TransGlobal Gallery

Travel art fueled by human imagination, original photography, collage and AI creativity. Surreal journeys, improbable stories and vintage visions from an award-winning travel writer. See more on Instagram and visit the TransGlobal Shop to check out prints, postcards and other items featuring these eye-catching designs. 

From the TransGlobal files of 
Improbable Moments in Travel

Doomed Ascension: The Strange History of Catholic Air Transport is a one-minute descent into ambition, faith and tragic aviation hubris.

In the 1930s, passenger blimps promised a radiant future in the skies. But the Catholic Church’s venture was disastrous.

The idea originated in the troubled mind of Father Eusebio Cruz, whose manic devotion to airships as a unifying force for the Catholic world produced frantic sketches and grand designs that were largely ignored, dismissed left to rot — along with his sanity. Few in the church even knew about the man tucked into the far reaches of a remote Catholic insane asylum in Europe.

But Sister Maria Grazia knew. Brilliant, ruthless and hungry to grow her influence, she recognized Cruz’s ideas not as madness, but as leverage — and an opportunity to control distance, devotion and power from above.

She seized his plans. Banished to a remote asylum. And never looked back.

Hard to imagine that there was a time when airlines not only permitted smoking — they encouraged it by handing out free matchbooks emblazoned with their logos! Capture a bit of this smoky retro style with this collection of vintage retro airline matchbooks, accompanied by a stylish smoking frequent flyer — or dive into the possibilities of Jet-Set Smoker: an imaginary guide to lighting up in the cabin and on the concourse. Click to check out Jet-Set Smoker prints, postcards and other items. 

Chesway Global's inflight magazine. 

In the 1970s, a bold proposal for a massive regional airport would have created a global hub. The airport never happened. but what if this brutalist masterpiece had become a reality? 

I'm Mark Chesnut, an award-winning travel writer. TransGlobal Gallery is an ongoing initiative to experiment with the possibilities of blending AI creativity, original photography, varied artistic techniques and lots of imagination to tell stories and delight the eye.