If you've been ferried from an airport to a high-end hotel in the last few years, chances are good that you've ridden in a tricked-out Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van. Brilliant Transportation has taken that idea to the next level, building a fleet of "Brilliant Vans" and mini-buses to offer a high-end limo and travel service along the East Coast and in the Los Angeles area.

The pitch? "Reviving the glamour of travel." Yeah, it sounds cheesy, but when so much travel these days involves partial disrobement, government-sanctioned groping, and magical nudie-machines, bringing some of the glamor back to travel might not be a bad thing.

The vans themselves certainly sound like a nice place to spend a few hours on the road: in addition to luxurious leather seating and hardwood floors, there are two 32-inch flat screen TVs, Direct TV hookups, WiFi hotspots with 3G Internet, color printers, and a hands-free conference call center in each van.

On the east coast, the service is helping travelers skip the airport altogether, running from New York City to Boston and Washington, D.C., while the Los Angeles fleet makes runs to Las Vegas, San Diego, and Santa Barbara, among other destinations.

Sounds like a great alternative to us. Now if we could just get them to fit AMG engines and start making cross-country runs...