Up In The Air

I have been a fan of the famous movie “UP” hot air balloon since 2009 and every time I see it, it makes me happy as well as the unconditional love story of Carl and Ellie.

This year, I decided to experience it for myself…well, not the love story…but the feel of being up close with a Hot Air Balloon and glad to have covered for the Biggest Hot Air Balloon Festival in Southeast Asia in Pradera Verde, Prado Siongco, Lubao Pampanga.

Because, I had to feature it on our Morning Show in Good Morning Kuya at UNTV, me and my crew were at the venue as early as 2:30am. No signs of big balloons yet, but I could definitely feel the spirit of being a kid at heart as soon as I entered the place filled with booths and festivities in-stored for its visitors.

At exactly 5am we went live for our morning show to do the spiels and features…and here are some photos during that day:

Prior to my live reporting, I had a chance to interview one event organizer who told me the following details: 
• That there are two types of balloons at the event: one is the Tethered Balloon (it’s a regular and small shape balloon that is supervised by a rope, it can go as high as 100meters only and you can enjoy the ride for 3 minutes for only Php500.00) & the Special Balloon (the colorful and specially designed balloons that can go as far as you can imagine it to be depending on the wind and gas allowance, it’s worth the ride for Php10,000.00)
• One or two persons can ride a balloon at a time plus the pilot
• We are expecting at most 40 brilliantly designed balloons at the event… the balloonist and pilots are coming from different parts of the world.
• There’s no need to worry about the safety of the balloons because they had pilot tested it preceding the event and regarding where the balloon where land, they made sure that there’s a chase van assigned per balloon to pick you up from where you will put down.
• For the entrance fee its only Php200.00, but if you want to get access to the balloon ground, you just have to add Php250.00
• Aside from the Hot Air Balloon itself, they also have other amusing activities such as Zipline, Paintball, Circus Show, Motor Paragliding, Bazaar and Concerts.

There you have it, it’s a must try for those who want to try something stimulating and pleasurable. Glad to have another one marked off from my bucket list…Thank you so much to the organizers who made it possible for us to feature this awesome event. #lubaoibf