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Following the recent celebration of his 10-year anniversary at Virgin Balloon Flights, we asked customer service manager Shaun Howells about the hot air balloon gift he gave his mum on Mother's Day and their subsequent flight together. Here's Shaun in his own words!
Ever since my first day with Virgin Balloon Flights nearly 100 years ago (I jest), my Mum had shown a keen interest in the experience, often asking questions on the science of ballooning and looking in awe at some of the photos and videos I had shared over the years.
I knew this would be a wonderful gift that my mom would treasure and provide memories to last us both a lifetime. I had purchased the vouchers with a view to presenting the gift on Mother’s Day…. many people might anticipate that you might like to fly on the actual day, but I felt that presenting the gift on the day and then booking for a future date would enhance the anticipation and excitement for when we do fly!
Given the weather-dependent nature of the experience, we did prepare for the possibility of weather-related cancellations, and sadly our first attempt was rained off (who would want to fly in the rain anyway?) We booked another date and called the flight line on the day of our flight with anticipation! Great news! The flight was going ahead! We were so excited about the prospect of our flight and readily made our way to the launch site at Shrewsbury.
We were greeted by our friendly pilot, who made us all feel at ease and asked for some volunteers to assist with the inflation process. Shortly after we took to the skies and enjoyed the most wonderful flight. Seeing the sites of our local area from 2000ft, we shared anecdotes of the landmarks we knew and posed for mother and son selfies in the sky! We enjoyed our post-landing Prosecco and readily assisted in packing the balloon away. Being part of the experience from inflation to deflation was a real plus point.
To this day, our flight is an experience we still fondly reminisce upon. The excitement of the flight date… the breathtaking scenery… the laughter when packing the balloon away… the memories gained and never forgotten. All from the gift of a hot air balloon voucher for Mother’s Day.