Why David Bowie always preferred to cruise rather than fly
The Thin White Duke was a big fan of cruising, but the reason might surprise you.
In the early 1970s David Bowie was on a stormy flight that triggered a severe fear of flying. For years afterwards, he refused to set foot on a plane. He was quoted as saying at the time “If it flies, it’s death. I won’t fly because I’ve had a premonition I’ll be killed in a plane crash if I do. If nothing happens by 1976 I’ll start to fly again.”
The only problem was, Bowie has a huge world tour on the books beginning in 1972. The British singer-songwriter was now popular in the USA and was about to embark on his first ever tour, the Ziggy Stardust Tour. The 83-day tour criss-crossed the country, covering more than 25,000 kilometres with concerts in New York City, Memphis, Nashville, Chicago, Seattle and Los Angeles. And all of it was done by road or rail.
Once the US tour was completed, the next stop was Japan. So Bowie and his crew boarded a ship to cruise across the Pacific. He then completed the Japanese leg of his tour by land. To return home to the UK, Bowie chose a journey on one of the world’s most iconic trains, the Trans-Siberian Express.
Over the years, Bowie continued to tour around the world and – even though his 1976 deadline had passed – he often used cruise ships when he had the time. He sailed on the famous QE2 as well as the SS Leonardo Da Vinci, the Canberra and the Oronsay. Often he would give impromptu acoustic performances for the passengers and crew while onboard.