On a Balloon in the Stockholm Sky

I’ve always thought of myself as a down-to-earth person, head in the clouds perhaps, but feet planted firmly on the ground. Yet here was all of me in the gondola of a balloon floating over Stockholm.

I had agreed to the adventure, figuring I could plead a headache when the time came to take off, but also could assure myself of a place in the gondola if a surge of devil-may-care hit me.

When the time came, I think I was sleepwalking. To take our flight we had to be in the hotel lobby at 3 a.m. Air currents are calmest in the early morning or late afternoon. If our flight had been scheduled for the afternoon, I might have had second thoughts and would most likely have missed one of life’s great thrills.

The Aventyrsresor company van carried us out to a field on the outskirts of town, where our aeronaut (pilot) tested the grass and decided that it was too wet to spread the balloon parachutes. We headed for a field with dry turf. There we all helped unfold the huge balloons, one to carry 10 people and the other five, and the crew set to work filling them with hot air.

Moving Like Zombies

Twelve of us moved like zombies, tugging at the balloons and watching the sun come up over Stockholm.

In about 15 minutes the balloons began to rise, heaving themselves up and over the gondola sides.

Our pilot explained that hot air rises because it has lower density and lower pressure than cold air. The goal is to get the balloon to rise to an altitude where the air has the same atmospheric pressure. The pilot can then control the altitude accurately by using the gas burner that hangs above the gondola at the base of the balloon. If the flame is increased, the balloon rises; if it’s lowered, the air cools and the balloon descends.

As we were helped aboard the inflated balloons, the gondolas strained and jerked at their tethers.

Slowly we rose with the sun into the sky above Stockholm. The cool morning air washed the sleep from my eyes and I began to relax my grip on the rim of the gondola and enjoy the ride.

The balloon flies with the wind, which varies at different altitudes, so the pilot has some options as to which direction to take by selecting the right altitude and current.

No Sound From Earth

In the stillness, sounds from the earth don’t reach you. Nothing I know is quite like it. It’s nothing like the confinement and noise of an airplane. We played a lazy game of leapfrog with the other balloon as the pilots increased and decreased the heat.

The sudden, occasional roars as the heat was released from the burners took a little getting used to. One of my fellow riders never did and would gasp, hang onto the rim and squat on the floor every time the pilot opened the valve.

Our course took us southwest over the city at about 1,000 feet. The street traffic was still light at 5 a.m. The sun had come up to cast long shadows on the ground. From our lofty perspective we could see why Stockholm is called “The City That Floats on the Water” and “The Venice of the North.”

In the distance we could make out some of the 24,000 islands that make up the coastal archipelago, and as we headed over the central city we could count the 14 islands and the lakes, rivers and canals over which the city is spread.

The pilot pointed out the open-air museum of Skansen with its collection of old Swedish buildings, the Wasa Museum where the raised 17th-Century warship is housed, the Royal Palace and Old Town. I could even make out my hotel, the elegant Diplomat, overlooking the water of the Nybroviken. Our journey continued across vast Lake Malaren around which much of the city is built, to our destination on the far side.

Landing sites vary with weather and wind conditions, but most flights pass over the city. We were in the air about an hour and had traveled about 15 miles.

Our landing was smooth, no more a jolt than if we had jumped off a one-foot step. Those of us who had any apprehension felt as if we had just conquered Mt. Everest.

Then the people in the vans that had followed us on the ground kept up an old tradition. As we disembarked we were welcomed with a glass of champagne to toast our achievement, and then the bubbly was poured over our heads by our pilots, and we were dubbed a count or countess of one of the areas we had flown over.

A fitting ending to a regal adventure.

The tour operator, Aventyrsresor, is a member of Scandinavian Adventures, a group which, in addition to ballooning, offers such tours as kayaking the archipelago, sailing on Norwegian fiords, river rafting, trekking, skiing and dog sledding in Lapland. The balloon ride is about $150 per person. Warm clothing and flat shoes are recommended.

For more information on ballooning or on other outdoor adventures in Scandinavia, write to Bergen Line Inc., 505 Fifth Ave., 17th Floor, New York 10017, or call toll-free (800) 3-BERGEN.