Travelers

Country: Denmark

Manufacture: Royal Copenhagen

Date of establishment: 1950s

Size (cm): 43*16

Porcelain Story

I don't know if you can believe it, but organized travel originated largely due to the idea of intensifying... the fight against drunkenness. Yes, yes and yes again. That's exactly what it really was. But let's get on with it.

I once told you about Captain James Cook, who was supposedly eaten by the natives. Well, it turned out that no aborigines ate him. And he died during one of his very dangerous expeditions. By the way, recently in Great Britain celebrated the 290th anniversary of that famous captain - explorer of seas and oceans. And today in the same UK will celebrate the 210th anniversary of the birth of another world-famous English Cook-Thomas, an entrepreneur, famous for having invented organized tourism and opened the world's first travel agency, known to everyone as ''Thomas Cook Group''.

Thomas was born in Melbourne. Only not in Australia, but in England, in the county of Derbyshire. The family lived poorly and the boy from childhood had to work part-time, helping the gardener. On a paltry wage of sixpence a week. He was also a staunch Baptist and an equally staunch teetotaler. It even got to the point that one New Year's Eve, when people were already raising glasses of beer and ale, Thomas took a vow of sobriety, causing widespread bewilderment among the inhabitants of the small town. And then he went even further, deciding to organize trips to neighboring towns for excursions. Before him, such an idea had never even occurred to anyone!... But in his ever-sober mind, it did.

As soon as the railroad was opened in his native county, Thomas Cook immediately gathered all the few members of the local society of teetotalers -- and took them to the city of Loughborough. Everyone enjoyed the trip. All the more so because Cook was constantly feeding the teetotalers with pre-packaged sandwiches bought with his meager savings. That was in 1840.

A year later, Thomas Cook organized a group of 570 people to travel by rail. Just for promotional purposes. Then there was an excursion to the glorious city of Liverpool. Cook then began publishing a magazine advertising "alcohol-free travel". Alcohol consumption was so widespread in Britain at the time that such initiatives were not well received by many. But gradually, you know, things got better. And already in 1847 Cook organized the first travel agency, selling travel vouchers not only in England, but also in other countries.

In 1865, Thomas Cook paved the way for English tourists to the New World, and for Americans -- to the homeland of their ancestors, in Great Britain. By the way, one of the first American clients of Mr. Cook was the famous writer Mark Twain. Over time, Cook became a rather famous manager in the field of tourism organization, and the fashion for travel increasingly won the hearts of educated and wealthy people.

In fact, to imagine a trip without absolutely no alcoholic beverages for many of today's tourists may seem the height of folly. Why, then, buy a trip to Turkish or Greek hotels, in which ''all inclusive'', if everything is paid for, and should not drink! Of course, we can recommend them to enjoy their vacations and new impressions without getting drunk "to hell". But it's not our business to teach someone about life.