For a sum of
money (usually ranging from $100 to $200 as far as I know, you can buy a hot-air
balloon flight in most areas of the
United States.
It's quite an
experience. Since the
wind is usally calmer in the
wee hours of the morn, most
balloonists fly at the
butt crack of dawn. You get to watch them set up the
balloon, and then (preferably when it's fully inflated and the
basket is
perpendicular to the
ground) you climb in and take off, rising gently into
the heavens. On most flights, the pilot will maintain a height of about 600 to 1000
feet, just enough to make everything on the
ground look like an extremely detailed
miniature model. (Or, to scare the pants off of you, depending on your tolerance of
heights.)
The appeal of hot-air balloon flights is mostly in the fact that, unlike on a
plane, you're usually moving quite slowly and the flight is
silent. (Except when the
pilot makes a
burn, which only makes the following silence that much more
palpatable.)
During the flight, a vehicle, usually a van, pickup-truck, or small, converted
RV will drive around on the ground, following the
balloon. When the
balloon is ready to
land the people in the vehicle will, ideally, be able to tell and run out to assist by climbing on the basket to keep the balloon from sliding on the ground or rising up in the
air again.
A
ceremony usually follows the flight to celebrate the aeronautical
deflowering of the passengers, sometimes with
certificates,
champagne (representing the use of champagne in the celebration of the Montgolfier brothers after the first successful hot-air balloon flight ever), and a
picnic. During this, the
captain will sometimes make a
speech and or coerce the passengers to partake in humorous,
bizarre rituals, such as bowing to
Mother Earth and thanking her for allowing you to return to the
ground safely.
All in all, it's a lot of fun, even for the
balloon crew.