Love it!
That guy with the lawn chair and helium balloons could do it if he hit the jet stream.
During the winter you can do up to around 150mph in the jet stream.
There is an amateur radio ballooning group (CA Near Space Project) that sent up a balloon that went from CA to Algeria, 6,236 miles, in 57 hours for an average of 109mph. It doubled the previous record of 3,361 miles.
News article.
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-12/amateur-radio-balloon-makes-record-transcontinental-transatlantic-flight
Original article from CNSP.
http://www.cnsp-inc.com/cnsp-11/
They also had a second balloon that made a trans-Atlantic flight and landed in Morocco.
http://www.cnsp-inc.com/cnsp-18/
That's the first thing that came to mind for me as well!!!
Eccentric geniuses like this are who we should build statues of, not politicians.
Oh, and don't forget that kid who landed the plane in Red Square back in the 80s!