Thank you all for being so kind as to not mention the um, ballooning disaster in Canada before my flight. In fact, through my own negligence, and my family's protectiveness, I didn't hear about the accident until I showed up for my flight on Saturday evening. Four of us were oblivious which meant four more of us were either idiots or extraordinarily brave--or like me, they just figured what are the chances? (Or like one woman, you can just get totally loaded before you go up in the balloon. Interestingly, she was fulfilling her "life's ambition." It seems to me that your life's ambition shouldn't be something you have to get smashed to do, but that's just me.)Our pilot reassured us that in 25 years of ballooning, he's never had an accident. I went back to my family--my cousin's husband didn't ride but the whole famn damily came to see me off--and asked who knew about it: they all did. I overheard my cousin explaining to Lala:
"The balloon caught fire."
"Well, some people died but some people were only injured."
"Some people jumped out."
So I double checked before we took off: "If it catches fire, jump or no?"
Armed with this important information, I had one of the top 10 experiences of my life. It was smooth sailing over the trees--sometimes through them, and no, the basket doesn't swing when you hit a tree--where the wind took us. It was beautiful and peaceful. I can't wait to go again.
My pilot does European tours. I'm thinking the next flight should be to the Alps in January for the Chateau d'Oex Balloon Festival. Let's see if I can convince the dude.
My photos (l-r): the balloon ready for inflating; looking up; balloon packaged for another day. Top: self-portrait.
No comments:
Post a Comment