(I'm asking this question for a novel I'm writing, and I checked the rules and don't seem to see anything about asking specific questions for novels, but please let me know where else I should go!)
A young American man (22) needs to get from Ajaccio, Corsica to Columbus, Ohio. For the purposes of this question, he can have any papers you like and he has a patron with effectively unlimited wealth and who can also call in some high-level connections. Obviously, the patron would prefer not to have to spend his money if he doesn't have to.
Would it be possible to get passage between the two locations? Would it be easy? Would he need to pull strings to get put as crew on some other boat, or would it just be a matter of buying a ticket and showing up?
What would the craft be like? Would it be possible to get passage on some sort of passenger aircraft? The wikipedia article for commercial aviation says that it basically started after WW2 left a bunch of surplus aircraft around the place, so I'm thinking we're probably looking at a boat.
How long would the journey take? How dangerous would it be?
Ohio is landlocked, so unless he manages to get a direct flight, he's going to need to travel over land in the USA. Which port is he likely to enter, and how is he going to travel from there to Columbus? (Train, taxi, bus?)
Note: The traveller is a deserter from the American army, so he'd like to avoid any sort of military or American vessel for obvious reasons. Let's say it's January 1945, if you want a date.
EDIT: Also, could he have taken a dog with him?
Thanks in advance!
In case anyone in the far future is researching this for whatever reason and comes upon this post, I did some of my own research when help wasn't forthcoming on here.
Note that this is all from a 15 minute google session, so I'm sure it's not accurate and there were great subtleties missed. (And if any of you lovely historians are somehow reading this and want to correct anything, by all means! I'd love it.)
Firstly, I've moved the date to June 1945 - that's after the official European surrender. It makes things a bit cleaner for overland travel and clearing the channel (if needed).
Various big liner ships were used in the war to move troops, injured people, and so on. There were the beginnings of commercial aviation, but the war saw many of the commercial companies' resources being used in military applications. But a liner ship seems the obvious choice. Some seemed to come out of Southampton, but I think some also came out of Lisbon. New York was a popular destination.
So our traveler makes the following hops:
"Hopping on the boat" is kind of glossed over; my vague research didn't really help determine if these ships were used specifically by the military or if it was possible for a civilian to buy passage. Still, it's easy enough to think he could do it with the connections he has; either just plain bribery, being given an identity that was appropriate to get him on the ship, or "disappearing" a worker and taking their place.
On the dog? I think he'd probably be able to take him on the boat, but that's just based on a gut feeling, so I'm making him leave the dog behind instead.
