Have you decided to resist the urge no longer and are just thinking of the perfect way to propose to your special someone? So many people rush into these things and the amount of questions popped over a drunken evening is really quite staggering. Proposing, or being proposed to is meant to be a day you remember for every, for the right reasons. My own parents for example remember the first flake of snow falling that year as my dad asked the question. My own experience, well, over a drunken game of Balderdash, so no surprises when I tell you that one didn’t make it to the wedding day! To ask someone to marry you should involve a great deal of thought; consider how you can make it special, a memory that will stay with your partner forever.

One of the greatest ways to propose is during a hot air balloon ride. Imagine getting down on one knee, 2’000 feet in the air, floating through the clouds and over the beautiful horizon. Alternatively, spell out the question on the ground below so that your loved one will read it from the balloon as you drift on over! Can you picture their face?! Speaking for myself, this is enough to turn a person jelly kneed! If this is how you plan to do it, you have my upmost respect!

One of our passengers was lucky enough to experience this for herself and here’s what she had to say:

“Hi! My boyfriend (now fiancé) surprised me with a hot air balloon last Saturday for Valentine’s day! I had no idea what we were doing until we got there, and when we reached the highest point in the air he proposed! It was a magical ride and I would like to thank everyone at Adventure Balloons for making it so special. My fiancé had filled them on with the plan beforehand and they did very well to not give away. They were all very friendly and without them I don’t think Kunal could have pulled it off. The balloon ride in itself was amazing with the pilot entertainment throughout the ride whilst still respecting our privacy at times. If you are looking for a truly memorable ballooning experience, Adventure Balloons is the way to go! Thanks guys.”

If you’d like to know more, would like to book, or maybe you’d like to check out our locations and available dates, then why not come on over to the Adventure Balloons website where you’ll find plenty of information and the facilities to make quick and easy bookings. Alternatively, you can call us on 01252 844222 for information and bookings.

GOOD LUCK and don’t for get to invite us to the wedding!

At Adventure Balloons our 2012 season kicked off with a rather chilly start which just added to the excitement of the day. The temperatures peaked at a “brrrrrrrrreathtaking” minus 8 degrees, we thought it was mighty brave of Kunal Barai to brave it with his partner so early on a Saturday morning! The pair travelled from London to Winchfield by train with anticipation and excitement of their adventurous day ahead!

However what was unquestionably a rather freezing day was soon warmed by a question from Kunal himself. With the hot air balloon ascended to 2,000 feet over the picturesque village of Hook in Hampshire, it couldn’t have been a more perfect backdrop for Kunal – on bended knee – to pop the question to Tina!

Hot air ballooning is without a doubt the most romantic way to take to the skies, so why not take this perfect opportunity to ask your loved one to spend the rest of their lives with you? It’s certainly one way to knock their socks off, so to speak! Kunal was obviously one of the more romantically minded men of the world and thanks to his thought and deliberation of the best way to propose, he was of course successful! As Tina said yes he slipped a ring on her finger which he had purchased from Tiffany’s earlier in the week. Perfect.

“It was a great way to start our ballooning season and the weather was superb. It was one of those rare crisp winters days with lovely visibility, some snow on the ground and the balloon landed on a field belonging to a lovely farmer” said Chief Pilot Kim Hull. “We wish Tina and Kunal a great future after their flying start!”

For more details of other proposals on our hot air balloon rides click here.

It’s just 2 weeks until Valentine’s Day and your time is quickly running out, so let’s make things nice an easy for you. There is still time to book your loved one a paradise hot air balloon ride for February 14^th, but you’ll need to organise this fast. Adventure Balloons take great pleasure in offering romantic balloon rides. We are well aware that it is an experience that is likely to stay with you forever and will certainly make a real impact. We know you want to impress, otherwise you wouldn’t be making a statement with a balloon ride present; that’s why we pull out all the stops to tailor each individual ride to each of our customer’s specific desires. Let us know what you expect from your day with us, whether you’d like to fly in a group or if you’d like it to be a more intimate affair.

We can offer your flights in locations Oxford, Reading, Hemel Hempstead, Stevenage, Watford, Tring, London, Basingstoke, Hartley Wintney, Guildford, Farnham, Godalming, West Meon, Micheldever, Alton, Winchester, Kent, Sussex and Essex. There’s no waiting on the postman with us, you can simply book online and we will email you your vouchers to be with you almost instantly! However if you’d prefer us to post them we will.

If you determined to fly on a specific day, call our offices on 01252 844222 to check the date availability and book, or alternatively view our ‘Dates’ page where you can see this information online. Do bear in mind however that due to ballooning being a weather dependant ‘sport’, if the conditions aren’t right on the day, we will have to re-schedule. We advise that you call on the day of your flight to check that the flight will be going ahead.

Next you simply need to choose from our various different voucher options which include the following:

Weekday Morning Champagne Balloon Flight – Just £89 per person! – Valid for flights from Berkshire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Lincolnshire, Oxford, Surrey and Yorkshire. The voucher entitles you to a weekday morning flight during April – October and includes full colour gift voucher valid for 12 calendar months, flight in a hot air balloon, passenger insurance, traditional Champagne toast and presentation of flight certificate with return to the take off site by licensed minibus.

Weekday Champagne Balloon Flight – Just £109 per person! – Valid for flights from Berkshire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Lincolnshire, Oxford, Surrey and York. The voucher entitles you to a weekday flight during April – October at any of our time slots and includes full colour gift voucher valid for 12 calendar months, flight in a hot air balloon, passenger insurance, traditional Champagne toast and presentation of flight certificate with return to the take off site by licensed minibus.

Standard Champagne Balloon Flight – Just £129 per person! – Valid for flights from Berkshire, Essex, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Lincolnshire, Oxford, Surrey, Sussex and York. The voucher entitles you to a weekday or weekend flight during April – October at any of our time slots and includes full colour gift voucher valid for 12 calendar months, flight in a hot air balloon, passenger insurance, traditional Champagne toast and presentation of flight certificate with return to the take off site by licensed minibus.

Nationwide Champagne Balloon Flight – Just £139 per person! – Valid for flights from the widest selection of launch sites across the UK (excludes London). Includes full colour gift voucher valid for 12 calendar months, flight in a hot air balloon, passenger insurance, traditional Champagne toast and presentation of flight certificate with return transport to the take off site.

So you’ve decided on Adventure Balloons as the operator to take you up on your first hot air balloon ride, but now you simply cannot decide which of the fabulous locations to opt for! Tricky one; all our locations are wonderful for their own reasons, we cover the fascinating Oxfordshire, York & Lincolnshire, fabulous Hertfordshire, you’ll see plenty in Berkshire, and plenty more in Essex Kent and Sussex, one of our favourites is North Hampshire and Surrey is simply beautiful. London is of course out of the question with this year’s London Olympics and Paralympics and also with the Queens Diamond Jubilee Celebrations. The Department of Transport have made it clear that for security reasons our flights will preclude for 2012. You can however book for 2013 is you’d like to see London from 3’000 foot in the air!

One of our favourite balloon flight paths is our South Hampshire location taking off from launch sites in Alton, Micheldever, Popham, West Meon and Winchester.

Depending on which site we take off from (which is determined by the wind direction and weather on the day of the flight), you may see the impressive Winchester Cathedral, the breathtaking rolling Hampshire countryside, the tranquil River Test and various small villages such as Laverstoke, Whitchurch, and the Candovers during the balloon ride. However, this too depends on which direction the wind is blowing. You may also see large estates such as Leckford on the River Test where Waitrose produce a lot of their food, the Mid Hants Steam Railway that runs from Alton to Alresford, and if you’re exceptionally lucky, you may even see a glider circling around Lasham airfield, or microlights flying from Popham airfield!

When flying from our South Hampshire launch sites we have to keep clear of Southampton Airport at Eastleigh, and also keep our passengers out of the Solent! So you can see why in order to provide you with a safe and enjoyable flight, the site chosen will depend entirely on the wind direction and speed on the day.

Why not visit the site where you can easily book now in any of our flight locations, you can even click here to see videos of our flights over Hampshire! However if you’re after a more personal touch, then call one of our team on 01252 844222!

Does the thought of seeing the earth and the land from another perspective entice you?

Are you eager to look down on the world like a bird with a complete and unhindered view of it all?

Does the thought of hot air ballooning excite you?

Then join the club; here at Adventure Balloons we have a real passion for hot air ballooning which is still very much alive and kicking after 27 years in the business! We are the largest company in the country offering UK balloon flights and now even operate specialist ‘Happy Birthday’ balloons! Our complete fleet has capacities which range from four to sixteen people so that we can create the perfect intimate and romantic affair, or a lively airborne party to celebrate a pivotal day!

We fly from various locations around London and the Home Counties and after many years experience it seems clear that our passengers seem to prefer to fly over a location which is familiar to them. It makes perfect sense when you think about it; say you grew up in the area, worked, or went to school there, you know the place well – on foot – however you want to see it from about and experience its true beauty! So why not take a look at our locations page to see if we cover the location of your choice? If not, why not give us a call and we can point you in the direction of one of the Balloons Over Britain hot air balloon flights member companies who fly in your location. All Balloons Over Britain members must past strict guidelines in order to carry the status and are fully certified with many years of experience and love for ballooning.

To book with us is simple, simple decide where you would like to fly and then whether you’d like to book quickly online or call on 01252 844222 to speak to a member of the team. When ordering online you can choose to have your order sent instantly by e-mail or by post and can even take a look at flight availability to get an idea of when you can take your flight! Flights start from as little as £89 per person and you have the choice of sunset or sunrise flight, weekday or weekend.

We fly people of all ages from as young as 7 to as old as 120! As long as children meet the right height requirements and you are fit and able to stand and climb over the basket, it would be our pleasure to give you this wonderful experience. Take a look at our FAQ for a complete guide to what to expect and what you need to know, along with a list of medical exemptions. However if you have any questions and you’d like to speak to a member of our team, please feel free to call our offices on the already mentioned telephone number.

Bon Voyage!

With so many balloon flights companies to choose from, what is it about Adventure Balloons that makes us so popular and why should we be your first choice? Let’s face it, if you’re booking a balloon flight that’s going to take you 3,000 foot in the air, you’ll want to check out the companies policies, track records, testimonials, reliability and more. We expect this and in fact recommend it, and are 100% confident you’ll be happy with what you find here at Adventure Balloons.  Before you browse through our site, we’ve listed in today’s article the benefits to using our company so that you can decide whether or not you’d like to visit the site or call our team.

• Fast Bookings – Not only can you call us to book your flight, but you can easily book online too where you will even be given the option to choose your voucher design. Vouchers ordered online for e-mail delivery will arrive instantly!
• Check Date Availability – Unlike many other balloon flights companies, you can check our flights schedule so that you can see how often we fly from each of our locations (Berkshire, Essex, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Lincolnshire, London, Oxford, Surrey, Sussex and York)
• Low Prices - Book vouchers from as little as £89 – the best value balloon flight in the UK!
• Birthday Balloons – Enjoy special birthday flights in our one-of-a-kind Birthday hot air balloon which features our Adventure Balloons colours and a giant ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY’ message!
• Great Reputation – Many Adventure Balloons customers come from personal recommendation – check out our customer testimonials to see why!
• Flexible – Adventure Balloons is also able to cater for any special requirements you may have.
• Various Capacities – We have several balloons with capacities ranging from 4-16 passengers!

Adventure Balloons became so popular and renowned for their quality of service and eagerness to please that the only way left for them to continue growing was to create the group Balloons Over Britain. Balloons Over Britain has 10 member companies each offering flights in different locations across the UK. With over 70 different launch sites across Britain, and from Adventure Balloons humble beginnings, it has to be asked…why go anywhere else? So if Adventure Balloons do not cover the location you were after, take a look over at Balloons Over Britain where you will find a member company that does.

So the New Year is fast approaching and those of you who are more organised and shall I say, more Romantic than the rest of us, will be thinking about what to do for their loved one on Valentine’s Day 2012. Okay, okay, so we still haven’t got Christmas out of the way, but sometimes these things need real planning, organisation and booking in advance. Had you considered the idea of surprising your dearly beloved with a romantic champagne hot air balloon ride? Hot air ballooning is considered one of the most romantic gestures that exists to humankind and is certainly the most romantic way to fly. Maybe you’re planning on making this Valentine’s Day a double celebration and would like to propose to your partner; well what better way to do it than to get down on one knee 3,000 foot high in the air suspended below a hot air filled balloon in a wicker basket?

You wouldn’t be the first to celebrate Valentine’s day in style, at Adventure Balloons we find that it’s one of our most demanded schedule dates and so pull out all the stops to make as many couples dreams come true on the day as possible. Take for example February 14^th 2009 when we flew 3 couples in our smallest 4 person balloon.

We couldn’t have asked for better weather that Saturday as the sun shone dramatically down on the world below us, a breathtaking sight for us all, we were left speechless. The flight was done in two legs, with the first flight taking 4 passengers for their serene hours flight, which was followed by an “intermediate landing” on a friendly farmer for a change of passengers and more fuel. We were thankful for the balloons co-operation as it stood patiently upright awaiting its next happy couple. Then off the last couple went for their own intimate hour’s flight over the rolling landscapes. “It was just like the flying we used to do on our ballooning weekends in the West Country in the mid 1980’s” said company pilot Kim Hull. Back then Kim was faced with the challenge of only having a two person balloon and having to try to fly 8 people each weekend which was of course a challenge!

The happy couples went away mesmerised, each one presented with an additional complimentary Valentines bottle of champagne to take home, plus a shortbread and chocolate Valentines heart from our local bakery which the guys presented on their knees‼ Perfect.

If you’d like to discuss booking your very own romantic flight, get in touch with us here at Adventure Balloons on 01252 844222 or go ahead and book online.

Lindstrand Balloons has a proven and renowned track record of project management, and also boasts the highest available approval rating from the British CAA and the American FAA, and EASA, for the manufacture of lighter-than-air craft! And with the advent of pan-European legislation for balloon maintenance this year, who better to do the checks and walk us through any needed changes than the Managing Director of Lindstrand Balloons himself!?

Due to their high levels of excellence, Lindstrand Balloons make all of our balloons that way ensuring the absolute highest quality aircraft. Then each year their trained inspectors thoroughly check over our fleet of hot air balloons making sure they are up to the British CAA, the American FAA, and the EASA standards. Adventure Balloons have been working as a technical partner with Lindstrand Balloons since they started in 1993, and were in fact one of their first customers.

When Simon Forse the Managing director came to inspect our balloons back in 2009, we were delighted to be told that the burner we’d purchased back in 1993 was in excellent health! Simon was curious to know how many flights it had done since it left the factory and so was obviously more than satisfied when we told him it had flown for 15 seasons with hardly any major replacements! With this he asked if he could put an advert in the UK’s balloon magazine about the burner and of course we were more than happy for him to go ahead! Any publicity’s good publicity right!

So bear in mind that while other balloon operator’s may boast modern equipment, our partnership with Lindstrand Balloons ensures even more than that. Our teams combination of the most modern and the most reliable equipments makes for a ballooning experience you can trust.

For more information about Adventure Balloons or Lindstrand Balloons, please call us on 01252 844222, or simply visit the website where you will find a wealth of information to answer a full range of customer enquiries. For bookings call us on the same number, or simply book online for fast and easy payments and date availability checks.

Are you looking for a new and exciting way to capture your audience’s attention? The best way to do this is to stand out from the crowd. To be different to your competitors gives you a unique selling point, it enables your audience to remember you. Sure, all advertising is good advertising, but if you use the same old approach, you will just blend into the crowd and become the same as all the rest. With a quirky slogan, a catchy tune and some clever marketing, you brands image could be the first thing to crop into potential customers minds when they’re shopping for your area of product or service.

Picture the bill board advert now; what kind of image is likely to draw in your audience base? Have you considered a hot air balloon? At Adventure Balloons, our baskets have recently been used for video and photography shoots for McCains Chips (three nuns floating over the roof tops) Sheila’s Wheels Car Insurance (Pink trim on the basket of course) and now it seems some of our baskets have aspirations to break into flim!

Just look at the image above, if you saw this spread across the typical 14” x 48” billboard, there’s no doubting it would draw you in! Well this is what music photographer Paul Heartfield thought when he wanted to do a photo shoot with The Leisure Society. After contacting us, to hire one of our balloon baskets, we were only too happy to help and with baskets of various sizes, accommodating the seven piece band was not a problem at all. All that was left to do, was combine all the band member on their available dates, with a beautiful blue sky and the perfect countryside setting! And as you can see from the photograph; mission accomplished!

Alternatively, you could always use our balloons to advertise your product, service or new feature by plastering it’s basket in a banner with your company colours, logo, or slogan? Better still, we could even have the balloon itself designed in the shape of your product. Nothing captures passes by more than a hot air balloon, wherever you are and no matter how much of a hurry you’re in, everyone will stop to look up! Research has found hot air balloon advertising as a very effective and cost effective method of marketing your business. Interested? Then why not give us a call on 01252 844222.

For more about Leisure Society try http://www.theleisuresociety.co.uk
and www.myspace.com/theleisuresociety

For band photography go to http://www.paulheartfield.com/

With the London 2012 Olympics fast approaching, unfortunately we will not be able to offer you the chance to enjoy a romantic hot air balloon flights over the UK’s Capital during 2012. Latest discussions with the Department of Transport have made it clear that because of the security arrangements both at launch sites and in London’s airspace required for the Queens Diamond Jubilee Celebrations and the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, we will not be able to take bookings for our Central London Hot Air Balloon Rides during the 2012 season. So if you were waiting for the thrill of seeing our beloved London from 3,000 feet in the air, you will now have to wait until 2013! Tickets for 2013 flights will go on sale in November 2012. So whatever anyone else tells you, you will not be able to see London from a balloon during 2012, unless from a very long way away!

Considering this news, it was a good job our 2011 London flights ended on such a high; we all remember the rather shoddy and un-summery weather we had during August, however our balloon flights over London had a rather spectacular finish! With so many factors to take into consideration including wind speed, visibility, precipitation and so on, it can be expected that flights will be cancelled and re-scheduled from time to time. But at Adventure Balloons our last 3 scheduled flights of the London season all went ahead as planned! When you factor into this that statistically a flight in most areas has about a 1 in 3 chance or better of going ahead each time, I’d say we got lucky! In fact you could say it was a minor miracle; London balloon flights require far more precise weather conditions and so you have more or less a 1 in 6 chance of your flight going ahead!

This luck even spread to our foreign tourists who were in the capital for just a few days, given them just one opportunity to take a flight. With passengers from Spain, Brazil and Saudi Arabia all flying on their first and only dates, I’d say we earned ourselves a shining review! However we did tell our lucky visitors not to tell their colleagues back home that London hot air balloon rides happen just like that, as we also had one passenger who had 33 attempts in 4 years before he was flown this June! It really is down to mother nature, and maybe a touch of the luck of the draw.