes.

Susanna’s usual charming assertiveness allowed us to engage in conversation with a couple named Walter and Gladys Foster (I think) who are escorting a group of 19 practice teachers from Northern Illinois State University (DeKalb) to England. Mrs. Foster has a “sabbatical” from an elementary school.

At this point we have eaten and most people are asleep. [1] It is almost 1:00 a.m. Central Standard Time, which makes it probably about 8:00 a.m. in England. We are due to land at Keflavik, Iceland within the hour.

Without other overseas flights to make comparisons, it is hard to pass judgement on this one. There is a difference from domestic flights. Here everyone is friendly, almost jolly, with a sense of adventure. There is a mixture of middle-aged types; some we have identified as academics; a number of students (at least 19). Earlier, there was considerable movement up and down the aisle. The stewardesses are overworked and not too much in evidence. I asked one for a pillow and she said she had not seen one around and set off vaguely looking but never returned. They all speak with accents and probably are Icelandic. Instructions prior to the take-off came in Icelandic, French, and English. The Icelandic must have been for nationalistic reasons rather than for anyone for who might have been monolingual. From all I can tell, almost everyone aboard this flight is American.

The plane, by the way, is a Super DC8, in pretty good shape except for a few minor problems such as a tilting tray.

[1] For our meal we had beef and noodles and not codfish as we expected. Susanna told the “waitress” she wanted chicken.