Have you ever been for a hot air balloon flight?

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MyLotter @pumpkinjam mentioned that she always wanted to go on a hot air balloon ride, but it didn’t work out so far. I’ve been lucky enough to go a couple of times, but if it’s any consolation to those who have never had the chance to go, I found it actually quite boring. All the preparation – inflating the balloon, attaching the basket etc - is quite exciting but takes ages, and if it’s to be a morning flight you have to start very early, at the crack of dawn in the misty cold. (You need relatively calm air for a balloon, so mornings and evenings are best). Then finally off you go and it's quite exhilarating to be up and there you are, looking down at people's houses or fields or maybe animals (depending on where you're doing it). But you are basically just standing around in a big basket, and you need warm clothes. The first time I went my boyfriend and I were offered a ride by a friend who was a balloon pilot. We helped with all the preparation and off we went. The direction of the flight basically depends on the wind; we were lucky and flew right over the city then out over the suburbs, got some good photos and an interesting insight into the ‘poorer’ part of town (inside those high fences surrounded by burnt-out cars there were a surprising number of swimming pools!) But after that, just being a passenger got a bit boring really. The second time the opportunity came up, we offered friends the chance to go instead, and we drove the chase vehicle. Because the balloon can’t turn back to where it took off from, and will end up landing in some random farmer’s field or perhaps a park or school playing field, someone has to follow it with the trailer to retrieve the balloon and basket, and the occupants of course, at the end of the flight. Trying to work out where it was headed and find the best roads, when the balloon obviously is just flying across country, was actually rather more fun! ‘Follow that balloon!!’ The third time I was in Minnesota and at some sort of balloon festival someone had space for one more smallish passenger so they offered me the flight. You need the right amount of weight or you either won’t go up, or won’t come down - at least, not in a controlled manner! Again it was quite exciting to start with, but we flew over a lot of vast areas of agricultural land so it did get rather samey. The pilot tried to make it more exciting by descending now and then so that the basket dragged through the tops of some trees – personally I could have done without that. The worst part though, was that the balloon kept rotating. Apparently this is due to some sort of physics that I don’t really understand, but that more complex balloons have special vents to avoid the problem. Anyway, this one didn’t, which meant we had to keep swapping places inside the basket and if we didn’t do it quickly enough, I was squashed half to death by another passenger, an enormous man who was completely unaware of course that he was squeezing the life out of me! Not a good experience, I was glad to get out of there. So I think it’s safe to say I’ve ticked off that activity and have no great desire to do it again. Even piloting a balloon doesn’t have much appeal, it certainly doesn’t seem worth all the training and expense. I’m happy just to watch the colourful balloons from a distance from now on! What about you? Sorry about the fuzzy photo, I tried to photograph a photo I have in a frame as part of a montage, that didn't really work! All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2024.