"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return." -- Leonardo da Vinci
17th June, 2006. Saturday. And the most memorable Saturday it'll be of my entire life! It started out as a lovely sunny day - something you appreciate more in a place like UK - and the day we (me and hubby) had been waiting for, since the past 1 month, had arrived. We were going on our first hot air balloon flight in the evening and spent the entire day wondering how it'd be, whether it'd be scary, on what to wear, what caps to put on to protect our heads from the heat of the burner (in the balloon), keeping our camera and handy cam ready.
We were asked to reach at the site at 7 PM, but in all the excitement we ended up reaching half an hour earlier. And we saw many other excited souls like us, already there. At exactly 7, two trailers, one carrying the wicker basket - which was to house 12 of us in all - and the other carrying the balloon and the fan (to inflate the balloon) arrived. Two other trailers carrying 2 smaller balloons and their respective baskets arrived in the same field too (probably privately owned - WOW!!) Since it was still quite sunny and windy, we had wait till about 8, to take off. Hot Air Balloons need just the right amount of thermals and wind to have a safe flight. Hence most flights are scheduled either early in the morning when the atmosphere is cool enough or at dusk. In the meantime, the organisers (very aptly called "Floating Sensations”), briefed us on what to look forward to in the next 2 – 3 hours.
At half past 7, they started to inflate the balloons with cold air. Three huge, colourful balloons being inflated side by side in a green field lit by the setting sun, surrounded by trees and green fields and more trees, was a sight to behold in itself. First the wicker basket was laid down on its side and the balloon stretched out flat on the field and the wires attached to the wicker basket, and the fan started blowing air into the mouth of the balloon held apart by 5-6 people. While our balloon was being bloated up, one of the balloons took off and how it rose!! It is on the ground, ready to go, blink and its 50 ft up in the air. That quick!! Click Click Click Click...Flash Flash Flash!! All the cameras and all the handy cams in the field were working overtime. It took about 15 minutes to fill enough air in our balloon and then short bursts of flame were introduced at the mouth to heat the air up. Almost immediately, the balloon rose as if awakened from sleep and such was its force that it pulled the wicker basket upright and even tugged hard at the Land Rover it was tethered to as if to break free. It took about 7-8 people to pull the wicker basket down and keep it grounded, so we could climb into the basket. With all the 11 passengers and Jonathan - our pilot - in the basket, we were ready to take off, on our maiden balloon flight.
Jonathan disconnected the hook from the rope that held the balloon secured to the ground and off we went.....Up, Up and further up , and we could see miles and miles of the beautiful country side of “Royal County of Berkshire”, awash with myriad colours of nature, interspersed with a road here and a house there. A farmhouse tucked away behind some trees, a small town far away. It certainly was a different point of view of the earth we live in. The flight lasted an hour and we floated over farm lands with clearly marked tractor paths , rabbits and foxes running across fields, horses, cows, pigs and grazing sheep, stretches of poppy fields distinct because of their red coloured flowers, people waving at us from down below, cars zooming past on the motorways. And we floated. The setting sun lent a magical glow to the moment. All we could hear was the excited and happy pitter patter of our co-passengers and Jonathan answering our various questions. We went up to a height of 3000 ft and were moving at an average speed of about 20 miles/hour. In a hot air balloon, the direction and the speed is determined by the wind, and only the “height” can be controlled by the pilot and that's what he did, sometimes taking us so low over beautiful poppy fields that we could count the petals of the flowers and sometimes taking us so high up in the air that we almost felt stationary. He'd at times pull various cords (to expel air??), switch on the hot air torches, etc. to control the balloon’s altitude. SIX huge cylinders of Propane in the basket served as the fuel.
Soon, it was time to land and it seemed that our shortest one hour was just over. Jonathan had zeroed in on a field where he had to land. Normally, hot air balloons can't land in just any field, they need permissions from farmers to land in their fields, and have a map of the area enlisting such fields and a GPS which directs them to the nearest field, where they have the permission to land. We were close to one such field and Jonathan gave us directions to brace ourselves for the landing. Depending on the speed and the force at touchdown, the basket could bump, lurch, become wobbly and get dragged for a distance or in the worst case tip over. And he prepared us for the worst. We tucked our cameras away, flexed our legs, looked away from the direction where we were to land, held on to our handles and down we went. Down, down, down, close to the field, and zoop... we had missed the field, and had to go up again. Jonathan started looking for another field to land. Took another 15 minutes to find a suitable field by which time some passengers were getting a little worried and started asking the most ridiculous questions which I'd rather not mention here. Anyways, we were ready to land yet again and this time we did. We were moving at 20 miles per hour, and the descent had been quick, so the basket bumped AND lurched AND wobbled AND was dragged for quite some distance AND it tipped over too!! We were all on our back, some people over others and laughing and screaming we dragged ourselves out of the basket. And so ended our flight. It was lovely. The most amazing experience so far and we had enjoyed it thoroughly!! The sun had set and it was getting colder. Jonathan and the guys were busy packing up the balloon again, getting the air out, gathering it up and stashing it inside its bag, while we waited for the Land Rovers that had been trailing us, to come and fetch us from the field. Hubby still can't believe we were on that flight. Seems like a dream, luckily we've the pictures to believe we did.
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