I was sitting in Costa Café in July, sipping my Flat White and scrolling through my Instagram when a reel about the announcement of Bristol Balloon Fiesta came in my feed. I went to the link that had details of the event and dug deep.

The page had no details about the entrance fee, but it had information about booking slots for car parking, the Night Glow event, and the VIP arena tickets.

My curiosity about the event increased, and I pondered visiting it. Then I discussed my intention with my husband, and we both decided to give this event a go because this way we could also explore Bristol city and watch hot air balloons in the United Kingdom (UK) before going to Cappadocia in Turkey, which is on my list.

I booked Blue Car Park, which is a priority parking, and the fee was 16 quid. There were Red and Accessible car park tickets too, but I chose the Blue Gate Car Park because it was nearest to the arena.

Later, on the event day, when we saw twenty cars in front of us and more than that behind us at 5:30 am, my husband appreciated my decision.

We had sorted our car parking, but we still had to book a hotel. I began looking for options on Hotels.com and Trip.com, and any kind of accommodation was expensive on our dates. The rates started with 300 quid a night.

I continued my search and found a room in a manor house that had been converted into a hotel. Although it was located on the outskirts, it was only fifteen minutes from Bristol city centre.

Finally, on August 9th, the day came, and we took our road trip to Bristol. Bristol is two and a half hours away from London via car.

During our road trips in the UK, we made a ritual of listening to our favourite playlists and exploring motorway services on the way to any place. We have breakfast or lunch, depending on when we start our trip.

So, while going to Bristol, we followed the same routine. We reached Bristol on August 9th (Saturday), which was the second day of the event.

I planned to watch the hot air balloons against the backdrop of Clifton Suspension Bridge, a world-famous marvel designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

Isambard was a celebrated British civil engineer of the 19th century, and he was renowned for his significant contribution to the Industrial Revolution.

Coming back to the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta, which takes place in August every year over three days, with the mass ascent of balloons occurring twice daily, at 6 am and 6 pm, weather permitting. This year, it happened from August 8th to 10th.

On Saturday, we reached Bristol by noon and spent the day exploring the city. We had planned to visit Clifton Suspension Bridge and watch kaleidoscopic hot air balloons in its backdrop, but our plans were dashed when the authorities cancelled the mass ascent due to high winds.

So, on Sunday, when I woke up at 4 am, I decided not to have any expectations about the event. My husband and I left the hotel at 5 am and reached the Blue Gate by 5:20 am. Our eyes were astonished to see a massive crowd walking towards the entry gate at an early morning.

On top of that, numerous cars were waiting to park, and that was the situation in Blue Car Park, which is a priority parking. I have no idea what was happening at other car parks.

After parking our car, we walked towards the arena and saw thousands of people already seated and eating at Ashton Court Estate.

There were pop-up stalls and food trucks offering a variety of treats, including breakfast, sausages, coffee, doughnuts, waffles, churros, ice cream, and much more. (Note: People who are vegan or vegetarian, and don’t like to eat desserts in the morning, can have coffee, like we did. Or else, you can bring your own food.)

We also saw the whole area littered with disposables, coffee mugs, bags, etc, which disgusted me. There were bins for garbage disposal, and if they weren’t enough, people could take them back.

In the UK, I have seen people taking responsibility for cleaning their dog shit and even coffee, even if it fell accidentally, then what was this? Usually, English people blame Asians for such nuisance, with which I agree to an extent, but this was the combined unpleasant act of all types of people.

Some staff members picked up the litter and cleaned parts of the ground, but this action ruined the aesthetics of such a monumental event and highlighted the crowd’s irresponsible behaviour.

The BBC was doing the commentary, and they said that the staff were planning whether the mass ascent should happen or not. I chuckled hearing this because the weather looked promising.

Thankfully, after fifteen minutes, the staff announced the start of the event and began inflating the balloons with air. People also started queuing up to take a balloon flight.

Just like that, the staff lit a fire in a balloon, and it took off. Then, other balloons were made ready, and the mass ascent commenced.

That moment was surreal for me. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was watching the hot air balloons scattering in the sky against the backdrop of sunrise.

The balloons were inspired by several themes, including the Up movie, the Wednesday show by Netflix, the NHS’s organ donation campaign, aliens, Oggy the dragon, and the cow.

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