Writing Through Clouds

Check out this spectacular design for an airship — the “Manned Cloud” by French designer Jean-Marie Massaud. Massaud envisions his giant airship as a flying hotel — just like the Zeppelin company thought of the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelin airships. But this huge ship has a few extra features that even Erich and his crew could have only dreamed of, including a restaurant, a library, a gym, and even a spa. And, believe it or not, Manned Cloud will have a sun deck on top!

Manned Cloud is designed to carry 40 passengers — about the same complement as Erich’s ship, the Graf Zeppelin II — and a crew of 15 for cruises of up to 5,000 km. It’s still in the design stage, so there’s no word on when we might be seeing one of these. What I want to know is, when can I buy tickets?

They certainly would be if this BBC reporter had his (or her) druthers! The reporter recently took a trip in a Zeppelin, and had this to say about the possibilities for future air travel by airship:

“The trip would certainly remind us that flight does not have to be foul, cramped, undignified and an easy way to get a DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis),” the reporter writes. “Like every other economy sardine, I long for the alternative of actually enjoying a flight.”

Maybe someday we all can!

I guess you could say that last week had bookends. It started on Sunday with the Baltimore Book Festival, and ended on Saturday with the Collingswood Book Festival, and in between was a lot of work! And the best part was that by the end I had a lot fewer books, a lot more friends, and one more person in the car than we started with!

How did I manage that, you ask? Well, read on…

Read the rest of this entry »

In my previous post, I dropped a hint about an unexpected e-mail that contained some exciting news about the destination of the newest Zeppelin.

Well, here are the details!

(Drumroll, please!)

If all goes well, Zeppelin NT07 #4’s home will be . . .

Read the rest of this entry »

Way back in November of last year, I wrote about the journey of the airship “Spirit of Dubai” from England to the United Arab Emirates. As the ship crossed Europe, the official website chronicled its progress using Google Earth and the Captain’s Log reported in almost daily. Then, in late January, as the ship reached Crete — silence. For months, there was no news.

What happened to it?

Read the rest of this entry »