Inside Google Founder Sergey Brin’s Plan to Build Airships

I've been dreaming for years that in some future I might be able to take an enjoyably-slow 'cruise' across Europe in such a thing.

YMMV.

- ed - for the record, the idea of going on an actual ship-based cruise does not at all appeal to me.

Without jet engines or jet fuel and in general being much less useful for mass destruction [1] there's a lot less need for "airplane security" and the modern American TSA apparatus. I still feel like that alone provides some benefits over current air travel modes. It would be nice to again have a form of more leisurely air travel with fewer security checkpoints and armed marshals involved.

Beyond that, Airships can be more "luxurious" in terms of cabin space utilization, given the differences in safety needs during takeoff/landing and turbulent environments in comparison to other aircraft. They can be more social and humane. That can be a fun trade-off for the differences in travel time. An airship cabin could be a bar/casino/lounge and give you something to do while you travel (in the old ways of train transportation and river transportation). They can give your legs some space to walk around rather than remain uncomfortably trapped in a single seat for hours (risking embolisms and related problems).

[1] Even when filled purely with Hydrogen. We all know the pop culture images of the Hindenburg disaster, but that disaster was incredibly relatively safe. It was "slow motion" enough that very few casualties occurred. Made for spectacular film coverage, of course, but overall everything about it was on a very different scale from modern jet liner crashes and pop culture has over the decades done nothing but ballooned the idea of the danger much beyond what it actually was.

Boredom

It is such a cliché that if the TV show “Silicon Valley” was still around it would have to be a subplot.

I assume it means they’ve already bought all the cars, planes, boats, wristwatches, and art they can think of.

It doesn’t seem that surprising to me. At a certain level of excessive wealth you will start traveling by private jets, which may tickle your fancy and expose you to a lot more of the nuts and bolts of aviation. And if you’re into expensive cars, well, private planes are the next level beyond that.

Then do it. Why not? You'll have to start small and short.

This looks cool - https://www.grottedelasalamandre.com/en/balloon/

I went on an aerophile and they were fun https://www.aerophile.com/en/

If you are chasing a transatlantic mission then you've got a wait and it'll cost far more than a first class airplane ticket.

I think the longest atm for passengers is 2 hours €‎1000 - https://zeppelinflug.de/en/