Flying the Concorde

After this week’s #TNI on twitter I have gotten a couple of emails about our experience on the Concorde so I thought instead of emailing each of you I will post it here for all to read. First some of you may be wondering just what is #TNI. It is short for Travelers Night In (#TNI) a chat on Twitter every Thursday at 3:30pm. It is about travel with a different topic each week and hosted by www.zipsetgo.com. It’s fun so check it out.

This week’s topic was Reckless Abandon. The question that was asked and the reason for this blog was largest financial risk you’ve taken in your travels?

I planned a surprise trip to France to tour the vineyards of Bordeaux for my honey for his birthday. As it turned out it was a once of a lifetime trip that could never be duplicated but I will leave the details of the trip for another time. We had round trip tickets on Air France to fly to Paris and about two weeks before the trip we got to talking over so good wine about how great it would be to fly the Concorde. I did some checking and found I could exchange our tickets for the Concorde and they were having a buy one get one for ½ price if you can believe that. It was an opportunity that may never come our way again and we aren’t people who pass up an opportunity especially when it comes to travel so we broke the bank and went for it.

When we arrived at JFK there is a special lounge for all passengers traveling on the Concorde. You basically never see the inside of the airport. There are special entrances and walk ways just for the passengers. Even for customs you are in a special area and it is quick. It was very early in the morning when we got to the lounge but there was a full spread of food and drinks available plus my favorite Dom Perignon Champagne.

Once on board we realized just how small the inside really was. It was comfortable but only seats 100 people. We left JFK 8:00am and arrived in Paris 3 ½ hours later. It took 10 minutes to reach mach 1 which breaks the sound barrier. The plane reached mach 2 for most of the flight which is 1,400 miles an hour. There is a clock or mach meter which shows you just how fast you are going, without that you would never know. During Flight we were served Bunch. Bunch was Omelet with creamed leeks and ginger, shrimps and Norwegian smoked salmon, along with an assortment of french cheese, sliced fruit, and breakfast breads. At one point I got up to use the bathroom and run into Ric Ocasek, lead singer for the rock band The Cars. At the end of the your supersonic Flight they offer you caviar with a glass of champagne as a special welcome in Paris.

The return trip was very memorable as Paul Newman was on the flight. My mother is a huge fan. She had both my children for the last 10 nights while we were on this trip and I really wanted to get a pic or something for her. I also know how private a person Paul is so I wasn’t sure how this was going to happen. I decided to write him a note and gave it to the flight attendant. He sent back one of the Concorde menus with a note to my mother. She was thrilled when we gave it to her.