Michele's Travel Blog: January 1, 2012 Come Fly Fiji with Me - The First Hot Air Balloon to Fly in 2012

Dec 31, 2011 I hit the hay early as I had an early wake up call. 4:15 am to be exact. I suppose you are asking what happened to New Years Eve. Didn't you party like a "rock star'? The answer is no. I opted to get to bed early so that I could witness the first 2012 sunrise of Fiji. And, take part in the first hot-air balloon to fly in 2012. That said, I did watch the fireworks at 9pm. Then again at 12pm as they woke me up from my peaceful slumber. I crawl back to bed and pray I could get some additional shut eye before the nasty alarm goes off.

I am up, excited and ready to go. I peruse my checklist... Camera, cam recorder, sunglasses, hat, sturdy shoes and a big bottle of water. Everything is a go and I fly out the door. Nine more passengers will be on the journey.

Every time I have seen a hot-air balloon in the air, I've imagined myself in the basket floating over the land. So here I am about to be in the basket catching the first 2012 sunrise in Fiji.

The pilot and his girlfriend (Brian and Laurie) are from the US. She also is a pilot. We hit it off and conversed all the way to the departure site. Laurie took me under her wing and educated me about ballooning. It was so fascinating to watch the morning events unfold. It is a lot of work start to finish and way to much to explain in the blog. The support team is up around 2:30am so that they can get the equipment, pick-up the passengers, in flat the balloon and be in the air just before sunrise. Their work doesn't stop there. After we land (provided you can find a spot) they have to deflate the balloon and get ready for tomorrows trip.

Taking off is relatively easy as you have an area that is hand picked. In the fields, flat, no obstructions. Landing on the other hand is another story. You have plan A, plan B, plan C and then what actually happens. There is a field that Brian likes to land on which was our intention today. However, because it was a Sunday, we were not allowed to land in the village. It was so disappointing because the kids around the field were waiting for us to land. Just like in the Wizard of Oz.

The typical flight is 45minutes to an hour. Ours lasted almost an 1 1/2 hours. The reason is the wind was slow and we had to wait til we could find the place to set the basket. Brian did an excellent job landing the basket. We ended up in a wet field filled with some sitting water from the prior days rain. There was no way we could exit the basket here or that the truck could get to us. So Brian added some hot air and floated us to a bit higher ground. The crew arrives down the adjacent wet and muddy dirt road. I have no idea how they find us but they magically appear. They work on turning the truck around without getting stuck or burying a tire. It's a miracle they didn't get stuck. Thank goodness for 4-wheel drive. Brian with his expert navigation floats us right on the back of the trailer. Absolutely unbelievable.

We end with a champagne brunch and a good nap.