Hot Air Balloon Ride In Singapore
I had missed an earlier opportunity for a hot air balloon ride some years back in Gold Coast, Australia. Wife and I had booked us on a hot air balloon ride but due to poor weather, the flight was cancelled at the last moment. I remember that point in time clearly as I was woken up to receive the news at 5.02am.
When another opportunity presented itself for a chance to win a hot air balloon ride during the Singapore Air Force Open House, I was elated. Much as I would have liked, my family did not manage to get on board the hot air balloon at Paya Lebar Airbase this time.
We arrived late to cast our tickets for the first Hot Air Balloon Ride lucky draw in the Singapore Air Force Open House. With the delay in the launch of the hot air balloon ride on the morning of 30th August 2008, coupled with our family schedule to leave the Air Force Open House 2008 early, the opportunity to ride the hot air balloon was lost.
The closest we could get to a hot air balloon ride was at the Aviation Carnival at Paya Lebar Airbase. This was located at the stadium in the Airbase where an un-inflated hot air balloon sat next to an empty basket in the center of a field. It was also a pity we could not witness any hot air balloon ride high up in the sky of Singapore as we had to leave early.
The odds of winning a free ticket to get onboard a hot air balloon were extremely slim. Many visitors were ahead of us and more were streaming into the carnival zone to add their tickets into the luck draw box. The single hot air balloon did not look like it could accommodate more than 5 or 6 ‘high flyers’ at a time.
I noticed the name “Wanderlust” printed on the hot air balloon of the Air Force News magazine’s promotional picture of this ride. A check on the web revealed that there was such a company providing hot air balloon ride. One of their hot air balloons called ‘Timepeace’ has the same colours and stripes as the balloon ride in the promotional picture.
According to Wanderlust's hot air balloon ride website, only four passengers can get on the hot air balloon at any one time. Their one-hour sunrise hot air balloon ride will cost US$185 per person. Unlike the DHL Balloon Ride that is anchored by wires, riders of Wanderlust’s hot air balloon will get to float across the sky with the pilot having no idea where the hot air balloon will land at the time they lift off from the ground. As hot air balloons move according to the wind, the weather condition and wind speed have major influences on the decision to take off or to wait.
Hopefully next year’s Open House will offer another opportunity for a hot air balloon ride.
You can click here to read about yg's hot air balloon ride in Cairns.
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1 comments:
after reading about your failed attempts at hot air ballooning, i decided to blog about my experience about 9 years ago.
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