My first trip to America goes back 45 years ago. Our PanAm flight departed London Heathrow on 25th August 1981. We were booked on a Fly / Drive package on our way to Seattle.
This was the country where Ronald Reagan had taken up the Presidency, earlier in the year. For nerds, like me, it was the start of a revolution that eventual touched us all. The IBM Personal Computer (IBM PC) was launched on the world in August 1981. It became a standards setter for everything that followed.
What was state of the art then is now described as “classic”. The PanAm Boeing 747 we flew on across the Atlantic was of the first generation of that massive passenger aircraft. Still, at the time, an object of wonder. My traveling companions and I were completely wide-eyed about America. There was definitely a feeling that we were leaving a depressed, rebellious, troubled country to visited one that was huge, just like the jumbo jet, full of adventure, optimism and possibilities. The old world to the new world.
The four of us had planned our trip meticulously. Sharing the driving, a couple of days here then a day there, constantly on the move from motel to motel. In the end we did over 6000 miles up and down the West Coast. Getting to know Interstate 5.
What of the America today in comparison with the Amecia of 45 years ago? For one, I don’t have to go far to find a Starbucks anymore. Coffee shops in Seattle were once special to that city, now there are everywhere. Then gambling was the specialisation of cities like Reno and Las Vegas. Now, the internet is festooned with gambling of every conceivable kind.
Those folk easily classified as the nerds of their time, started small businesses in Silicon Valley with an aim to change the world. Guess what, they did.
Some of the grandest, most awe-inspiring aspects of West Coast America haven’t changed. The immense landscape. Mount St Helens, The Rocky Mountains, Crater Lake, Death Valley, San Francisco Bay and even the freeway sprawl of Los Angeles.
There were lots of comedy sketches about Ronald Reagan and his background as an actor. Now, when listening to several of his well-crafted speeches, appealing presentation, and humour, the distance of time sheds a different light on him. The loss of professionalism that marks 2026 is a great shame. It doesn’t matter which side of the political divide.
Today we talk about the world being more dangerous than it has been in decades, at least a couple of decades. What we conveniently forget is that the Cold War was in full swing in 1981. Now, I live near Greenham Common. Back 45 years, that was a site for American nuclear missiles. The site of a legendary peace camp too. Maybe there are inevitable cycles in history. We are destined to repeat the mistakes of the past. Or more accurately old men are destined to repeat the mistakes of the past.
What have we learned? In politics, it does matter what you say. In business, innovation and optimism win out over caution and pragmatism. In conflict, nothing much changes.
In travel, wanderlust never dims.
Happy July 4th.
John Vincent 