The Saturday Morning Post: Adventures in Flying: Sometimes There Is Amazement

Back in 2015 we were planning a trip to Germany.  Jay was attending a conference at Oxford, and I would fly over and meet him in Stuttgart Germany. We are still driving the reason we went to Stuttgart.  When planning the trip, Jay sent me links for two flying adventures.  One was riding in a WWII era German TriMotor airplane.  And I thought about that, I had never flow in anything like that.  The other option was a flightseeing tour with the Zeppelin Company. I checked out the details, and planned the trip around a Zeppelin ride.  

That was the year of my great adventure in medical care.  The nurses were asking about my goals of care, and I was stumped by the question, "I don't know, I would like to survive."  The neurosurgeon interjected with a better question,  "what do you want to be able to do 90 days from now, that you can't do today?" I answered, that "in 90 days I am flying to Germany to ride in a Zeppelin, I need to be able to walk unaided about 100 feet over grass and climb five steps to take the ride." The next time I saw the doctor, he said, "I googled it, you are serious about the Zeppelin aren't you?"  Yes, I was, I had non-refundable reservations. He said, "I kind of wondered if the pain meds were a little to strong."

Zeppelin made the current generation of Goodyear Blimps. 

The ride is amazing, they sort of float up, then the propellers move them in the direction of travel. The cabin is spacious with a single row of seats on each side and wide aisle.  Once at altitude, about 250 meters, you can get up and move about. There was an open window, you could stick your head or your camera out of. When you looked down you could see the shadow of the Zeppelin moving slowly across the landscape.  The ride we took goes out of Lake Constance, on the border between Germany and Switzerland.   

If you are looking for an illustration of Amazement, look at a Zeppelin ride.  And bragging rights, how many people can say they have done that?   If you want to see the video click here.