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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to ask about your hot air balloon experiences?

37 replies

Malacath · 18/06/2021 12:03

After booking it for the 5th time due to Covid and the weather, it looks like our flight is finally going to go ahead this weekend. I'm equal parts excited and terrified, as is DH Wink
If you've been on a hot air balloon ride, have you got any tips on how to dress? I'm guessing layers would be good but have no idea how cold it would be up there at this time of year. It will be a flight at sunrise. Well, the website says 6am but sunrise will be about half 4 Confused

OP posts:
yellowsubmarines · 18/06/2021 12:13

I have ridden in a hot air balloon but I was about 8 and don't remember much tbh other than it was VERY high from the ground and I kept telling myself to not look down. I think dressing in layers is a good idea and don't forget your camera!

NutellaEllaElla · 18/06/2021 12:15

Not sure you want my experience. I worked in a burns ward when a hot air balloon collided with a power line...

ShirleyPhallus · 18/06/2021 12:16

@NutellaEllaElla

Not sure you want my experience. I worked in a burns ward when a hot air balloon collided with a power line...
Omg, that’s awful!
Original poster
Malacath · 18/06/2021 12:18

@NutellaEllaElla that's awful Sad

OP posts:
Aposterhasnoname · 18/06/2021 12:19

I’ve been in one but it was Egypt. It was still pretty cold when we went high up though.

When we landed we had to hunker down inside the basket, with not a lot of room to spare, so make sure you don’t wear anything constricting or too tight.

Mountainpika · 18/06/2021 12:28

Was given a flight for 2 (me and OH) for my 60th birthday. Absolutely wonderful. Early in the morning. Drifting over the countryside. waving to people below. Calling to them. A living map under us.
People worry about the height but in a balloon there's no sense of height because there's noting visible connecting you to the ground to give the perspective. I couldn't look over a high building or cliff but a balloon - terrific. I thought it would be good but it was way better than I even anticipated. Enjoy it!

BalloonSlayer · 18/06/2021 12:33

I remember the sides of the basket being very high so I felt safer than I expected.

At the start, DH and the other men (I was the only woman) had to help hold the balloon open while the air heated, he said it was hard work. Then it was a scramble to get in, we didn't have long between the balloon being inflated enough that they could let go and taking off. As I said the sides of the basket were about shoulder height on me (am average height) so I was worried I would not be able to get in. Well I did but it was an undignified scramble.

Landing . . . a kind of crash landing was clearly inevitable; we were told that the balloon would touch down, and then the basket would fall over. As I was the lightest of the passengers I had to stand at the back so I would be on top of the pile and not buried under 6 blokes. The landing happened exactly as described, we all fell in a heap, much joking.

I have since found out that not all balloon trips are like that, that most take off and land much more decorously and don't expect the passengers to do a lot of the work either. But those bits are the bits I remember best - it was great!

TheDogsMother · 18/06/2021 12:35

Its an absolutely fantastic experience and I was lucky enough to do mine at dawn over the Masai Mara. I was advised to take a hat as the heat on the top of your head can be a bit intense. Enjoy !!

JesusInTheCabbageVan · 18/06/2021 12:35

Never been on one, but just floating onto the thread to say, do NOT watch or read Enduring Love Grin

galliton · 18/06/2021 12:46

Can you sit down if needs be or do you have to stand throughout?

Aposterhasnoname · 18/06/2021 12:47

@galliton

Can you sit down if needs be or do you have to stand throughout?
There was no chance of sitting on the one I went in
TeeBee · 18/06/2021 12:50

I've been. It was a wonderful experience. Very calm floating across the fields. We had to help with folding up the balloon ready for it to be transported back, so I'd wear jeans and a jumper/long sleeved top.

TeeBee · 18/06/2021 12:51

If you sat down, you wouldn't see anything. The sides are high.

pinkprosseco · 18/06/2021 12:55

I really enjoyed it: we took our kids when they were much younger. I remember we had to show that we could all climb out of the basket before we took off as a safety drill for landing. It was very peaceful and the view was amazing. Landing was a bit scary with power lines on one side of us and a bit bumpy but we all scrambled out OK. I remember they gave the adults champagne after landing then they collected us in a 4x4 and took us back to our cars.

Original poster
Malacath · 18/06/2021 12:55

I'm sure it will be amazing once we're up in the air. I have no idea how many other passengers there will be, but we've been told they will need help preparing the balloon for the flight. We're also both 5ft4 so not very tall, I hope there's some sort of step stool to help us part way into the basket Grin We will definitely be bringing hats, thanks.

@mountainpika that sounds amazing! This flight was a gift from me to DH for his 40th, well before first lockdown. We had our first flight booked for May last year and we've been looking forward to it for ages now.
@TheDogsMother wow, the Masai Mara, that's got to be more impressive than bloody Suffolk!
@JesusInTheCabbageVan I won't watch anything until afterwards, don't worry. DH who will definitely be way out of his comfort zone (one reason for booking) stupidly watched The Aeronauts a while back. I've seen enough to be put off; I'm glad an experienced pilot will be calling the shots as to whether it's going to go ahead or not!

OP posts:
Ozanj · 18/06/2021 12:56

At 6am it will be pretty cold (if you’re in the UK) so I would layer up and bring a hat / gloves / coat just in case. Last time I went, you had to be pretty fit because the basket didn’t open to let you in (that was extra!). Scrambling, my then, fat bum over in front of strangers was really emb. Hopefully Virgin have sorted this out now!

Original poster
Malacath · 18/06/2021 16:33

And after all that, our flight has been cancelled so we'll have to wait other month til the next booking Sad

OP posts:
Ilovefluffysheep · 18/06/2021 16:58

We've got one booked on Monday, but I fully expect it to be cancelled with this weather. I bought it as a gift for my husband two Christmases ago!

I've done 2 balloon rides before, one with my kids in Florida, and they were both fab.

ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba · 18/06/2021 17:04

we wore jeans, trainers, t-shirts & fleece jackets. and baseball caps

I used to do parachute jumps so the slow descent compared to free falling was incredibly strange for me.
loved it though, especially because it was a friends' balloon so couldn't have felt safer.

ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba · 18/06/2021 17:06

ah, and there were 2 other passengers who jumped out at the highest point of the ascent, wearing parachutes.
one was sitting on a bike, the other was filming it - I can't remember if it was for an ad or just a stunt.
it was really cool

FuzzyPuffling · 18/06/2021 17:15

I absolutely loved it. Fabulous experience from start to finish. It felt very safe and the views were stunning.
I'm planning to do another one shortly. (I've moved area so it will be different)

Pesimistic · 18/06/2021 17:53

The pilot set fire to the balloon when he was inflating it, it had a small ish hole in it about the size of an oil barrel bottom and we still took off in it ConfusedShock apart from that it was lovely, the landing was quite hard though.

MrsMoastyToasty · 18/06/2021 18:25

Wear a hat (baseball cap or woolly one will do). The burners aren't that high above your head - think about arms reach so that the pilot can fire them up with ease.

I went up in a privately owned balloon belonging to a relatives boss. We went up over rural Somerset and I didn't know the area but it was quite pleasant and had a gentle landing in a field. Our pilot was very careful to take the balloon up as far as possible when ground conditions meant that the thermals meant a natural drop like going over a lake.
Having lived all my life in the Bristol area , home of the International Balloon Fiesta, it would have been nice to go over my own city. We just see them coming down on the local rugby pitch.
Our pilot did say that some of the pilots of the sponsored/commercial balloons will fly in conditions that a private owner wouldn't consider . Mainly because they rely on flights to get paid.

JudgeJ · 18/06/2021 20:49

Oh dear. I went up in one in Egypt across the Valley of the Kings and I found it a great let down! I don't know what I expected but it was lie standing at a window in a tower block, very little sensation of movement at all.

Watching 700+ go up at dawn for the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta though is absolutely stunning, one of my favourite parts of US trips, maybe I'll manage 2022.

oopoopandaway · 02/08/2021 17:42

Shamelessly bumping this thread. We are booked to go this week but the weather forecast is rubbish for the day we're going and doesn't look to be changing...

A mix of weather and covid means this is our 3rd time trying, this was our Christmas present... in 2018 !!

We've been before about 10 years ago and it was amazing, so graceful and gentle just floating. And the unfolding and packing away the balloon just added to the excitement (to which i can add it's not just big burly men doing it... some of us women are big and burly too Grin).

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