World's Most Advanced Travel Technology?

Whether it's through the air, on the tarmac or even just in test-stage, the most advanced travelling machines in the world are so incredibly fast, big, advanced or otherworldy that they earn themselves names that involve " 'super', 'dream' and 'galactic'... Here's why.

Supersonic Maglev Trains

Maglev, while sounding like a minor clerk in Russia's politburo, is in fact an abbreviation for Magnetic Levitation, which is how these trains reach ridiculous speeds of over 400kph (the world record set by a Japanese Maglev is 581 kph). Being suspended via magnets means the trains are not held back by the friction conventional trains experience caused by wheels being on the ground. Less friction means greater speeds. By 2025, they're expected to be common transport in Japan.

Virgin Galactic

After Mark Shuttleworth made his first few billions and decided to take a trip into space as the world's second space tourist, you might have thought "Nice for the rich guy, but not in my lifetime." Well, think again. Maverick British businessman Richard Branson (the man behind your gym membership at Virgin among other things) has as one of his many side projects, a space flight company called Virgin Galactic. And they are already taking bookings for sub-orbital space flight. The $200 000 trip will take you to 70 000 feet and give you a six minutes of what you really want... weightlessness in which to unbuckle your seatbelt and swim after jelly tots across the cabin. The project has been facing delays, but should be making astronauts out of those who can afford it within the next two years.

Read our Q&A with SA's first space travel agent and see what we can expect from space travel in the future.

The Boeing Dreamliner

Just another big plane? Yes, but this one's special. Boeing's new Dreamliner is the world's first carbon-composite airliner with wings and fuselage literally made out of plastic. Being lighter means it can travel further on less fuel, giving mid-range jets the long-distance capabilities of mega-jets. Bonus for the planet: it uses 20% less fuel than other planes of a similar size and should cut maintenance costs by 30%. The Dreamliner's first passenger flight carrying 240 people took place on October 26th from Tokyo to Hong Kong. While airlines are struggling worldwide, if anything could help cut operating costs, the Dreamliner might.

Check out our Boeing Dreamliner gallery.

The Superbus

To develop the high-speed, non-polluting Superbus (which looks like the lovechild of a Bugatti Veyron and a Greyhound bus), a Dutch firm pulled out all the stops from employing aeronautical engineering to F1 technology. The result is a 15-metres long beast capable of taking 23 passengers on a fast luxury coach ride between destinations at 250 kph. And best of all for a world of dwindling oil supplies faced with environmental challenges, it's electric so you can travel with a clear conscience.

The World Cruise Ship

Neither the biggest, nor the fastest around, The World cruise ship differs for another reason. Many of its 165 luxurious residences (some like the penthouse-suites capable of housing 12 people in opulence) are permanently occupied by owners from all over the world (perhaps giving them some convenient tax breaks). With restaurants, a spa, bars, tennis courts and all the other facilities so beloved of the super-rich, all that's left for owners to do is cruise the world, dodge tax and watch the sun set from another perspective.

The World though is just the beginning. Billionaire financiers like Peter Thiel (one of the guys behind PayPal and Facebook) are investing money in Seasteading, a project started by Patri Friedman (economist Milton Friedman's son). Seasteading's goal is to create autonomous ocean communities 200km out to seas (where governments lose jurisdiction). These communities could create their own rules and develop their own self-sufficient systems.

Check out our gallery of the Queen Mary 2 and see why cruise ships are not allowed to enter the V&A harbour anymore.