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The aircraft that carried pilot John Alcock and navigator Arthur Whitten Brown from Newfoundland, in Canada, to Ireland, where it crash-landed near the town of Clifden. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Opinion
Travellers' Checks
by Adam Nebbs
Travellers' Checks
by Adam Nebbs

Remembering the world’s first transatlantic flight that crash-landed in Ireland 100 years ago

Also, new art deco hotel in quirky Otaru offers stylish alternative for exploring Sapporo region and Caribbean cruise by Moody Blues frontman offers raft of ripe rockers for seven nights of old-school entertainment

At about 8.40am on June 15, 1919, a modified bomber aircraft crash-landed in a boggy field near the town of Clifden, on the west coast of Ireland. Battered and dazed, pilot John Alcock and his navigator, Arthur Whitten Brown, had become the first men to fly non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean, having taken off in Newfoundland, Canada. The British pair were knighted by King George V within the week.

On June 16, sensational headlines and both men’s photos dominated front pages, from The New York Times to the Daily Mail, whose £10,000 prize they had just won. The news was slow to reach Hong Kong and, when it did, coverage was slim. On June 18, The Hongkong Telegraph ran eight lines from Reuter’s Pacific Service noting the completion of the flight, but not its significance. The next day the paper ran a more substantial paragraph, having realised the possibilities for Hong Kong travellers, wondering, “who’ll be the first Hongkongite to fly home?”

In his book One Summer: America 1927 (2013), author Bill Bryson wrote that perhaps “never have flyers braved greater perils in a less substantial craft [...] There really has never been a more hair-raising, seat-of-the-pants-flight.” Yet when he found Graham Wallace’s “classic” The Flight of Alcock & Brown (1955) in the renowned London Library, in St James Square, he was the first person to borrow it in 17 years. It took twice that long for a statue of Alcock – who died in a plane crash six months after the crossing – and Brown to be commissioned and installed at Heathrow Airport.

That statue has just been moved by road to the grounds of the grand Abbeyglen Castle Hotel in Clifden – not far from the original crash-landing spot – as part of the Alcock & Brown 100 Festival, which runs from June 11 to 16. A timely new book titled Race Across the Atlantic: Alcock and Brown’s Record-Breaking Non-Stop Flight, by Bruce Vigar and Colin Higgs, is published this month by Air World.

Unwind Hotel & Bar Otaru opens in Hokkaido, Japan

A rendering of the recently opened Unwind Hotel & Bar Otaru, in Japan.

A small art-deco-style hotel, built in the 1930s to accommodate foreign visitors to the northern Japanese port town of Otaru, has just reopened with a new name after a 10-year closure. The boutique Unwind Hotel & Bar Otaru is located in front of the more traditional Etchuya Ryokan, whose owners built the hotel, and which has been open since the 1870s.

Otaru is about 30 minutes by train from Sapporo and is sometimes promoted as an alternative base from which to explore the region. Known for its excellent seafood, music-box shops and street-side glass blowers, it’s one of the more interesting towns in Hokkaido.

Tickets for annual On the Blue classic rock cruise on sale this month

From April 1 to 8, the Norwegian Pearl will become a floating classic rock venue, hosting the likes of The Zombies, Art Garfunkel and Wishbone Ash.

Tickets for The Moody Blues frontman Justin Hayward’s annual On the Blue classic rock cruise are on sale this month. The Norwegian Pearl will spend seven nights in the Caribbean from next April 1 to 8 with acts including The Zombies, Alan Parsons, Art Garfunkel, Wishbone Ash, Focus, Dave Mason, Al Stewart, Ronnie Spector and the Ronettes, Deep Purple’s Glenn Hughes, and many more ripe old rockers.

See onthebluecruise.com for details, availability and reservations.

Deal of the week – two nights in Singapore

The Hotel Boss is available as part of Lotus Tours’ two-night package to Singapore.

Lotus Tours’ two-night Singapore package starts from HK$2,280 per person, twin share, for a stay at the Hotel Boss near Little India. More central and trendy, the newish Yotel Singapore just off Orchard Road starts from HK$2,550 while M Social Singapore at Robertson Quay has rooms from HK$2,810.

These prices include flights with Cathay Pacific and daily breakfast. For more hotel choices and other details, click the English tab at the Lotus Tours website and select Packages on the menu bar.

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