With amenities like piano lounges, dining rooms and private staterooms, airships were a luxurious and relaxed way to travel the world. 80 years ago, airships like the Hindenburg were more like flying cruise ships than conventional aircraft. They would fly so smoothly, you could balance a pencil on its end without it falling over and could fly anywhere over land and water. Before the Hindenburg disaster, plans were being drawn up for ever bigger, more luxurious airships.