The 1970s, by virtue of being 50 years in the past, were a very different time. The world was bigger and so was the hair. The pants were tight in the crotch and loose at the ankles. Your parents were young and probably doing things that would make you horrified if you heard them now.
Travel looked different too. There was no Google Maps, no Google Translate. Czechoslovakia was still a country. But, believe it or not, Contiki was even then a thing.
The travel company is celebrating 55 years of putting young people on buses together and facilitating what are essentially extended, mobile parties through Europe.
Contiki started in 1962, beginning with a six-week mini-van camping trip for a dozen Aussies and Kiwis across Europe. Nowadays they have 300 different trips operating across 60 different countries, which is probably more countries than I can list off the top of my head.
Whereas the folks in the 60s were an average of 20 years old and most interested in travelling to England, France, Italy and Switzerland, the millennial Contiki-goer is, on average, 27 and most likely to go to Central Europe and the Mediterranean.
Wondering what that sweet ’60s ‘Tiki experience looked like? Cop a squiz at this ad from the 70s. It has everything you would expect – big hair, big glasses of beer, discos, landline phones, and, of course, fully clothed people jumping into water that you can somehow tell just from looking is freezing cold:
Fun bonus fact: apparently one in three Contiki trips results in a marriage? If you’re keen to put a ring on it or have someone put a ring on it for you, get out there and work those odds.
Photo: Supplied.
