Learn the Top 5 English Phrases You Would Like to Hear on a HotAir Balloon

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We are waiting for this balloon to be inflated
and we have just had our safety briefing,

so it looks like everything’s going to happen.

So excited, there’s the basket!

This is happening!

Oh my god!

We’re getting close!

We’re here!

Ready to take off!

We’re taking off!

Bye!

Good morning, EnglishClass101 listeners, I’m
here in Bagan in Myanmar where the balloons

have just taken off once again in this beautiful
place filled with over 3000 temples, one of

which is just behind me there.

And I wanted to give you the top 5 phrases
that you would like to hear in a hot-air balloon.

Yesterday I had one of the most incredible
experiences of my life, taking a hot air balloon

and they gave me this hat, actually; this
was the company, Balloons Over Bagan.

I would have loved to have given you the phrases
while I was in the balloon itself, I did get

some shots from the balloon but the sound
was very difficult up there, due to the fire

that they were using to power the balloon.

So I’d like to give you the phrases right
here, and I’m going to show you some of the

footage while I’m at it.

So first of all, phrase number one…

I get to check this off my bucket list
In English, we have this phrase “to kick

the bucket,” which means to die.

So to make a bucket list is to make a list
of things to do before you die, now for me,

one of mine was to go in a hot-air balloon.

I had tried to do it for the first time in
2009, but the morning I went the trip was

canceled.

So here I am again, more than 6 years later,
and I’m trying again, and this time it was

successful so I get to check it off my bucket
list, I get to do this thing before I die,

and I did it!

EnglishClass101 listeners, it was so exciting!

So you should make a list of things to do
before you die, your own bucket list.

Phrase number 2…

Will you marry me?

So today is actually Valentine’s Day, and
it’s very popular on Valentine’s Day, and

anytime you’re planning to propose to your
special someone, to go to a special place

and I can’t think of a more special place
than in a hot-air balloon.

There’s enough space, trust me, in the basket
to kneel down.

At least from my country, the USA, it’s customary
to get down on one knee, it doesn’t really

matter which knee, at least, I’ve never thought
so, and you get down you kneel on one knee

and you say “will you marry me?”

Now, unfortunately, listeners I did not see
any marriage proposals on my balloon yesterday.

But I bet you today there are over 30 balloons
that go off here in Bagan, Myanmar.

I bet you someone proposed.

Oh!

It would have been such a beautiful moment,
“will you marry me?”

That is phrase number two.

Phrase number three…

This is a first for me
So going in a hot-air balloon as I said, I

had never done it before, so it is a first
for me.

A first being the first time I have done something,
I’m sure there are many firsts that you can

think of in your life that you’ve had, and
maybe many more first that you’d like to have.

So this was a first for me, or this is a first
for me.

Phrase number three.

Maybe a first for you could be the first time
that you’ve ever had sushi, or the first time

that you’ve ever climbed a mountain.

I mean, there are so many firsts that you
can have.

“This is a first for me, getting in a hot-air
balloon.”

Phrase number four…

The view is incredible from up here
Now, this is something that we use in English

to say whatever we’ve gone to the top of an
observation tower, the top of a mountain,

the top of a temple, like I went to this morning,
or really any high place that you go to to

take a great photo or to get an incredible
view, we say the view is incredible from up here.

Phrase number five…

What a ride. Champagne time!

So at the end of my balloon ride yesterday,
as soon as we dropped into the field below,

we had a beautiful picnic basket unfurled
on the field in front of us, and we got to

enjoy a glass of champagne to celebrate.

And when we finished something, some incredible
rides, some, maybe it could be in a car, on

a bus; it could be from a bad experience,
or a good, but we say “what a ride.”

What a ride.

And when we’re about to drink champagne, we
say “champagne time!”

This expression from after riding in a hot-air
balloon originally came from the pilots of

these balloons, wanting to make sure the farmers
in the fields where they landed didn’t get

too upset.

So they would offer the farmers some champagne,
along with any guests they may have in their

balloons; and that’s where the tradition first
came from.

So “What a ride. Champagne time!”

Phrase number five.

EnglishClass101 listeners, thank you so much
for coming along with me to Bagan, Myanmar

for my first ride in a hot-air balloon.

It was incredible!

I can’t wait to do it again!

It was such a smooth ride, so different from
being on an airplane.

I wish all my airplane rides were that smooth
and relaxing, and I just want to say that

you too should try a hot air balloon ride
if you get the chance, if you think it’s expensive

I say go for it anyway.

Check it off of your bucket list, it’s worth
the money, it’s worth every penny.

And please come to Bagan, Myanmar if you ever
get the chance, it is a beautiful place, nothing

like it in the world.

Thank you, bye!

And we’re on the ground.

Amazing!

They’re coming to get us.

They’re taking the balloon down.

What a ride.

Now it’s champagne time!

So cheers!

Here’s to my first balloon ride, I checked
this off the bucket list.

it was awesome and amazing.