Neal Stephenson's Seveneves has a part (part 3) of the book that is set in the distant future. One plot point there is some kind of advanced glider basically exploiting the atmosphere to pick up enough energy over the course of a day to eventually get enough mass (by picking up water) and energy to eventually travel at high speeds & altitudes half way across the planet. Science fiction of course but he has a way of making this somewhat plausible.

Gliders sometimes use water ballast to store more energy so they can stay up longer. Basically after getting towed to an initial altitude they use thermals and ridge soaring to gain altitude. After that it's all about converting altitude to speed and distance based on their glide ratio. Having a high mass apparently helps. Hopping from one lift producing area to another, you can cover great distances.

Currently this is pretty much a recreational activity because you are dependent on weather, sunlight, and other things that are hard to predict and detect. But kind of intriguing notion what you could do if you had a way to reliably find areas with good lift.

On a related note, here's a youtube channel of a glider pilot in Kansas that regularly posts awesome footage from his glider. Here's some awesome footage of him exploring some mountains and exploiting available lift from winds hitting the rocks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bcd5Z46RGRU