Hot Air Balloon Flight in Miami - Pros and Cons

Debating whether hot air balloon flight in Miami is worth time and money? We've tried it and here's the list of pros and cons of our experience.

Cons:

1.     You will not know until 4 am of the day of your scheduled flight if the flight is in fact happening. Apparently only entirely calm weather is suitable for hot air balloons flights - and believe me this could not be more true! Otherwise "Gone with the wind" could become a sad real life tragedy rather than an epic Civil War drama.

2.     Waking up at 4 am! For a sleep fanatic like me this is a tragedy in itself!

3.     Turns out flying a hot air balloon over the ocean or along the coast is not an option (hint - you can fly fly away... you know... for good). So instead you are flying over the fields and farm houses and rural oh so pretty roads, barns and storages and greenhouses and...well, you get the scenery.

4.     You won't fly high and you will not see other hot air balloons, because, you know... there are none.

5.     Landing might surprise you. Not necessarily but the wind might turn out stronger than a couple of nicely muscled men and keep dragging the balloon forward when, in fact, everyone wished it stayed intact. Including the nicely muscled men who might turn into heroes by not letting go of the grip despite getting dragged on the gravel, ruining their favorite leather jackets and actually hurting themselves (bruises and blood were all real).

To clarify: to facilitate balloon's landing two guys on the ground pulled the attached cable into opposite of the wind direction. The wind kept pulling and the guys kept holding until they fell on the ground but didn’t let go and hooray the balloon stopped. The basket landed on its side but no one inside got hurt and as a matter of fact enjoyed this little extreme ending of the flying adventure.  

6.     It is not cheap. $500 for a couple.

Pros:

1.     Hot air balloon flight is one badass adventure. Period.

2.     All those farms and fields and barns look rather romantic actually, from above at sunrise.

3.     If you’ve never been on a hot air balloon before and have nothing to compare to – chances are you will really like it. Otherwise you might go: oh but my previous hot air balloon had better moves, flew higher and faster, didn’t call me at 4 am and the landing…oh that landing… See, this was my first hot air balloon and I did like even the landing! J

4.     The overall feeling of adventure, of unknown and of somewhat dangerous is always exciting and leaves the best memories.

5.     Hot air balloon is a perfect place for a surprise or a celebration. And if your boyfriend happens to propose on one – you will freaking love hot air balloons until the end of times!

6.     So I say, yes! Both to my boyfriend J and to a hot air balloon flight experience in Miami!! 

Where: Sunrise Balloons Miami

How it begins