Up, Up and Away in a Beautiful Balloon

Albuquerque, New Mexico

As our pilot opened the valve to release a gushing fountain of flames into the belly of the large nylon balloon, the ground crew released their grip on the ropes that kept us tethered in place, and we begin to float toward the sky.

Standing in the chest-high wicker basket, we look below as we gained altitude, watching the field we launched from grow smaller. The clear sky has an amber glow as dawn breaks. It is chilly, but we are dressed for it.

Other than the periodic rhythmic flame (gas) release, it is quiet. We are literally floating in the air among birds and other hot air balloons, and it is the most amazing and peaceful feeling. My nerves from before are quelled. My only desire is to be fully present, mentally recording every moment to replay later – from what it feels like soaring in the sky with a bird’s-eye view to the inner calmness I feel deep in my soul to the unique beauty of the surrounding Southwest scenery.

Our journey began that Monday morning in October at 3 a.m., when our alarm went off in our hotel room in Santa Fe. After showering and dressing in multiple layers (as directed by the hot-air balloon company), we headed out in the dark for the 45-minute drive to the Rainbow Ryders launch site in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to arrive at our appointed time of 5 a.m.

We check in at a registration tent (the only light source in the pre-dawn darkness) and are told the name of our pilot and to look for the staff member holding his name on a sign. Using the flashlight app on our phones, we locate our designated meet-up point, join a group of eight people and wait for further instructions.

After some chatter on a two-way radio, we are instructed to follow the sign-holder out onto a large grass field. We are one of several clusters of people on the field. As we begin to introduce ourselves within our group of fellow passengers, a pick-up truck towing a small trailer drives straight at us and parks next to our group. Our pilot and his crew emerge from the truck and immediately go to work unpacking the balloon and offloading the gondola (wicker basket) and other equipment.

The sky begins to lighten as we watch all the activity. They spread the massive balloon out and ask for volunteers to hold up parts of the opening. A large fan, powered by a generator, is turned on to partially inflate the balloon. The gondola is turned on its side to attach the balloon’s ropes to its steel frame, which suddenly looks thin and flimsy to me. The “envelope” is the part of the balloon that holds the hot air (or gas) once it is released from a mechanism attached to the top of the gondola and controlled by the pilot.

Once the balloon is almost full, the crew sets the basket upright and tells us it’s time to load and go. A step stool is quickly placed at the base of the basket, and we are told to use that to hoist ourselves up and over the edge, jumping the 4 to 5 feet into the basket. (There are no steps on the inside to help with this.) One by one, we climb/jump up and over, some more gracefully than others. (Guess how my onboarding went with my short legs and girth.)

The inside of the basket has two narrow rows (not seats) with a divider in the middle. We are arranged standing five to a side, with our weight evenly distributed. (Yes, you must reveal your honest weight.) The bottom is some kind of hard rubber or canvas. I can feel the wicker cross bars beneath the thin flooring, causing me to question whether the basket is strong enough to hold us. I don’t have time to process that thought before the four burly men who have been holding the anchor ropes, fighting to keep the balloon from flying away, let go and one yelled, “have fun!”

For as long as I can remember, I wanted to go up in a hot air balloon. I think it must have started from watching “Wizard of Oz” as a child. Everything about it seemed fanciful and fun. From the brightly colored balloon itself to the cute little basket below it, what kid wouldn’t want to take a ride?

The opportunity never presented itself throughout my youth. I’m certain it was never on my parents’ radar nor was it something widely available to the public. It wasn’t until my thirties that hot air ballooning began to rise (pun intended) in popularity as a tourist attraction.

I did some research a couple of times, but it was too expensive. A 20-minute ride was hundreds of dollars. Plus, there was a bigger issue: I have a major fear of heights! (I’m talking cling-to-the-side-of-the-Empire-State-Building’s-inner-wall-even-though-the-observation-deck-is-enclosed kind of fear.) Still, it remained on my bucket list.

When my husband retired a few years ago and we began planning trips around bucket list items and destinations, hot air ballooning was still a high priority. I began doing research and discovered that the place to go in the U.S. to fully experience hot air balloons is Albuquerque, New Mexico – specifically the annual International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta held in October.

The Fiesta, which draws thousands of balloon enthusiasts from around the world – both amateur and professional – became the focal point of what developed into a two-week Southwest road trip for us through the states of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

The nine-day annual Fiesta features various events each day from dawn into the night, when hundreds of tethered balloons of all shapes, sizes and colors are lit up at various intervals, illuminating the night with glowing orbs. The Fiesta also features a variety of activities, concerts, competitions, balloon races, mass ascensions (one of the best photo ops) and, of course, balloon rides.

We booked our sunrise flight for the day after the Fiesta ended. It was less expensive and less crowded. The total flight time is approximately 45 minutes. The word “approximately” is key since we learned that balloon pilots only have so much control over the flight path and landing, which brings me back to our hot air balloon journey.

We are 30 minutes into our flight – blissfully enjoying every magical minute – when we learned a bit more about hot air balloon landings. First, we learned that a pilot can only make the balloon go up and down, not sideways. To get from Point A to Point B, the pilot uses wind currents. Sometimes that means ascending or descending to catch a new current.

Second, we learned that balloons seldom land where they took off. That is usually the target, but a team of “chasers” use GPS to follow the balloon’s flight pattern so it can pick up both the balloon and its passengers wherever they land. We were told this while over a rocky dirt field that was not “ideal” for landing.

Third, the pilot tells us when we do land, we are to jump up on his cue and land on our feet with our knees bent to absorb the shock and avoid breaking a leg. Because a pilot can’t control the speed of the landing or how well the ground crew can catch the tethers, we may “hit the ground pretty hard a couple of times before the landing sticks.” This, we are told, is why the basket is made of wicker – so it has some give and won’t fall apart on impact.

Say what now? Why are we just learning about this? Fear quickly replaced serenity as my anxiety level began to rise. Seeing the panic on my face, my husband took my hand and reminded me they told us about the landing procedure before we took off. Somehow, that must have slipped my mind during the flight, probably because I was so relieved my fear of heights hadn’t kept me grounded.

The pilot quickly reassured us all would be well. He was determined to land our balloon back on (or near) the field and took it on as a challenge. So, we ascended to catch a higher wind current to “circle” back around for a second go at the target. He’s been a balloon pilot for years and a passenger since childhood when his father piloted balloons. Ballooning is in his blood, he assured us. I decided right then I would “go with the flow” and not let fear ruin this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

We circled around the valley, passing over the Rio Grande, two additional times before our pilot descended near our launch point. Mission accomplished! When we were about 10 feet from the ground, he told us to bend our knees and prepare for absorbing the shock. One corner of the basket hit the ground, then bounced 3-feet off the ground, chunks of earth flying, followed by two more brief “touch downs” (like a stone skipping along the water) until the crew members were able to jump onto the sides of the basket to hold it down, and the balloon began to deflate.

The planned 45-minute flight turned into a two-hour adventure full of highs and lows (see what I did there?), and we lived to talk about it. Honestly, except for the five minutes of initial panic I felt upon learning we wouldn’t be landing where expected and the warning about the jarring landing (don’t balloons just float to the ground?), it was absolutely thrilling. And, I’d do it again given the chance.

I will never forget how magical it was standing in that narrow basket, slowly floating through the air over the desert terrain, watching the sun rise in the east behind other hot air balloons in the distance, and listening to the periodic whooshing of the flame inflating the colorful canopy above our heads. It was everything I imagined it would be. And, at least for that morning, I overcame my fear of heights long enough to make my childhood dream come true.

Our journey ended when the pilot (who promised to text us our flight path and stats) awarded each of us a flight certificate. We congratulated each other, toasting with juice or champagne, and headed off the field with a slight swagger and high fives all around. Mission accomplished.

The Balloonists' Prayer: May the winds welcome you with softness. May the sun bless you with its warm hands. May you fly so high and so well that God joins you in laughter and sets you gently back into the loving arms of Mother Earth.

Trip Planning Details

The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, will run from October 1-9, 2022. If hot-air ballooning is on your travel bucket list, start planning your trip for this or a future fall. Tickets go on sale in April every year. Visit the official Fiesta Website for prices and packages. There are many events to choose from each of the nine days and evenings, and tickets are required for all events.

The Balloon Fiesta website also has plenty of lodging recommendations for the Albuquerque area (be sure to book early), but that is for visitors whose main goal and focus is to attend the balloon festivities and not explore the surrounding area. If you want to learn about the history of hot air balloons, you might want to build in some time to visit the Hot Air Balloon Museum adjacent to the Balloon Fiesta Park grounds.

We bought tickets for one of the nightly “Glow” events, purchasing a Gondola Club admission, which included reserved parking, entrance to a VIP tent (with its own bathrooms), dinner, drinks, and reserved table seating. This private picnic area is the perfect spot to watch as hundreds of hot air balloons are individually inflated until their colorful domes take shape and become a part of the spectacular kaleidoscope of colors and shapes. The Glow event begins when it is completely dark. As the gas release valves are opened, the balloons light up – sometimes all at the same time and sometimes at different intervals. It’s quite a show and unlike anything we’ve ever seen.

For our trip in 2019, we drove from Southern California, stopping for the night in Flagstaff Arizona, and arriving in Santa Fe the next day. Although it is a 45-minute drive from Balloon Fiesta Park, Santa Fe was also on our list of places to visit, so we combined the two. We stayed four nights at the La Posada de Santa Fe. This Tribute Portfolio Resort & Spa that is part of the Marriott Bonvoy Collection has individual casitas, two on-site restaurants, and a full-service spa. It’s located a few blocks off the Santa Fe Plaza, a national historic landmark. After you explore the area around the Plaza, be sure to check out Canyon Road’s many boutiques and art galleries. If you have an extra day (like we did), drive 90 minutes north of Santa Fe to visit the Taos Pueblo.

What childhood dream are you longing to fulfill? Use the comments section to share what’s on your travel bucket list.