Flying a balloon around the world

By: Mel and César

We are Mel and César, our story begins more than 10 years ago.

Since he was 15, César has dedicated himself to flying in a hot air balloon in Mexico; Since before he was born, his father has been involved in this great activity.

For my part, I knew César and his family since I was little, our town Teotihuacán is very small so we were in the same group of friends, you know, a small town. Years later, when we were older we started dating but due to distance and university we separated even though we were still very much in love.

Six years later, each one with his life made and starting in the world of work, I receive a message.

– Hello, how are you? I haven’t known about you for so long, what have you done?

I was super surprised but I answered, he told me that he was finally fulfilling his dream of flying in a balloon commercially to finish paying for his university, so almost immediately he sold me a balloon flight over the pyramids; You know, doing marketing and flirting at the same time, nothing stupid, of course I needed allies so I took my little sister and my best friend.

This is how our story began, sharing a flight, the best of my life and believe me, I have flown many times!

As the years passed, César began to fly in Tequisquiapan and I insisted that we should open a hot air balloon flight agency, since I studied Tourism Business Administration and it was the perfect fit, but for one reason or another we didn’t do it, since you know abusive bosses etc.

Two years after César was working at Tequis, he decided that it was time to move away and look for something better, but the most difficult thing was that he left his job when we had just decided to buy our first tickets to travel to Europe, so you can imagine, Our first trip to another continent with only credit cards without having a stable job was the first travel adventure we had.

But the most incredible thing was that on that trip César decided to propose to me, in Paris, although the original plan was to do it in this incredible Loire Valley, where it is very famous to fly in a balloon for its castles but unfortunately, due to the snow and bad weather, It wasn’t possible so he decided to do it at the Eiffel Tower.

Upon arriving in Mexico after this mega cloud of happiness, we realized that we didn’t have a job and we were back in our town Teotihuacan, with nothing, just the desire to work haha.

Know? The world of Hot Air Ballooning is very small so a good friend connected it with another friend who was about to open a company in Teotihuacan and, well, it fit like a glove, not to make a long story short, they also invited me to work. with them so that I could finally work on the balloons as I had proposed to César years before, we were in this company for almost 3 years, although they were the most intense 3 years of work and work success in the end we were missing something, you realize What they say is true, the fact that you have the best job and a very good income does not mean that you enjoy it.

César and I began to question ourselves since we barely had time to take a week-long vacation and what started with making your hobby (in César’s case, flying balloons) your job, turned into not enjoying what he did at all. I had dreamed of it since I was a child and I, for my part, lived very stressed and with work full. So I decided to resign and in turn César decided the same.

By this time the pandemic had arrived, so it was a very good time for us to reflect and think about what we were looking for, we wanted to travel and fly in a hot air balloon to the place where we were traveling, so we tried first in Guatemala, César was offered to fly in this great country, flew for several months and at the end of the season we took a small one-week trip. We climbed Acatenango and it was one of the most beautiful and adventurous experiences we have ever done, we walked through Antigua Guatemala, etc.

After this trip we decided to go to New York, but of course, we had to combine it with a balloon flight, at this time the pandemic was still continuing but the first vaccines were already beginning to come out, so when they rescheduled our flight (because we bought it before the pandemic) we investigated and in NY they were vaccinating tourists for free to encourage tourism, so we combined everything, it was the first thing we did when we arrived, get vaccinated, but I don’t know if it was a good idea because they threw a cannon at us!

Well the joke is that we were able to continue with the trip and fly in a balloon in a national park called Letchworth, the flight was incredible, we flew over a river and some waterfalls and this was our first afternoon flight, because not every place in the world can do it. In the evening, we drove to Niagara Falls and back to New York City, becoming more and more adept at traveling, making the itinerary, and everything that comes with a trip.

When we returned from this trip, César asked me the question – can you imagine being able to fly in a hot air balloon working and getting to know that place, combining the two things that we like the most? I responded: it would be a dream but I let it go.

We had already had some references from friends who did this for many years of their lives, since every year we go to the FIG (International Balloon Festival) and there you meet many pilots from many parts of the world.

César insisted on doing it because he is super tenacious, so he decided to get his Hot Air Balloon Pilot license in the USA, since this license is easier to validate and has more renown worldwide. Of course, during his trip to the USA, I went with him for a few days to get to know Los Angeles and go to the amusement parks and, of course, to support him in his last days of studying and the license exam.

The moment arrived and we were very nervous on the day of the exam, he left early and meanwhile our friends who kindly offered us their house, took me around Albuquerque where their final exam would be.

When it arrived, obviously, I was sure it would pass, and it did, that license would be a huge door to being able to fly in other parts of the world.

We have been away from Mexico for almost 1 year, the first season was in Jordan, where they fly in a hot air balloon in Wadi Rum, the place is incredible and you really feel like you are on another planet, and our second season is in Oman, where we are currently and We continue to get to know the country, our season is 6 months.

Thanks to technology we can continue having our balloon flight agency in Mexico, and we decided to open a YouTube channel, and tell our story of what it is like to live from balloons and at the same time learn more about the culture of that country!

We want to say that Alan around the world has inspired us to travel the world and know beyond what a one-week trip leaves you, and that there is no age to start living your dreams and working for them because the truth is we are already rucos hahaha.

Greetings!