I'm an engineer, so my childhood fantasy wasn't to ride on a rocket, it was to invent a rocket. I did think it would be cool to explore space, but not as a test pilot or a tourist. To be honest, I don't think I'd go on one of those tourist flights even if it was free - I feel no urge to risk my life just to get a good view of Earth. Being a space colonist would be a different matter - then I'd get to actually use my skills to build stuff.
(The reason I think this is relevant is that a lot of these tech billionaires were originally engineers too, so I guess they also think like this.)
I'm an engineer, so my childhood fantasy wasn't to ride on a rocket, it was to invent a rocket. I did think it would be cool to explore space, but not as a test pilot or a tourist. To be honest, I don't think I'd go on one of those tourist flights even if it was free - I feel no urge to risk my life just to get a good view of Earth. Being a space colonist would be a different matter - then I'd get to actually use my skills to build stuff.
(The reason I think this is relevant is that a lot of these tech billionaires were originally engineers too, so I guess they also think like this.)