Hot Air Ballooning in France with Buddy Bombard 1978

In 1975 Autoventure became the first company to offer a very unique type of travel experience.  We created customized, detailed itineraries which combined the most interesting routes through the European countryside with stays at beautiful and unique hotels.  In France we chose hotels of style which were two hotel associations known as the Relais de Campagne and the Châteaux Hotels.  Those associations merged to form what is known today as the esteemed Relais & Châteaux. http://www.relaischateaux.com/spip.php?page=home&lang=en

It was an exciting time in the travel business as everything was changing and Americans embarked on international travel like never before.  So when the one and only Buddy Bombard called me in the fall of 1978 and invited me to join him and his small tour group for a week of floating over the châteaux country of the Loire Valley by hot air balloon I jumped at the chance to experience one of the most unique travel adventures of the time (this is the point in the story where Mary Lou interjects that as I was floating over castles and wining and dining in the vineyards of the Loire she was at home with five small children and a sick Springer Spaniel).  Buddy and I designed a unique trip which combined one week of hot air ballooning with the Bombard Society and one week of custom touring by private care and chauffeur or self drive.

The slide show has some highlights from that unforgettable trip in 1978.  Ballooning is still a common travel adventure and the Bombard Society that started it all continues to offer balloon trips all over the world. http://www.buddybombard.com/.

What an amazing trip it was (sorry Mary Lou!). Enjoy the show.

Orv