Valentine’s Day seems to creep up on us ever quicker each year no sooner than the turkey’s are breathing a sigh of relief after Christmas.  As romantic gifts go, the Taj Mahal in India is surely one of the most impressive and beautiful gifts anyone could give, built by Mughal Emperor Shahjahan as a memorial to his wife.

Here at Virgin Balloon Flights we’re a romantic bunch too and love nothing better than an opportunity to shower loved ones with gifts of all shapes and sizes.

Our gifts start from as little as a fiver and right now you can save up to 30% off our hot air balloon rides!

Of course hot air ballooning, like Valentine’s Day, is a thing of history and tradition, particularly the Champagne toast at the end of each and every one of our airborne adventures.

Here’s a few unique and romantic gifts available now from Virgin Balloon Flights that’ll keep you out of the supermarket seasonal aisle and well and truly in your loved one’s good books…

Get FREE Montezuma’s Chocolate Truffles with all national balloon ride vouchers this Valentine’s Day or how about our gorgeous Sparkling Half Bottle & Chocolates Gift Hamper now reduced to £24.99?

We’ve seen lots of engagements take place in our balloon baskets, read how Lee popped the question to Carly in one of our balloons over Bath last year and Mani from Leeds thought proposing at 1,200ft on a romantic balloon ride over York was even better than the Eiffel Tower.

Girls it’s a leap year this year so there’s no excuse to wait for the question to be popped, get down on one knee and see how it feels to ask “will you marry me?” You can fly from just £89pp and get FREE instant delivery too – perfect! Fly from £89!

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Well, the festive season has landed and 2011 has simply flown by here at Virgin Balloon Flights. (New Year’s resolution: no more balloon puns!).

It’s been a fantastic 12 months with thousands of new airborne adventurers, fantastic personal achievements by staff and charity campaigns galore! Enjoy some of our highlights in pictures below.

January

Steve Dubois of SteveOnTheRun.co.uk,  from Virgin Media in Cambridge, visited Virgin Balloon Flights HQ for a training run with our Eve (who ran a half marathon this year for Hope Hope) and Sue as part of his preparation for the Virgin London Marathon. Entrepreneur Mark Pearson, of MyVoucherCodes.co.uk fame, told us about his unforgettable balloon flight in Surrey the previous season.

The number of hot air ballooning photos shared with us this season was higher than ever.  Not only did we see lots and lots but the standard and quality of those images was fantastic too.  So a huge thank you to everyone who shared their amazing images with us!

Receiving a massive 21.5% of overall votes to secure pole position in the Virgin Balloon Flights Annual Photo Competition 2011 was the breath-takingly atmospheric image taken over Longstanton in Cambridgeshire by Sam Tolley.

Sam Tolley's winning image: 1-10 Misty Morning

‘Misty Morning’ also won best in category securing a huge 29.4% of all the votes in Category 1 – Views from the Basket. Well done Sam; you’ve won a £125 Virgin Experience Days Gift Card for your category and overall win!

Sam shared ‘Misty Morning’ with us on the Virgin Balloon Flights Facebook page on 15th October 2011 and we thought it was pretty amazing back then – looks like we weren’t the only ones to think so.

The photo was taken on a morning flight departing from our Cambridge Golf Club (Longstanton) launch site as Sam was looking in an easterly direction whilst about a third of the way through his flight.

You can purchase a flight voucher to fly from Longstanton and appreciate these amazing views that Sam so spectacularly captured, from as little as £89! You can even receive 20% off a round of golf on us!

Runner Up Winners

Huge congratulations also go to our category winners who each win a £25 Virgin Experience Days Gift Card!

Category 1 – Views from the Basket Winner = Misty Morning by Sam Tolley

Category 2 – People and Balloons Winner = Inside the Balloon by John Wells

2-2 Inside the Balloon by John Wells

Category 3 – Images of Balloons Winner = In Essex by Danyelle Motley

3-3 In Essex by Danyelle Motley

Category 4 – The Mechanics of Ballooning Winner = Inflating the Balloon by Helen Lehan

4-3 Inflating the Balloon by Helen Lehan

Each flying season (March – November) we hold a Photo Competition so if you have any ballooning images (of Virgin balloons) that you would like to share, you can find out more here.

Well done to everyone who took part this season and we very much look forward to next year’s competition submissions.

To find out more about hot air ballooning with Virgin Balloon Flights including what to look forward to on the day of your flight visit our website virginballoonflights.co.uk.

We’ve had so many amazing, beautiful and inspirational images shared with us this year that the competition is really tough – so we need your help in deciding who the winners should be!

Below is a small selection of gorgeous images.

There are four categories, the winning entry in each category wins a runner-up prize and the overall winner wins a fantastic Virgin Experience Days Gift Card for £100!

Some of the fantastic entries…

1-6 So Nice Up There

1-1 Perfect Reflection

2-2 Inside the Balloon

If you are flying with us next year then don’t forget to share your photos with us.

 

53 year old Richard Shaw of Batley, West Yorkshire took to the skies recently in his Dudek (Polish) Reaction, a 31 square metre reflex paramotoring wing, and met one of our lovely Virgin hot air balloons up there!

The father of four, who has been paragliding/paramotoring since 2003, took off from a farmer’s field in Snaith near Selby with three other pilots before seeing us in the sky. Richard has already flown in a balloon with us from York so has seen the beauty of ballooning from two wonderful different viewpoints.

Recently becoming semi-retired from his role as an electronics engineer Richard has spent all his time and efforts organising the British Paramotoring Championships and has this year taken on the job of team leader to the British Squad for International and World Championships abroad.

Speaking of his encounter with Virgin Balloon Flights over the Yorkshire landscape Richard said ‘I’m just interested in all things that fly!’, how could he pass on an opportunity to take these fabulous snaps?

You too can take to the skies with Virgin Balloon Flights from York or any other of our 100+ launch sites, for further details please visit www.virginballoonflights.co.uk or call us on 0844 8448070.

The 16^th November 2011 saw the first ever global Virgin Social Marathon, a groundbreaking event that took place around the world bringing together all sorts of digital types from Virgin offices near and far all working together for a day-long event at the Facebook office in London. Starting in Australia, then over to the UK and South Africa and finally ending in LA, California at Sir Richard Branson, Eve Branson and Virgin Unite’s event Rock the Kasbah.

The aim of the day was to reach out to our fans and followers across all of our social media channels including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+ with the theme and hashtag #FirstTimes. A fun packed and fast-typing day, we started posting and tweeting in the UK at around 6am and continued through until almost midnight.

With Mini Draws of lots of Virgin goodies up for grabs plus a Grand Prize including 2 hot air balloon rides, an Aston Martin experience day, a 1 year membership to Virgin Active, a Virgin London Marathon place and a Virgin Media TiVo box to name but a few, getting all of our social media fans entering and playing with the brand new app Virgin First Times was great fun.

In keeping with the theme #FirstTimes and to mark the the launch of the new app, we asked some of our colleagues here in the Virgin Balloon Flights office to share their ballooning first times with us.

“Describe your first balloon ride in three words?”

“What did you think of your first balloon ride?”

First Timers

We also wanted to know what our colleagues have been up to for the first time lately – here are some of their firsts:-

“Became a Dad” – Alex F, “Produced work for my very first public exhibition” – Ben H “Saw Bruno Mars in concert”- Sophie E “Bought my first home with my fiancé” – Caz S “Attended a Management Board meeting” – Ryan L “Skydive!” 10,000ft of pure nerves” – Liz M “Planning a Vegas wedding. Won a comp to go to SA with @RichardBranson” – Kirsty M

If you fancy flying in a balloon for the first time, please visit our Experience page where you can learn all about what’s involved on a Virgin Balloon Flights ballooning adventure.

Today heralds the first ever global Virgin Social Marathon, a groundbreaking event that takes place around the world bringing together digital Virgin types near and far all working together for a day-long event at Facebook’s office in London. Starting in Sydney, Australia, then handing over to the UK and ending in Los Angeles, California at Sir Richard Branson, Eve Branson and Virgin Unite’s event Rock the Kasbah, the social media marathon is a unique and exciting experience.

In celebration of the launch of the brilliant new Virgin Facebook app Virgin First Times, we asked some of our pilots to share their ballooning first times with us.

Martin Collinson

“My first balloon flight was in a crispy old blue balloon that had been flying for many years. I went along as a passenger with the infamous balloonist Kim Hull conducting a training flight with another chap. It was a beautiful morning floating across the fields and woods of north Hampshire, the dew still dripping from the leaves of the trees.  Blissfully unaware of the concentration required to actually fly the balloon, I leant over the side admiring the scenery.  It was a smooth and relaxing experience. In one word I’d describe it as serene. Some #FirstTimes for me recently; mobilised as a Military Observation and Liaison Officer to complete a 6 month operational tour on the United Nations Green Line in Cyprus.”

Dave Sutcliffe
Remembering his first times… “We were out on a Saturday night in pub with a work pal and got asked what we were doing in morning. So we got up at 7am (a November morning) and were greeted with a hard frost. Headed to Escrick Park south of York in a pick-up truck to be greeted upon arrival by what looked like a hairy Viking (Hugh Wright) which was very appropriate as he was flying the Yorvik Viking Centre balloon. I got involved getting the balloon ready, Hugh inflated it and Ian told me to get in. He had arranged for me to fly and he would follow and retrieve. I didn’t have any time to worry about it. The view was fantastic and after a little while we landed in a field. I was asked to swap places and can go and pick them up. So off they went and I tried to work out how to follow a balloon by myself. I set off then I got a shock as I heard Hugh talking to me in the truck. Worked out how it worked (years before mobiles) and was told which way to go. Found them in the end and went for breakfast. It was a great morning with lots of firsts that day. Pick-up truck ride. Balloon flight, towing a trailer and retrieving and made a friend for life.

Overall it was a, in three words, life changing experience.

More recently I have started cycling longish distances for the first time.”

Mark Simmons AKA “Nobby”

“My first flight was in April 1989 from the Thunder & Colt factory (now the Lindstrand factory) in Oswestry as a passenger in a new balloon’s first flight. It was piloted by Lars Eric Moores (quite a well known balloonist who started one of the first ride operations in Turkey). I was visiting the factory with Peter Mason whom I had just started working for as a full-time ground crew for his new Financial Times Special Shape balloon.

I don’t remember much about the flight as I hadn’t given the possibility of becoming a pilot myself any thought. I do remember the feeling when we touched down of “this is what I want to do with my life”. I loved it, although I did spend most of the 45 min flight looking through the lens of a video camera. My next flight a month later in Ireland was in a can shaped balloon which was very exciting!

In three words ballooning is absolutely bl**dy brilliant!

For the first time this year I met UK soul queen Beverly Knight at the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta. I also flew my 2000 hour!”

Neal Parry

“My first flight was back in 1993, in someone else’s balloon, in Jan 2006, in a bright striped balloon.  I was flying 16 excited, happy pax, under supervision of the chief pilot, as usual when gaining a new (Kenyan) licence.  We inflated in the dark, to catch sunrise from the air, over the Mara river, with its wallowing hippos, and crocs, and then onto the plain, where wildebeest, giraffes, elephants, big cats, and scores of other species roam free.

It was STUNNINGLY BEAUTIFUL!”

Visit Virgin First Times to share your first times with us.

Well, Alex’s challenge to do 50 First Times in Five Days for Virgin Unite leading up to the Virgin Social Marathon today (16th November) is certainly allowing him to develop his skills!

His next 10 #FirstTimes have included ballroom dancing, a Zumba class, flower arranging, knitting, having his legs waxed, a facial, a spray tan, working in a call centre, attending a fitness class and a work out at an outdoor gym! Follow his progress on Twitter @alexrferg @virginballoons

See the latest pics below:

Well, my challenge to do 50 First Times in Five Days for Virgin Unite leading up to the Virgin Social Marathon on Wednesday (Nov 16) has kept me entertained!

My next 5 #FirstTimes have included a 10 mile run, held a chicken, had an ice bath, drove a tractor and played an electric guitar! Follow my progress on Twitter @alexrferg @virginballoons

See my latest pics below: