Monday, August 1, 2016

Up Up and Away!

Do like the movie UP? The amazing hot-air balloon house that he made was just stunning and I bet you wished you could get in one of those hot-air balloon house!

Well, I was not lucky enough to find a hot-air balloon house for me to float about in, but I managed to get in a hot-air balloon! It was my very first Hot-air balloon experience and I am absolutely in love with it! Floating about the sky as you lift off higher and higher into the air, the ground below gets smaller and you get a totally new perspective of the view!







We signed up the hot-air balloon ride with the company called Aloft Gold Coast! Honestly, the hot-air balloons they have was not as colourful as I have expected and my overall experience with Aloft was rather average and if iI have to rate them based on my experience I would say its a 5/10, I cannot say it was fantastic nor was it horrible. I paid a total of AUD$230 for a 30 mins ride and it includes transportation from your hotel or the place you are staying at to the hot-air balloon location they also offer a 60 mins ride for an additional price of AUD$30 or so (please check with Aloft website for the specific price), do note that you may have to wake up as early as 3am for the pick-up depending on your hotel location. They also provide a champagne breakfast package which you have to pay an additional AUD$20-AUD$30 (please check with Aloft website for the specific price), will totally recommend for couples who are either celebrating their anniversary or any other special occasion. The Aloft company we signed up the hot-air was discovered by my friend and it was said that they are the only hot-air balloon company in the market in Gold Coast, but later we found out there was another hot-air balloon company when we were at the hot-air balloon location, hence I strongly encouraged and recommend you guys do your homework first! By researching for the best deals around and not be quick in your final choice making like what we did, as I believe there are better deals out there!






The most annoying thing that happened during my hot-air balloon experience with Aloft that really grinds my gear is with a particular employee who was super racist in my opinion! Do let me clarify  what I meant when I say the employee was racist! He was very nice and friendly I must say but the racism comes in when he saw my friend and I who are Chinese and stereotyped my friend and I as Chinese nationals. He passed us an application form that we were required to filled up at the start and it was written in mandarin. Yes, I know that I am Chinese and I have indeed studied Chinese for 10 years or so but to be totally honest both my friend and my mandarin has become very bad after 2-3 years of not seeing nor writing Mandarin. Hence, we asked him for an English form instead as we do not want to fill up an application for we cannot totally understand, what if there were specific rules or any details we need to take note on! Long story short we simply filled up the Chinese written application form as we were only required to fill up our names and another detail I have already forgotten.

However, you guys might be thinking now that I am being a drama queen for labelling him as racist based on that one application form! But No! Throughout the entire time we were with him he spoke to us as if we could not comprehend a single word of English and spoke to us like retards, I understand there were indeed a few Chinese nationals in the tour as well but let me put across that he came and spoke to us individually as well! He even tried to speak to us in Mandarin as he thought that my friend and I only speaks and understands Mandarin and we kinda felt a little offended. Though I understand that he may be trying to be nice and thought that we may feel more comfortable if he spoke in "our language'. However, let me just say we were speaking to him in perfect and clear English but he was very insistent in us just not comprehending or spoke a single word of English! Gosh!


Okay, enough of the rant about that guy allow me get back to the hot-air balloon ride! I really have to  praise the pilot of out hot-air balloon. He was very skilled and even directed us to view certain, scenery in hope that some of might have missed the view! The ride was a very relax and enjoyable one and I strongly recommend yall to try it at least once!

To end off my hot-air balloon review with Aloft, where I must give a heads up for any of you guys out there who have not been on a hot-air balloon tour with any company as I felt that it was a crucial piece of information which I may have needed! We were told to help out in keeping the hot-air balloon! When I heard that I was like " WHAT! I did not pay AUD$230 to help you pack up! Shouldn't this be your job." Not to sound like a brat and all but there were 3-4 employees around to keep the hot-air balloon. In addition, the balloon landed in a muddy field where you can get dirty very very easily, and it was stupid of me to have worn white on that day, and I was also grumpy because I had to wake up at 4am ><

                            

                            

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Business email: roydonralph@gmail.com

Outfit:
Top: White Shirt- Uniqlo
         Green Outwear - Topman
         Scarf - H&M

Bottom: Jeans- Uniqlo

Shoes: Nike

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