What a nice experience! It's pretty pricey (about $200 per person) but it's definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Here's a quick rundown of the schedule for the sunrise trip (which I think is the only time they fly probably due to weather/pressure conditions):

Evening before: Call them to make sure your flight is all set for tomorrow, weather-wise

Day of - 5:30 AM: Arrive at Model Bakery at Oxbow Market. Here they will provide you with some coffee and pastries (the almond croissant was amazing). You can also go to the back of the building for bathrooms (actual bathrooms, not porta-potties and I highly suggest you go because it could be a long trip). I believe you can park in the Oxbow parking lot but I'm not sure if it's free or not. We pulled into the first street parking spot we could find. Thankfully, it was a Saturday so street parking is free on the weekends

6 AM: Sign waivers and get loaded into vans that will take you out to where the hot air balloons actually are. Where they fly from depends on the flying conditions but our location was about a 40-minute drive out. Make sure you don't make any plans for after the flight (i.e. an actual flight on an airplane, or something you can't miss) because depending on the conditions of that day, you could be driving out further, which means you could be back later. It mentions that you would be back by 8:30 but when we were signing the waivers, they said there were instances where people weren't back until 11.

6:40 AM: Get loaded onto the balloons (maybe 10-15 minutes for everyone to get on), which are already set up when you get there so make sure you get your photo op quickly because they deflate the balloons as you are landing. The flight lasts about 45 min to an hour and you get great views of Napa. Make sure you dress warmly because it's cold up there, but the hot air from the propane (?) does help a lot

7:45 AM: Get your last photo ops (balloon is now mostly deflated) before they load you back into the van for the drive back to Oxbow

My only complaint was the capacity of the balloon. I believe the balloon had four compartments from what I remember - one in each corner. I appreciate that they put your parties together (and that there are plastic separators - well more like curtains - between each compartment. However, our group was 6 people. I would say we are relatively thin women and it was a tight squeeze. The couple next to us was chillin with a whole compartment to themselves so I feel like they could have split us into 3 and 3 for a more comfortable ride and better experience.

I probably wouldn't do another balloon ride in Napa but the experience definitely has me wanting to do one in other countries.