Balloons Unlimited

My brother and I were looking forward to taking my grandmother on a birthday balloon ride so she could fulfill her bucket list. I was given the phone number of Balloons Unlimited and felt uneasy from the start. The owner, Bob, was strangely curt and rude from the second I called. «But,» I figured, «these balloon operators must all be quirky folks to, you know, operate hot air balloons every day. We’ll just do it despite my reservations.»
I should have followed my gut. When we arrived for the ride, Bob was shockingly unprofessional, discourteous, and ultimately pulled a bait-​and-​switch on us. The process appeared unsafe to boot (Bob has people help by putting them right next to the scorching hot flame before firing up the balloon.) Sparing the reader the gory details, we were forced to file a fraud claim with our credit card company. It’s been quite a headache. And worse, our grandmother didn’t get to fulfill an item off her bucket list she’d been looking forward to for years. So, please save yourself the trouble and peace of mind if you’re looking for a balloon ride: run far away from this place.
UPDATE ¹⁰⁄₂₂: MasterCard looked into my fraud complaint and refunded me the entire amount. I assume they found impropriety as we did and will take it up with the business directly. Props to MasterCard’s fraud investigation unit!

Up, up and awaayyyy, my beautiful balloooon… The world’s a nicer place in my beautiful balloooooon!
The lyrics are certainly true, at least at dawn in Western Loudoun County. The balloon trip was a family Christmas gift that we were finally able to schedule. After a week of rain, the weather broke allowing the ground to dry out enough for us to confirm the trip.
We met Bob in Boyce, Va at 6am (yep, 6 am) for a morning flight. There were six in our party, and we were surprised to see another couple join us for the trip. They asked for our weights to calculate safety and whatnot, but it would have been a lot more comfortable with only six passengers. We were a tad cramped, even without hefty jackets.
When we were all accounted for. Bob, his wife and another gentleman began unfurling the balloon for inflation. Before long, the balloon was aloft and in the basket we went.
It was a smooth take off and we began floating north towards WV. Local to the county, Bob was knowledgeable of the area and pointed out landmarks, land ownership and history as as rode along.
Not that I have a point of comparison, but I’d recommend the sunrise flight vs. sunset as the world below is just waking up — it’s beautiful, serene and peaceful. The only movement we saw were whitetail deer bounding through the woods, horses looking in interest and cows herding away from the sound of the flame.
The ride came to a close not far over the West Virginia border where Bob put the basket down in the middle of a remote road — chase car ready and waiting to bring us in.
After helping deflate and roll up the balloon, we had water, sodas and champagne before making the trip back to our cars in Boyce.
A truly wonderful way to experience Virginia.