Rise Above the Masses With Flight Tours

Vintage Flying

Biplane rides offer the unique opportunity to fly through the air, while feeling the wind on your face, in an open cockpit. Flying companies across the country offer retro rides in some of the most picturesque of locales.

The fleet of planes at Vintage Aircraft of Sonoma County includes a warbird, the World War II Advanced Trainer called a SNJ-4, and a biplane, the Boeing PT-17 Stearmans. The Spires of the City scenic flight provides magnificent views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Marin Headlands. Forty-minute rides cost $295. If you decide to fly in the warbird and are feeling extra daring, add aerobatic maneuvers like loops, barrel rolls and hammer heads for $50 a flight.

If you prefer the scenery of Southern California, try Biplane Adventures out of Compton Airport in Compton, California. Go for an hour for $495, and fly the coastline of Long Beach, Palos Verdes and Redondo Beach.

Hot-Air Balloon Cruising

Prefer a more leisurely, relaxing flight? Silent, devoid of engine noise, hovering slowly, enjoying the feel of being suspended above the land below, while taking advantage of 360-degree views in an open gondola? Then hot-air ballooning may be right for you.

Colorado Balloon Rides, located in the state's South Park Valley, takes passengers from Breckenridge to Denver to Vail to Canon City. Fly in altitudes in excess of 9,000 feet, as you fly by the Continental Divide, Mount Elbert -- Colorado's highest peak -- and the Sawatch Mountains. Flights range in distance from two to 10 miles. Prices start at $225 a person or hire the balloon for a special occasion. The gondola might not be a bad place to propose to your significant other, high above the trees, across from glowing yellow Rocky Mountains, with champagne, breakfast and classical music.

Arizona Ballooning, based in Phoenix, offers another take on romantic scenery, as passengers fly low above the Sonoran Desert at sunrise, and past the mountains and mesas of southern Arizona.