A morning, start to finish.
About four hours from meeting in the dark to the end of breakfast, with about an hour of it in the air.
An hour before sunrise
Meet in the dark
We meet at a field we name the evening before, chosen for that morning's wind. Coffee is already on.
Forty minutes before
Lay out the balloon
The envelope comes out of its bag as a long ribbon of cloth on the grass, tied to the basket lying on its side.
Twenty minutes before
Cold air, then the burner
A fan fills the cloth with cold air. Then the pilot heats it, and the envelope stands up over the basket.
Sunrise
The flight
About an hour aloft. The pilot steers by height, climbing or sinking into air that moves the way we want to go.
About an hour later
The landing
We come down in a field with room to land. The chase crew meets us, and everyone helps fold the cloth away.
Then
Breakfast
A table in the field: coffee, bread, fruit and eggs, while the valley wakes up around it.
A seat in a shared basket: $295 a person. Prices are illustrative.