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Published on November 10, 2007

It's amazing how money can transform your life. If you possessed a truly visionary mind and had US$250,000 (Bt7.9 million) to spend on any imaginable goodie, what could you do with it? How might one person help change the world? Think global. Think travel. Think humanity. Think exotic.

You could feed all the hungry children in Asia for a year, or lend your surname to any orphan left over from the Brangelina adoption rampage in Africa. But there is another option. You could strap a jetpack on your back, hit the button and soar for 20 seconds, perhaps covering 60 metres - enough to get to the local store and really impress your spouse, albeit with no change left over for bread. If this event were televised, all the hungry children in Asia would cheer for 20 seconds as you lifted off, performed a U-turn and whizzed back to earth to land on your head with a crashing thump.

It certainly beats booking the entire Queen Mary 2 for a week of sun and surf in the Mediterranean while locals eat their hearts out - an ugly sight at the best of times. It even beats flying to space with Virgin Galactic, whose charges start at $200,000 for one ticket (presumably round-trip) in three categories - Founders (the first 100), Pioneers (the next 1,000), and Voyagers (those that follow). The fourth class yet to be added is Nuts (pretty much everyone who decides to give up stale fries and a greasy burger at a kiss-all-you-want outdoor movie, to try and watch "Ocean's Thirteen" from space).

The cheapest space flights may eventually retail at around $200 per kilo (of body fat, tummy lard and baggage) for a brief low-earth orbit where you and your impedimenta will be weightless long enough to justify litigation and a full refund on your ticket. For an average 80-kilo American male, this works out to $16,000. Sadly, silverback Gorillas who may wish to view earth from space to peruse possible new gun-free habitats will need to shell out $50,000 for their enormous 250-kilo bulk.

There's no denying the lure of rockets. With an inferno of hydrogen peroxide and super-heated steam - that cranks up to a modest 740C - generating vast thrust through blazing jet nozzles just centimetres from your charred bottom, this sport is almost as safe as, well… leaping off a cliff with your hair on fire. Not quite. I exaggerate. It's closer to the final scene in any Terminator movie where everything vanishes in a giant fireball. But if you're a discerning traveller looking for an adrenaline rush and a new way to cover 60 metres, this may be it.

Man has been fascinated by rocket travel since time immemorial. We watched James Bond make his escape strapped to a cool contraption in "Thunderball", saw a guy streaking through the skies at the Los Angeles Olympics, and our kids have all read Rocketman comics, marvelling at this superhero's speed and derring-do and wondering why dad still drives a banged-up Ford to the office.

The first recorded rocket belt was created by Wendell Moore of Bell Aerosystems in 1958. In 1961 the first non-tethered flight was achieved. Harold Graham flew freely for 13 seconds covering 34 metres. The US Army remained keenly interested for a while but later opted for research in missile development. This is a shame as human missiles would have been far more interesting than circus cannonball artists and midget-tossing in Australia, a dreadful sport that resulted in countless pulled shoulder muscles for throwers due to the aerodynamically challenged nature of the projectile.

So how do travellers get their very own jetpack and head off to explore the world, 30 seconds at a time? One way is to get a custom-made rocket belt for $250,000 from inventor Juan Lozano, of Tecnologia Aerospacial Mexicana or TAM (www.tecaeromex.com). The company offers a course that includes 10 flights as well as housing and meals during training. There is no mention of hospitalisation.

TAM suggests recouping your investment by rocketing through "special events, promotions, advertising, election campaigns, concerts, TV commercials etc". Make sure it's a 20-second TV commercial. Kids will be proud. "Hey, that's my dad flying through the skies in a blue bunny rabbit suit." It's cooler than cool. Once your kids have been ostracised by their peers at school they'll have no other recourse but to focus fully on studies.

Another option is a rocket belt from the "Rocket Man" (www.rocketman.org).  Apparently, with a rocket belt strapped on, a skilful pilot can hover motionless like a "hummingbird suspended in mid air". That's a lot of money to go nowhere. Or try a jetpack from Skywalker Jets. This will enable you to fly a full five minutes. Now that's a start. Where's that bunny rabbit suit?

Vijay Verghese is an editor of Smart Travel Asia - an online travel magazine. Visit http://www.smarttravelasia.com