Nerd Alert: Anyone else into Airships?

So I've been kinda obsessed with Zeppelins for a bit now, and mostly because no matter how cool I think they are, I know they're completely unfeasible as a modern form of transportation. They had their time and place when flying in airplanes was like riding a paint shaker, but now with first class cabins like small hotel rooms, there's no market for 130kph behemoths like this.

Still, I kinda felt like nerding out about them, so feel free to join me for a brief moment of nostalgia if you'd like.

This bad motherfucker is the Hindenburg. You can tell from the size and the nazi flag on the back. This was the biggest airship of all time, at 800 feet long and 135 feet across, carrying 50 passengers and a crew of 40. It got to about 120kph at cruising speed, taking just over 2 days to make it from Berlin to New Jersey. At the time it first flew, it was the biggest aircraft in operation and bar none the most luxurious way to travel. Stories tell that its ascent was so gentle that most people didn't realize they were 700 feet up until they woke up from their bunk. Quite a different experience than most takeoffs I've had, even with modern planes. (I don't know why I said it that way, it sounds like I've flown in not-modern planes, which I haven't)

You can see a rough sketch of the interior here. On the far left is the dining room and the starboard promenade, where 3-course meals were served by white-gloved waiters and you could sit and watch the clouds go by from the benches.

In the middle are the cabins, which I gotta say were less comfy-looking than the Graf Orlock. Good ol' Graffy had these nice plushy Victorian-styled cabins with wallpaper and portholes, but some idiot put spartan-style bunks in the middle of the Hindenburg with flip down cots and a basic sink. I blame the nazis, of course. They kinda ruin everything.

The port-side had a writing room in the back (I take it people liked to read and write on paper back then, so this would've made sense to have. today, maybe less so). The tables are in front of that was the lounge, where an aluminum piano (not pictured) would be played at times and I guess otherwise people would play monopoly and watch netflix or whatever people used to do in the 1930s for fun.

Downstairs was the bathroom area, the crew quarters, and the bar, which had a convenient airlock smoking room which just made sense when you were sitting under 7 million cubic feet of hydrogen. Apparently the bartender's most important job was spotting people leaving with a forgotten cigarette or pipe in their hand. Good thing he got 'em nice and toasty first before letting them go light up. Maybe that part could have been rethought, come to think of it...

This is a better picture of the Netflix room. You can see all the furniture is made of aluminum, as it was all throughout the rest of the airship because, you know, every ounce counts with lighter-than-air travel. This picture is taken from the port-side promenade, which was really ridiculously spacious and maybe an inefficient use of space.

Again, I blame the nazis.

This is actually the lounge from the British airship R101. See what a difference a complete lack of nazis makes? The furniture here is wicker, for similar weight reasons, but has way more of that certain je ne sais quoi. Floorspace might again be underutilized, but what's the point in drifting through the clouds if you're not gonna give yourself room to straight up get down?

So that brings us to today. This, as you may have realized, is not a real airship. There are some, but they're mostly big ugly blimp-looking things that are intended to be used to transport heavy goods to regions without infrastructure or terrain to build railroads, highways, or even landing strips. A bit of a far cry from the luxurious days of old, but it's awfully hard to persuade people to pay five times as much to fly ten times longer. Unless, maybe, we were talking about airship cruises?

Above is a concept drawing of an "Aether Airship". I'll be honest, I just like the interiors and overall look, but I could definitely imagine something like this parking atop the Empire State building. I think this was an academic design project, but I'm honestly too lazy to look it up again. You should youtube it though, it's definitely a much more interesting experience than reading about it could ever be.

Example Interior.

I don't know about you, but I like the idea of having the journey itself be part of the vacation, and I would definitely prefer a room like this for 2 days than 6 hours with my knees jammed up against the reclined seat in front of me. Of course, a room like this would probably be at least $10k for a 2 day trip, but that's for the accountants to figure out.

I'd like to imagine a future where you can take your time to watch the world pass by beneath you while you take in a night cap while watching a movie in your private bed. I'm told the difference in travel time alone is why it would never work, but there's gotta be some market for people who just want to spend time and unwind. Take in a cocktail at the bar, enjoy table service in the restaurant by full-length panoramic windows, try your hand at poker with strangers, or work at a proper desk without jarring bumps and turbulence. I think I'd pay a bit more just for that.

No pools though. I thought that one through and it definitely makes no sense. Too much weight and counterbalast.

Jury's out on hot tubs though.

So that's my nerding out for ya. I should probably take the time here to point out that no one should use hydrogen for it. duh. helium's expensive, i know, but you don't need to expend it for travel and the motors can run off of electricity, making it much more environmentally friendly and cost-efficient to fly than airplanes or even marine cruise ships. Don't paint it with thermite either, which you should know if you watch Mythbusters.

Also, because of their size and lightness they're easy to throw around in bad weather. I'm honestly not sure if there's any modern solutions to that problem, so it may be a fair weather only kind of affair. That I can't answer for you.

And yes, please feel free to post the Archer gif. I know you want to.