Record-breaking ballooning

I have had the travel bug in my blood since I was five years old when I tried to walk to my gran’s house 15 miles away. A police car picked me up from the highway and sent me back home – I was seriously unhappy to have my plans destroyed! My husband Phil also loved travel and held the world record of having flown a balloon in the greatest number of countries. By the time he sadly passed away in November 2021, he was at 127 countries. I hold the women’s world record at 118 countries and am aiming to pass Phil’s tally.  Since Phil’s death I have managed to fly in every country of the Americas including the less well travelled ones like Honduras, El Salvador and Venezuela. I completed all of Europe including Ukraine some years ago but am still missing Vatican City and Monaco. If you have any contacts in those it would be much appreciated!

There are several challenges for flying in some countries. First I need to work out how to get my balloon to more remote locations, such as I recently did with Indonesia and the Bahamas. Once in the country I need to source propane/LPG gas to fill the flight cylinders. Depending on the country I also need to either obtain official flight permissions or recce a suitable location/area for take-off and landing.  Sometimes, as it did with Malta and Cuba, this can take years of preparation. Then it’s about getting the right weather, and often I don’t have much time to sit and wait.  It’s certainly not getting easier for my world record attempt as most of the countries I still need to fly are either tiny islands and incredibly remote (East Timor, Papua New Guinea, many of the Caribbean and Pacific islands), run by dictators (North Korea, Turkmenistan), at war (Russia, Syria) or being otherwise unsafe (Yemen, Mali, Sudan, Congo, Somalia).  But I am determined to carry on as long as I can. My next big challenge will be to take my small two-person balloon to Nairobi and start travelling around Lake Victoria hoping to fly in Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia. Then I’ll carry on through the winter. All my travels are self-funded, but I think lots could be done to promote an ‘all female crew’ going around Africa. Get in touch if you are interested in joining the team!

Updates on the ‘Africa by Balloon’ expedition in 2025 will soon be on my website. You can also follow my adventures on Facebook or Instagram.

Allie Dunnington