Breathtaking!
My wife never knows what I have planned next
Tom Morgan, 38, Bristol
Abemused look on her face, my wife Jenny, 37, shook her head.
‘You’re doing what?!’ she said.
I’d heard those words before. But then, I’d warned her I was a thrillseeker when we’d met in 2003.
I had my own business, planning adventure holidays – car-rallying experiences, rickshaw driving in the Himalayas, motorbiking across a frozen Serbian lake...
Jenny knew it meant a lot of travelling, and always tried to come with me – but this time, she had to stay home with our daughters.
When I went without her, I’d come home full of stories of my mad exploits.
But my latest plan shocked even her!
‘I want to float off into the air carried only by helium balloons,’ I said. Just like that scene from the animated film Up.
So, last summer, I got together with Buddy Munro, 40, and some other mates on a Dorset beach.
We planned to fill 50 giant balloons with helium, attach them to a camping chair.
Problem was, the nylon string we’d tied them with started shredding the balloons and we barely got off the ground!
‘It didn’t work,’ I told Jenny when we got home.
But I wasn’t giving up that easily. In October, we went to Botswana for a second go. We knew going to the landlocked African country made sense, as when the wind blew, I wouldn’t end up in the sea.
We went to a desert, where it was a blistering 40C.
But every time we’d got all 100 balloons ready, the wind speeds changed. After a week of trying and failing, we had enough gear for one last try...
So we headed for an inland site in South Africa, where wind conditions were calmer, and used fishing wire he balloons to my camping chair.
I secured myself with a harness – and put on a parachute.
Just in case!
And soon I was floating high into the sky.
It took my breath away as I hit 8,500ft, and my friends below faded from sight.
To go higher, I’d lighten the load by releasing water from cans we’d attached.
It was incredible – and terrifying! I couldn’t even steer.
Phoning Jenny from up there, she didn’t get that I was so high. Started talking to me about our tax return!
Wafting 15 miles across the landscape was magical – but after three hours, I started to cut the strings to release the balloons.
Floating back down to my mates, I had a smooth landing in a field, to wild applause.
Obviously my kind of stunt isn’t something you should try at home. But finally, we’d done it, and I had some great footage to show Jenny!
People ask me why I did it and I’ve only one answer...
Why not?!
I couldn’t steer, it was terrifying... I phoned my missus