Hot Air Ballooning in Provence | France

As travel enthusiast we are constantly adding to our bucket-list. From cage diving with great whites to jumping out of a plane in Australia it seems our lists gets longer and longer each day. A lot of these ideas come from fellow travel bloggers or writers that we stalk ( I mean follow). One such idea was hot air ballooning in Provence. As soon as I saw the words across my screen I knew I had to do it.

Below is everything you need to know for Hot Air Ballooning in Provence with France Montgolfieres.

 

 

 

 

I have always wanted to go in a hot air balloon I just always thought it would be in Turkey. We have all seen the pictures of the desert landscape dotted with pastel balloons floating through the air as if a single breathe could whisk them away. This in my mind was the one and only place you could go in a balloon. I know crazy. It never even occurred to me that we could go in a hot air balloon in France until Ashley sent me an article about things to do Provence from Vogue.

Within second  we had booked our tickets with  France Montgolfières.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and we were waking up at the crack of dawn to go meet our caption and crew. Arriving in Forcalquier’s town square our names were ticked off and we hopped into the cutest safari Jeep off to our launching point. Within a few minutes we were brought to a pasture where the caption and his crew worked quickly to get the balloon inflated.

I felt like we were on a movie set everything.

As I was watching the balloon increase to mammoth proportions I started to get both excited and terrified. I am one of those people who leap first think later. I am impulsive and tend to just say fuck it let’s do it.  So it was only when I was about to jump into the basket, that it downed on me that I was a bit nervous. Luckily I am never one to let my nerves get the best of me and so I gave myself a little peep talk and told myself there was no backing out.

And I am so happy I did.

The ride was so smooth I couldn’t even tell I was floating up higher and higher. Neither Ashley or I experienced any sort of motion sickness or any sort of vertigo. We were up for about an hour and a half or more but I can’t be certain because I totally lost track of time. Up there you could see for miles. The view was incredible and a once in a lifetime experience. It was incredible to both see Provence and the lavender fields from the ground and the air.

Even the landing was so smooth we literally dropped onto a field like a dandelion fuzz.

 

It was a surreal experience made even more better by our amazing captain and crew. While we waited for the balloon to fill they laid out coffee, tea and mini croissants to munch on. And once we landed they popped open bottle of champagne to commemorate the day. Our captain Fernado was very knowledgeable and experienced which are two things you want when someone is taking your life in their hands. He had navigated balloons all over the world for over 15 years. He did a great job of pointing out the ranges and different landscape in Provence all whilst making us laugh.

Overall I cannot recommend France Montgolfières enough !!

 

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Written By:

Hi, I’m Jay. A twenty-something-year-old living in New York. There’s not all that much to say about me other than; I love to eat, drink and travel. I’ve lived in some incredible cities from Paris to New York to Florence, and along the way, I’ve crossed off a ton on my bucket list. I hope we inspire you to go out there and see for yourself, just how beautiful life can be.