I sometimes think about how long I'd anticipated this flight. How the 40D failed exactly when I needed it most. How although the high ISO setting was indeed my fault because I allowed myself to be distracted by the camera's other problems, the fact of the matter is that even if I hadn't I still had only limited control over which images were taken and when.

I look at this image of all of the ones in this gallery and think what it could have been and for a brief moment could almost consider buying a Nikon. Almost.

But in a way it doesn't matter. I could have had the perfect exposure settings, the perfect framing, the perfect light... and the shot still wouldn't have conveyed what it was like to be there.

It's not the altitude; most of us have approached a city in an aircraft and have seen the city from such an angle. And yet, you haven't because your view has been through a small, stained bubble of plexiglass. You sit in a vibrating aluminium tube, your inner thoughts and conversations drowned out by the engine noise.

But in the basket of the balloon, you are really present in that time, that space. You look around and down, and nothing is between you and the expanse of the city sweeping outward from you. The only noises are the hiss of the propane system and its occasional blast, the occasional call of the pilot to air traffic control or other balloons, and some conversations between your fellow passengers. It's why regardless of the price, and indeed it isn't cheap, taking a hot air balloon ride is considered to be an experience with a capital E.

If you have the opportunity, I do recommend it.