If you look at the plans of some architects and engineers, the next few decades could hold some very unusual surprises. It's hard to tell the difference between a reality and a dream. In a few months' time, the first underwater hotel should finally be inaugurated off the coast of Dubai. The Hydropolis was scheduled to open in 2007, but has been postponed several times due to technical problems. Soon you'll be able to sleep among the fish, eat in the restaurant or hold meetings. The aquatic dream comes at a price: $5,000 a night for a suite in this self-proclaimed ten-star hotel.
While some are exploring the possibilities of the seabed, others are turning their eyes to the stars. In early November, Galactic Suite Ltd announced that it would be launching its space hotel in 2012. "It's perfectly normal to imagine that your children, perhaps in fifteen years' time, will be able to spend a weekend in space," says Xavier Claramunt, managing director of this German company. They will have to pay €3 million for three nights at the Galactic Suite Resort and undergo eight days' training on a tropical island. During their stay, guests will be able to watch fifteen sunrises a day, circumnavigate the globe every 80 minutes and wear suits fitted with Velcro so that they can move around clinging to the wall.
Hard to believe? Would we have believed in 1989 that we could book a room on the Internet after buying a pair of boots, or that a jumbo jet could carry 800 people between Paris and Sydney without a technical stopover? On the other hand, in the 1950s, we thought that by the year 2000 mini-flying saucers would be providing public transport. We've been in a different century for almost ten years now, and we're still taking the metro...
