Believe in going further

The #FlyingSuitcase will be touring the UK throughout the late summer and autumn of 2026.

We arrived in Barneveld on the 26th August for the opening day of Ballonfiësta Barneveld and what a reception we received! With local media TV interviews completed, a crowd of thousands counted down to our inaugural mainland European flight. 

Despite the wind at times blowing a little faster than we would have liked, with a beautiful sunset and a smooth landing the Netherlands joined our GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS attempt as the second country successfully flown in. 

On the 27th August we drove on to Twente for another fantastic night of flying with many more wonderful special shape balloons in silhouette against another Dutch sunset. 

We spent the 28th August driving from Twente on to Denmark. We arrived in Ringsted in the early hours of the 29th. With weather in both Denmark and Sweden not looking favourable we drove on to Moss in Norway, arriving in the evening of the 30th. Depiste spending hours at the flight site throughout Monday 31st unfortunately gusts ruled flying out but finally early on the 1st September, country 3 in our world record attempt was achieved!

With Norway completed we drove on towards Kristinehamn, Sweden with the hope of flying in the evening. We arrived at a flying site in Karlstad but despite spendingl hours waiting gusts never died. The following day we repositioned to Falkenberg but again gusts foiled us - who said achieving a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS would be easy!

By this time we had to think about moving on to Sink Niklaas, Belgium, we reviewed options to potentially fly in Denmark on the way but the weather in the north of Europe was not on our side. After returning supplies in Denmark we headed to Belgium through a very wet Germany.

Unfortunately weather again ruled out flying on the 4th and the 5th, but we were able the inflate in Sint Niklaas square on the night of the 5th and fly on both the morning and evening of the 6th. Wind speed on the morning flight on the 6th had us ultimately land in the Netherlands, while the flight on the evening took off and landed within Belgium. GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS attempt country 4 completed!

We'll be arriving in Ireland on the 19th of September and taking part in flights and tethers at the 54th Hot Air Balloon Championships until 23rd September, before we then head back to mainland Europe

We arrived in France on Sunday 27th September, making our way to the Loire region where we headed straight to the launch site to get our bearings and familiarise ourselves with the surroundings. However, the weather had other ideas. With unfavourable conditions sweeping across the region on Monday and Tuesday, we made the decision to head south towards Dordogne.

Yet, as we were soon to discover, a change of scenery didn't necessarily mean a change in fortune, with the weather once again showing its hand and delivering everything from strong winds and heavy rain to thunderstorms.

But with a World Record attempt never likely to come without its challenges, we weren't about to let a bit of bad weather stand in our way. On Friday 2nd October, we finally laid out the balloon and, with conditions on our side at last, took to the skies. Country number 6 ticked off our global tour.

With rainy France behind us, we headed south into Spain in search of some much-needed sunshine. Unfortunately, the weather had other plans, greeting us on our first day with heavy thunderstorms across the area. Not quite the welcome we had hoped for!

Thankfully, the storms cleared as quickly as they had arrived, and we were finally able to take to the skies on Monday 5th October, ticking country number 7 off our global tour.

As we continued our journey towards country number 8, we made a stop in Seville, where we rolled out the balloon and enjoyed a lovely, leisurely flight. The flight took an unexpected turn as we came close to a rather unusual neighbour: a huge solar farm that was also home to a breeding farm for Spanish fighting bulls. Certainly not something you come across every day!

With two successful flights in the space of just two days, we headed to Portugal on Wednesday evening, buoyed by our recent progress and hopeful that the good fortune would continue.

We didn't have to wait long for confirmation, with a flight given the green light for the following morning. And just like that, country number 8 was in the bag before breakfast!

We enjoyed a lovely flight over Lagos, in Portugal's Algarve region, adding another country to the tally and keeping the momentum going as our global adventure continued.

Coming soon...