Early Morning Horror.....but it was worth it (Virgin Balloon Flights)

Member Name: George Hill

Product:	Virgin Balloon Flights
Date:	02/08/09 (233 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Morning trips are probably the best

Disadvantages: Morning trips are probably the hardest if you're a good sleeper

At the time of booking, this trip sounded like the perfect present for a dear friends 80th bithday treat and we really didn't have any trepidation or concerns and there was a general feeling of excitement, our birthday girl was definitley looking forward to the trip.
My moment of concern was heralded by my sister advising me at 11.15pm that we had to be at the 'launch site' (50 miles away) at 6.30am the next morning.....aaargh.
However as the day (nearly) dawned and I dragged my weary self out of bed at 4.30am it felt less dreadful than anticipated and we eventually set off on the 1 hour+ drive.
At the 'launch' site there was a frisson of excitement as the balloon was set out and basket readied, it was the calmest and clearest morning I'd seen for some time and our friend was impatient to be off, the mechanics of how it all worked were a bit secondary to what she was there for but it's horses for courses I suppose.
The lift off and ascent happened suddenly and rapidly and for all there including those on the ground it was a pretty good experince; we followed by car watching the drifting serenity of the balloon in the distance and eventually we met up at the landing site, it had been a flight of well over an hour.
I think that we were lucky that at the first attempt we had the perfect flying conditions, however the flight had been booked for a period when weather conditions had the most chance of being settled and we were prepared for the trip being aborted, Virgin can't control the weather any better than we can.
Thank you to all those concerned for this very special trip.

Summary: Well organised and well worth it