A lot Of Hot Air...Ottawa, December 13, 2017

When travelling, I tend to be a chatty type, and talk to anyone who looks interesting....or bored.
In doing so, I have met some great and wonderful people, usually with interesting stories to trade.
On December 7, in the Montreal terminal while awaiting my flight to Ottawa, (I had flown in from Bangkok via London), was such an experience.
When I got to my waiting area, B22 for the flight to Ottawa, there was one person already there, a lady with her Ipad type device. I was going to get a coffee, and asked her if she would like one also. She declined, but stated that her area was next down the hall, but this area was quieter. I soon found that this lady, Danielle, was a Pharmacist, on her way to Val D'or, in northern Quebec. While her home was in Montreal, she was going north to fill in for someone who would be away for a week or two. She told me that she was a hot air balloon pilot, and had just returned from Madagascar, off the east coast of Africa. She and her husband, along with three other couples, all balloonists, had rented balloons in France, had them shipped to Madagascar, and they then went there for five weeks.
Local people with pick-up trucks were hired to follow and help return the balloons when the days flights were over. In this way, they covered most of the non mountainous parts of the country, flying low level, and taking photos all the way; also mixing with the locals and the animals in some instances, particularly the Lemurs of which there are five varieties there....the home of the Lemur, and other exotic animals native to only there.

We spent the entire time awaiting our respective flights looking at the great assortment of photos that she had taken. This couple travel to different parts of the world and do hot air ballooning like the rest of us take trains or cars.Both are also pilots and fly fixed wing aircraft one of which they own.. They have taken rides in China, but mostly, they fly themselves, and have done so in places as diverse as Cambodia, and Mexico. To me, this was a grand way to complete my latest adventure by meeting someone else who has that explorers spirit. Way to go Danielle!!.