Just A Small Town Girl…

Flushed cheeks and watery eyes, the crisp morning breeze streamed rabidly through her hair. Teeth chattering, she glanced upwards momentarily, the mammoth flame was growing steadily. She stretched her arms out and wiggled her fingers, the heat began to warm her fingertips. There were 16 of them, to be precise; divided into four compartments of four. Their particular balloon was white with blue and red patterns.

This is so surreal she thought, as she peered from the edge of the basket, as of yet resting sturdily on the ground. Her eyelids still heavy from the 4am wake up call. The pilot began to run through their emergency landing positions, flashing his dimpled smile all the while, with a quick wink that was it, time for take off!

They began to rise higher and higher from the grassland base area, leaving behind the waving crew members who quickly turned into little dots. In what seemed like seconds later, they’d reached an altitude of 600 feet.

Soaring through Rose Valley, the Fairy Chimneys and passing through Imagination Valley, her eyes widened. She was mesmerised by the view ahead.

A sea of hot air balloons. At least a hundred of them, red ones, white ones, blue ones, green ones, all with unique patterns, gliding smoothly through the beautiful landscape. It was breathtaking. At first glance they all appeared to be suspended in the air, floating like multicoloured puppets.

700 feet above the ground now and she felt invincible. A wave of calmness swept over her and all prior annoyances and worries were suddenly washed away.

She glanced at her phone to check the time: 6am on the dot. The sun was finally awake. Trying its hardest to rise above the thick grey clouds and start the new day would be a tough battle to win on a morning like this.

All she could think was that nothing could compare to this feeling. Time had stopped. Silence all around. Everyone was taking in the surreal experience that they had been fortunate enough to be a part of.

They’d been flying through the air for just over an hour now; the journey was coming to an end. As they began to meander back down towards reality, the sun unexpectedly broke free from it’s clouded confinement, beaming out in all of its glory. Smiles all around. Ah, the perfect morning. 🙂