(This may be a common fantasy among travellers.)
There ought to be a company which will come to your residence, sedate you, and ship you wherever you wish to go -- without your being aware of any of the unpleasantness of travel. It would be teleportation without the risk of being reassembled with the wrong number of limbs, or inside a mountain, or what-have-you.
If they could work it out with the airlines and the governments, it could be seamless. They would pack you onto a shuttle, check your luggage, and settle you into your seat (or, ideally, a cargo-class box with air-holes); at the other end, a branch office would reverse the process and settle you into your comfortable hotel room (or whatever) before you revived. If it became popular enough, much less cabin space would be required and the in-flight amenities would be unnecessary.
There are a few medical concerns -- troublesome folk dropping dead under anaesthetic, frequent-fliers becoming addicted, and so on. But better and more reliable ways of inducing unconsciousness are no doubt being developed.-- Monkfish, Dec 12 2000 Abuse by baggage handlers is another concern.-- centauri, Dec 12 2000 PeterSealy: Surely on a site full of actual physical impossibilities I'm allowed to pretend that there are more pleasant ways of knocking people out than actually exist.
Centauri: Safeguards would naturally be in place to prevent molestation by staff, and a company in any of the more litigious countries would be fanatically keen to avoid having it happen.
Waugsqueke: The drinking solution can make the experience slightly more tolerable, but introduces lots of other problems at the same time. This is the next major step in the quest for better travel through chemicals.
That said, those are all good points; if this were a truly sound idea, I would of course have posted it over on wellthoughtoutconcepts.com.-- Monkfish, Dec 12 2000 Hypnotism, perhaps?-- PotatoStew, Dec 12 2000 I think my biggest concern would be people losing control of their bodily fluids, that would make it very unpleasent when you woke up. Also to avoid this the catheter would be a bitch.-- Cleyon, Dec 12 2000 It doesn't solve the hassle of getting tickets, getting there on time, etc, but I am instantly asleep during travel if: 1. I've been working a normal amount and 2. I don't have to be actually at the wheel The important trick is to sense when you get to your destination even while you're sleeping. It takes practice, but it's doable.-- badoingdoing, Dec 13 2000 petersealy: Is a sex farm more of a people breeding farm, or do they actually cultivate pure sex, bottle it, and sell it in the back of b-rate porn magazines. if the latter is the case I want some stock in the company. Pure bottled sex would beat the pants off of Playboy sales.-- buckrogers, Jan 25 2001 Back to Monkfish's subject, does anyone actually enjoy flying, that is, anyone who lacks the funds or FFM to sit in first class? Most airline seats are 18" wide--I'm 24" wide so guess what happens. I have to sit in an aisle seat with about 25% of my upper body sticking out in the aisle. Most of the flight I'm fully alert and listening for the sound of the stu's drink cart coming down the aisle, aiming to remove my arm. And then there's those so-called "arm rests." I call them leg amputators as they dig deeply into my flesh cutting off all circulation to the lower extremities. I'm all for Monkfish's sedated flight--bring it on!-- coaster, Feb 13 2001 I like flying (yes, in coach cuz i'm broke). I've been flying alone since I was eight and I tend to make friends or money every flight I take. Usually the person next to me gets curious as to what I'm drawing or what I'm writing in Japanese or annoyed at me for just being there. I do a few portraits and get some cash or flirt with whatever cute person happens to be within range. Sometimes I fall asleep curled up in a ball in my seat (which I always regret later because having your knee in your face for 1,000 miles *really* hurts) but I usually spend my time looking out the window and drawing (or reading, or playing games, or talking, whatever). And I prefer window seats to aisle seats. Lord knows why. Just weird I guess.-- ichinichi, Jul 02 2001 Science does not know enough about cryogenics to accomplish this yet.
This is probably what the future of space travle will be like. But on earth we already have technology capable of getting people all the way around the globe in less than 3 hours. And when people are on vacation or just traveling for fun time doesn't matter.-- wood2coal, Aug 29 2001 2001: A Space Oddysey"-- snarfyguy, Aug 29 2001 I can't fall asleep on my own on the planes anyway, it would be refreshing to wake up all rested in your destination. +-- joshkouri, Apr 29 2003 You got this off 5th Element, didn't you?
Anyway, they have it on United. Just order 6 bourbons after T/O.-- FloridaManatee, Apr 29 2003 random, halfbakery