Tension and an air of suppressed excitement grip the crowd milling about the lobby. Overheard snatches of conversation reflect the mood: “What time is the flight?” “I hope the take-off is smooth.” “How long will it take?” “Fingers crossed, nothing goes wrong.” “Do you think the pilot has done this before?”
Travellers take off for a hot-air balloon ride on the outskirts of Albuquerque
Just the usual trepidation that accompanies air journeys in the US these days, you’d think. And, you couldn’t be further from the truth. In this lobby, there are no security checks, no boarding passes, no baggage tags, and certainly no plastic smiles. The emotions are all genuine and they swim just below the surface. A little winding up and it comes bubbling out: enthusiasm tinged with the awareness of impending adventure. This is no ordinary flight we’re prepping to take: We are going on our very first hot-air balloon ride in Albuquerque, the ballooning capital of the world, and cold feet is our common accessory.
In the lobby of the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort and Spa, where the to-be balloonists have gathered, we try to calm the butterflies in our stomach by focusing on terra firma. After all, Albuquerque, the largest city in New Mexico, has a colourful history stretching all the way from prehistoric times to the present day, via native American settlers and Spanish colonizers. Under the conquistadors, Albuquerque was an outpost on El Camino Real (literally, the royal road) that ran from Mexico City to Santa Fé: The original town plan was actually based on a Spanish village.
Alas, the subject soon runs dry in the 30 minutes it takes us to reach the banks of the Rio Grande on the outskirts of the city. All too soon, our pilot, Brooke Owen, and his three crewmen have unloaded the basket, the burner and the envelope (what regular people would call the balloon) and assembled the “vehicle”. “The weather’s beautiful,” Owen calls across to this obviously nervous group as the balloon rises, ready to float.
And, it is. The late September sun is sending the first streaks of orange across the bright blue sky, tinging the tips of the surrounding mountains. Albuquerque itself is located in the middle of the Rio Grande valley, with the Sandia and Manzano mountains to the east and five volcanic cones to the west. The arid continental weather is typically sunny and dry, with very low humidity.
All of which makes for perfect ballooning conditions. According to Owen, who has been ballooning for over 15 years in this region, the weather and the geographical formations allow pilots to launch balloons, move with the winds at various altitudes and even backtrack—a particularly difficult movement to negotiate in the air—with ease.