UKUKUK

Lola

What are you talking about? Most of us?

I get 25 days of holiday a year and the Christmas break - not a lot. I cannot see how I will get to visit most countries in my lifetime unless I make a fortune and can retire early. I can visit perhaps two countries a year without rushing them. I never got to go abroad until I was sixteen so I will have to live until I am over 100 (regularly travelling) before I can visit most countries.

Also, I earn well above the average wage in the UK but I cannot afford to stay in hotels whenever I wish. I also can't do what I want most of the time as I have to work.

Lola

Sorry, UKUK, I was not clear.
Of course, most of us will not be able to travel to Any country and stay in Any hotel .
My point was that MOST of us on this Travel board, Travel.
We choose the hotel of our choice, we choose our destination. Within our means obviously.
When I said Most countries, I meant -We can visit most countries, not all, just most of them are there for us to visit if we wish..it is that freedom to travel that I was going for.

But the Concorde has always been this dream sort of trip , " If I had the money, I would take the Concorde to London and blah blah.."
So if a person has the money to spend on a flight on the Concorde, why does someone else feel the need to tell them that they are stupid for spending THEIR money?
To make it more understandable..did you ever say you wanted to buy an expensive car? Maybe a porsche? And your friends or family would tell you how stupid that would be and what do you need a car like that for?? Same thing.
It is your money and so far, we are all free to spend it the way we wish.

uhoh_busted

Sorry to see this thread turn so bitter. I may never have the means to fly first class, stay in 5 star hotels, take multiple vacations per year, etc. HOWEVER, I certainly do not begrudge anyone who is so fortunate to have more options than I to take advantage of that. The original poster is "retiredinflorida." You know nothing of this person's options or what his/her life situation is. When my mother retired to Florida and began to travel (especially after she fell in love and married a terrific guy --- them at ages 70 and 80 at the time) I was extremely happy for them. Frankly, they HAD the money to fly the Concorde and it was the last "big" trip they took, when she was 75 and he 85. She died last year at age 77. They didn't know that at the time, but no matter what your age if there's something you want to do and it is within your means to do it, DON'T FEEL GUILTY about doing it! You don't spend much time in classy hotel rooms after you are dead.

m_kingdom

You spend even less time in concorde when you are dead. Do a grand tour of Europe for that money, don't blow it on a few hours, it's nothing special - I don't fly on it anymore - who wants an old aircraft?

PCHsmiles

My sister actually came up missing during a Concord flight. My BIL fell asleep, and when he awoke she was no longer beside him. After 30 minutes, he became concerned and enlisted the flight attendant to search the rather slender aircraft. No luck, Later, they found her in the cockpit, in the fourth chair, invited to ride to NY by the captain. He recognized her from a number of other of his Concord flights she'd been aboard, and brought her up. My BIL was of course relieved and still chuckles about the day she disappeared aboartd Concord at 55,000 feet and almost mach 2. His business was quite generous in those times, as you may imagine.

UKUKUK

Lola

That makes more sense. Who knows - maybe I am Bill Gates pretending to be British. If this really is the case, I could buy all the seats so no one could be onboard and ruin the flight - and I still wouldn't really notice the cost.

MelJ

Uh-Oh Busted: AMEN, sister!

PCHsmiles

Anyone else feeling distinct brain cell loss due to the tedioso quality of this debate about the illusive and the obvious?

Travel by Concord isn't an issue of money. How can it be since you either have it or you don't. No brain automatic decision. Nobody posting on this board has been on it or can afford to be on it, so what the heck's the point of debating whether it makes sense. Who here can say there time is so important they will shell out the money - even if they had it, which they do not.

If somebody has a dream of doing a fantasy flight on it, ok, so be it. Move on. They probably have other expressed and unexpressed fantasies as well, all of which may be equally beyond their grasp. Lets let them be. Let their fingers do the walking as they type their way to the stars.

No harm done.

Katherine

Hi retiredinflorida...years ago when I graduated from College I went on the Concorde..it was a gift from my parents for making good grades. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience for me. I flew the Air France Concorde R/T from New York to Paris. At 22 I thought I had died and gone to heaven. The service was superior. Inside the plane it was narrow. The food was excellent. Now grant it...up until that point I never had flown in First Class before...so what a jump it was for me. Years later I would go onto work for a major carrier and got to fly First Class a lot. I would have to say that the Concorde is so special and cannot be compared to regular First Class. I am so glad that I had the priviledge of flying on the Concorde especially since it is going to be retired. Having done it once was enough...I would love to do it again but mere money prevents me from doing it....I say go for it..if you do it then you won't regret not doing it after they discontinue the flights and there is no more Concorde.

venexiano

By all means do NOT cancel!! Concorde is THE ultimate flying experience I took it last June from London to NY and thought it was worth every penny, everything from the lounge, to the service, and the fact that you cross the Atlantic in less than 3.5hrs is just awesome.

Of course my point of view is slightly biased since I'm a huge airplane buff (and missing out on Concorde would have been a tragedy, you understand ), but still I think that if you want to do something unique, Concorde is the way to go, before it is too late.

The last BA002 JFK-LHR flight is on Oct. 24 ....

Federico