Remarkably Changed

Travel

Boarding a Plane in 1985 Looked Nothing Like It Does Today

In 1985, booking a flight meant calling a travel agent, waiting days for paper tickets to arrive in the mail, and strolling to the gate with zero security screening. Flying was a formal, expensive ritual reserved mostly for business travelers and the well-off. What happened next changed everything.

Mar 13, 2026

Finance

Your Grandparents Spent Nearly a Third of Everything They Earned Just on Food

In the early 1900s, the average American family spent close to 30 percent of their income just keeping the household fed. Today that figure sits around 10 percent. The collapse in food's share of the household budget is one of the most underappreciated economic shifts in US history — and it puts today's grocery complaints in a very different light.

Mar 13, 2026