I am seriously thinking of getting into hot air ballooning… OK so it’s a fairly expensive sport - according to one of my friends who is an enthusiast, hot air balloons cost anything upward of 50 grand and of course there’s the cost of the propane needed to run the thing which in these days of 100 dollars per barrel of oil in the international market, would work out to a tidy sum in itself. 

My friend owns a couple balloons and he has authored a lovely coffee book studded with gorgeous pictures taken from his balloon on his flights in different parts of the US and the world. It was while looking at these – wonderful shots of meandering green landscapes, lakes mirroring the balloon on their surface, distant hazy mountains and other colorful balloons tagging along in flight like giant light bulbs in the sky - that I felt bitten by the bug myself. As he put it, “which other sport allows you to skim down to touch the water on the surface of a pond or pluck the leaves off the tops of trees or just float in the silent bliss of the sky with the world unfurled below you like a giant three dimensional map?”

I’m looking up some hot air balloon clubs close to home where I can get some training and membership and opportunities to fly without the heavy cost of investing. My friend has also promised to take me up on his next flight and I just can’t wait!