When we first heard about Airship Ventures, a company that's resurrected the Zeppelin for air tours of San Francisco and other locations, we said: Sign us up! Well, the company took us seriously, giving us a free ride on one of their airships for a quick flight around the Bay Area (such a ride typically costs about $500). The result: some top-notch sightseeing, and the only flight we've ever taken when it was okay to open a window on the aircraft. It's all caught by our trusty camcorder — experience airship travel via the video and continue reading for the full story on the Zeppelin.

Airship Ventures' particular Zeppelin (technically a Zeppelin NT), called the Eureka, is one of only four in the world. The company takes it on tours up and down the California coast. This is no blimp — what makes it an airship is its rigid frame, made of carbon fiber and aluminum. At 246 feet long, it's actually physically bigger than a Boeing 747 (see the size chart below). It has a lot of advantages over other aircraft — it doesn't need a runway and low noise in the passenger cabin being just two — but it does need a guy to stalk it with a big orange remote control for some reason (see video).

Love Zeppelins but can't afford a ticket? Fly vicariously by tracking the ship on Airship Ventures' site.