Camp organised by Povilas Gegevicius, Masha Zotova, Adam Klička, Marina Solomatina and Łukasz Mikielewicz.
Article by Povilas Gegevicius and Masha Zotova.

This year’s Ballooning International Youth Camp (IYC) was the 21st of its kind. While it originated in Germany, in recent years it has also been organised in France and Czechia. From 13 - 20 August, the IYC was for hosted in Lithuania for the first time.

With 24 participants from nine different countries, and ages ranging from 13 to 30 years old, this year’s camp was a true mixing pot of culture, experience and life. This aspect has become a true staple of the camp's identity throughout the years.

The beautiful balloons we flew in during camp

Day 1: Meeting and briefing

The first day of camp started as usual, with everyone arriving and playing introduction games. After everybody was acquainted with each other's faces and names, Łukasz Mikielewicz - this year’s chief pilot - briefed all the other pilots and gave a safety briefing to all the participants new to ballooning.

In the evening we had the traditional international dinner where all the participants prepared their country's signature food. Nine different countries meant a long table with many various tastes, flavours and textures!

Participants from 5 different countries flying in a balloon. PUTs getting some flight time and instructions from more experienced pilots. 

Day 2: An early start

Thursday kicked off with a 4:45 wake-up call, coffee, and high socks. We floated into the sky (some of us for the very first time!!). The views were very spectacular, we saw wild animals such as deer and foxes.

Back on the ground, the kitchen team saved us with homemade quiches, which we all needed. Then came assigning of talent-show partners, a murder mystery note, tie-dyeing camp T-shirts and hammock naps before our second flight into a dreamy sunset.

Tie-dyeing camp tshirts

We ended the day at the first camp fire with ghost stories, and just enough scares to send everyone running to their tents and sleeping like babies.

Day 3: Overcoming challenges

On Friday, we had an early morning flight from Miegėnai. We shuffled pilots, sky passengers, and ground crew. A small hiccup: one of the cars got stuck while on duty, but a heroic farmer appeared with a tractor, pulled us out and saved the day.

Inflation for the morning flight

In the evening, the wind forecast kept us grounded, so instead of ballooning we went treasure hunting through fairytale lands, puzzled out mathematical riddles and code-cracking until we won the prize: ingredients for s'mores. The night wrapped up with "swamp" (our very own chaotic version of mafia/werewolves) because nothing bonds people like accusing your new friends of stork crimes.

Day 4 & 5: FINDING FUN

The weather conditions were still super windy on Saturday which led to two cancelled flights. We used this full day as an opportunity to visit the famous pilgrimage site, the Hill of Crosses. We left an IYC cross as a memory:

The swamp game received an update and 17 new roles were added. Some people even started drawing custom cards for each role and improving our invention further.

On Sunday, we stayed grounded yet again due to weather conditions, but that didn't mean that we were bored. We played the Game Olympics, where two teams competed in various logical, creative, and balance challenges.

Balancing task during the 'Olympics'.

One of the games was to film an impromptu Kubicek balloons "commercial" as a thanks for providing cool merch for us to share with the participants. In the evening, we had another warm and bubbly campfire.

Day 6: A successful fly-over

Monday was a long day. The morning conditions were questionable but not bad enough to cancel. So we rose early and went to the fields hoping for fog to go away with sunrise. It didn't happen and we went back to camp in cars. During the day, people could be seen all around the camp hiding in pairs to practice their talent show performance. In the evening everybody was wearing our newly dyed camp T-shirts (see header image) for an amazingly romantic flight.

Beautiful flight over the Lithuanian agricultural landscape. 

Our attempt at flying over the campsite was much more successful than the morning one. We turned a covered well near the tents into our cross. One balloon managed to fly right over it, dropping markers within 10m. After the flight, dinner was served, the campfire was lit, and the show began! As the talent show turned into songs, games, and chatter around campfire till the dawn - there wasn't much to do on the last full day of camp as to sleep in, finish writing sugar cubes and start cleaning up the campsite. 

Day 7: The final flight

Wednesday the 20th of August was the last day of the camp. Only half a day, but an action-packed busy half day. We rose early in the morning for one last flight, and many very tired but very happy faces were seen.

One of the pilots inspecting the inside of a balloon before take off. 

With moody sunrise light and strongest flyable winds of the week, it was hard not to start being sentimental and reflective of the beautiful week at 21st IYC. Then, it was time to deep clean the camp site back to its original state. And once everyone had napped, was fed and refuelled - it was time to start saying sorrowful goodbyes.

Morning flight launch at sunrise

Beautiful memories

The 21st IYC was a great success, with 24 participants aged from 13 to 30 from nine countries. We had five beautiful flights, played many games, vibed many vibes, ate delicious foods, left no crumbs, and had an awesome week of friendship and adventure.

There is no photo, video or story that can fully encompass the magic of a week like this. You have to join and experience it yourself. Hope to meet you in the future IYCs!