Unique Travels
Hey Everyone!
This is my first Friday Fun post so hopefully it gets close to hitting the mark. :-)
My wife and I are taking a dinner train trip for a couple of hours this Saturday with an old locomotive and the old Pullman dinning cars. I am so excited about it.
But secretively, I have always wanted to ride in a hot air balloon or a Zeppelin. Maybe one day!
So here's the question - what's the most unique mode of transportation you have ever used? Or what is something that would be a dream mode of transportation to try? (Let's try to keep it to actual items that exist :-)
18 comments
It reminds me of our US road trip - we've enjoyed the view from the Golden Gate Bridge very much :-D!
Sounds awesome @John Funk Reminds me of "Murder on the Oriental Express" that I watched not too long ago. I have never tried this. Great idea. Hope you have a good time.
We had an RV for couple of years and did quite a bit of traveling. Maybe not unique but very fun :)
This is so fun to think about. I've done a funicular (Los Angeles), a canal boat (Amsterdam), and a gondola (Venice). Probably the most memorable was renting a jet ski on Donner Lake a few years ago! Can't wait to go back once it's safe again.
Really tough call for most unique mode (and depending on definition of transportation too...), so take your pick/pic!
Sailplane flying (an old Schweizer I learned on)
Bob Bondurant Driving School
Avro Lancaster Bomber
The Picton Castle
Bluenose II with the wife even (she mostly doesn't engage in my shenanigans!)
Congrats Hitman 🥳 🎉 👏
@John Funk Well done on your first Friday Fun! This is a beaut. So much fun, and really awesome to see everyone’s very different and super unique experiences! You hit the mark so hard, every Mark in the universe is like “yo, why my head hurt!?” 🤕 😂
Speaking of Universe... 🌍 🌠
My most unique travel has been in space! Actually it started before I was even born. And it will go on long after I have passed away also! And all of my 7 billion human buddies, all our ancestors and all our descendants, are coming along for the ride!
That’s right people, the FMA has turned up the “Fun-k” (double pun, get in my son!!) and has chosen planet earth as his most unique travel.
This entity we call “home” is a fricking space ship man!! 🚀 🛸And whilst there are similar planets to ours in existence, NONE are inhabited. We are LITERALLY the most unique travel in the entire (known) universe!! But that’s not all....
Did you know that Earth is spinning (at the equator) an impressive 1,037 mph (1,670 km/h)!??
And different latitudes have different spin speeds!
BUT...! Did you also know that Earth is orbiting the sun at a whopping 66,627 mph (107,226 km/h)!?? 😱
But that’s not all! The sun itself is hurtling through space at an insane 448,000 mph (720,000 km/h) whilst the Milky Way is busting an unfathomable 70 miles per SECOND (112km).
It’s fun to think that we are never ever in the same spot twice, each and every millisecond, and that as you read this comment, you just travelled thousands of miles through space.
OMGosh....!!!! 😳 😱
After reading this comment how i felt : 
Well, it was pretty fun and unique trying dog sledding in Colorado a few years ago, although we didn't go very far:
But I have a soft spot for the Amtrak Coast Starlight. We won a trip on it to go snowboarding at Mt. Bachelor in Oregon, and have taken it a few times since, with one, and then two boys.
Traveling by rail in the US is impractical. It's slow. It's often late. It's expensive. It's old. It's not "charming" (unless you're a fan of like 70ish decor/amenities).
But.
It's an underdog. Like the post office. From an era when kind of boring and utilitarian was pretty good.
Sleeper cars are tiny, and cramped, and fun, in a weird way. The food in the dining car isn't anything to write home about, but it's still impressive to be able to get a decent steak and potatoes on a moving train.
You'll get to meet other weird train fans, as well as folks who don't like flying, or just people who wanted to try something off the beaten path, to enjoy the scenery, or to just read a book, play a board game, or sleep, as you slowly but surely make your way to your destination.
Here we are in the now-retired Pacific Parlor car. :-{
Metadata from ye olde iPhone 6S (still using it!) says that we're probably passing Anderson Island, near Tacoma, WA.
While on a roadtrip in Holland, we spent a couple of days on the Island of Texel. You only get there by boat, it's really quiet and it has some great and very extended beaches, good roads for riding the occasional bike and so on.
While we were there, we noticed we could take a small plane for a flight over the islands. Always nice to get a different view of the environment, so we went for it.
It turned out to be a very weird experience. For starters, the plain turned out to be very small, so only two of us could get on board. We decided pretty quickly that would be my then 9-year old daughter and me.
Next, they told us the interior decoration had been kept very minimalistic, so we would have to dress into working clothes to make sure we wouldn't make ourselves dirty or something.
So we did. Two other guys were there as well who claimed to have taken that plane before, but didn't see any wildlife from above back then. We suspect they had gotten a voucher to try again in better circumstances.
Before we knew it, we were up in the air. But the experience was terrible. The plane didn't even have proper seats. And you know how it goes when people start complaining - soon everyone has something to add to the discussion.
Things got so out of hand that suddenly someone decided to simply open the door. And we left the bloody thing in mid flight ...
... and that's how I accidentally ended up on my first parachute jump from a 3k altitude :-)
Both the weather and the location were great. It seems you can jump from a plane for the first time only once - so that really was a once in a lifetime experience!
I almost forgot I have sailed on a pirate ship once. It was during our visit of Japan, in Hakone district, which is famous for wasabi :-).
So here's the update from Saturday's train ride. Very enjoyable and a nice dinner. We were one an old Pullman dining car, circa 1910-18. Two hours total - and passed by the Chattanooga National Cemetery, the second largest military cemetery in the US, behind Arlington National.
I am going to go full on Janet this time.
I have lived in Ardèche, France during 18 years. Fun fact about Ardèche : it is the only French department without passenger train ! Ooray for riding your parents car, your bike, the bus or your feet if you live there as a kid !
The only passenger train you have currently in Ardèche is The Mastrou, a tourist railway.
Looks a bit like the Hogwarts Express, in Bouncier, smokier and noisier. And without the Trolley witch with its Honeydukes candies. Actually it does not ressembles the Hogwarts Express at all.
My parents took me for a ride when I was a kid. It was fun. I guess ? I actually only remember the noise I think.
And it has got it's own Wikipedia page !
Reading through the comments I realised I have a few more than I first thought. :)
- I grew up near an old steam train called Puffing Billy which I've been on many times. You used to be able to dangle your legs out the side and I arrived once with only 1 gumboot, the other having been dropped somewhere along the way. I don't think they let you sit on the edge anymore sadly.
- I worked on a Cruise Ship in the Greek Islands when I was 19/20. That was a pretty fun way to travel/work. It was a small 320 passenger ship with it's original 1960's fittings and was absolutely charming. https://www.midshipcentury.com/stella-oceanis
- I also lived in the Blue Mountains and have been on the Scenic world train. Very steep and lots of fun.
- I've been on a few old ships and steamboats, pedalboats, gondolas and so on, including a few cable cars like this one up to Santorini
- But my biggest claim to unusual travel is that I am a Hot Air Balloon Pilot. I've been around them all my life, but only a pilot for the last 4 of those. I'm yet to try a zeppelin or a Gas balloon, but I do know a few people with licences for them so hopefully one day. Because balloons themselves aren't that unusual for me, here's a pic of the weirdest balloon I have been in charge of (for a tether rather than free flight) She's callled the Sky Whale and is as you can imagine rather controversial, but a lovely piece of flying art and some impressive engineering.
Unique Mode of Transportation for me has been Horseback. I grew up with Quarter Horses and we'd always go riding on trails and county roads.
