Around the World: Hot Air Ballooning in Gstaad with Parmigiani

When most people think of hot air ballooning, they think of warm weather climates such as New Mexico –where one of the most famous balloon festivals takes place annually. Today, however, I had the distinct pleasure of ballooning over the Alps in Gstaad, Switzerland, with luxury watch brand Parmigiani Fleurier, who is one of the key sponsors of the Festival International de Balloons. In one grand balloon and a basket built for 11 plus the pilot, we took off and flew across mountain and meadow and forest. It was an amazing – and cold – adventure that everyone should get to experience at least once in their life. The balloon pilot from Belgium has been flying for 12 years and studied for 2 years to get his license. He is world-class proficient. Good thing, too, because we were quite high above the Alps for a good 90 minutes. It’s an art of catching the right currents of winds, floating up, down and sideways to find the currents that take you higher and farther. We were in the midst of at least another 30 ballooners, some of whom had shorter rides, or longer rides, some went higher, some not so high. All in all, it was a grand day to fly around the world- or at least around a majestic snow covered part of it.