Long, because the plane was not yet the most used means of transport. So all transfers were made by rail, sea and bus. In 1950, members traveled in compartments of 8 without berths and soon after the train left, they understood how to organize the place in order to have a semblance of comfort and sleep. It was then much closer to a carriage hosting a summer camp or a scout group!!
The first transfer in the history of Club Méditerranée took place on June 4, 1950, from the Gare d'Austerlitz in Paris. Five cars were attached to the regular train for Barcelona. The first 742 Club Méditerranée members were on their way to Alcudia for a 15-day vacation.
In 1954, for the new village of Djerba which had just opened, the transfer was made by plane. The Paris/Tunis flight was operated by Air France on board a double-decker Bréguet. In Tunis, a connection on Tunis Air was provided by a good old DC3. This plane, also called Dakota, was widely used for transporting troops during the Second World War, particularly during the Allied landings in Normandy in June 1944. It also had the quality of landing on any type of terrain. The flight connected Tunis to Djerba where an improvised runway was present.
The same year, we traveled to Corfu in 3 days. The journey began at the Gare de Lyon on board the Simplon Express on Saturday evening, which reached Venice early the next morning. After a day of free time in the Venetian city, the GMs boarded a boat in the evening bound for the Corfiot island via Brindisi.
Arriving in Corfu, they boarded the Club's caiques, which triumphantly arrived in the village on Tuesday!!
A few years later, transfers became faster and more modern. The introduction of special Club Méditerranée trains thanks to agreements with the SNCF and the increase in modes of transport made it possible to offer GMs better conditions. For Cefalu in the late 1950s, the choice between a special train to Naples + boat or a train to Marseille + a special seaplane considerably shortened the journey time.
