Up, Up and Away

Like Carl Fredricksen chasing his dreams of adventure in the movie "Up", we took to the air above Luxor to fulfill a childhood dream. No, not on a house with helium balloons hoisting it but on a hot air balloon. I've always wanted to be up there, slowly rising, feeling the air and seeing the world below without peering through the Plexiglas window of an airplane. Our wake up time at the hotel was 4:30 AM but that's a small sacrifice really. We needed to be at the launch site before sunrise.

Together with Sharon, Rochelle, Jessica, Edith and Lauren, we boarded a van that took us to a boat. While crossing the river Nile, we ate our packed breakfast the hotel earlier prepared. Another van met us at the other side of the river and drove for a few minutes until we reached the launch site. What an exciting sight it was even in the pre-dawn darkness: silhouettes of enormous balloons being inflated as platoons of ground crews hold on to them. There were ohhs and ahhs even before lift off.

Mahmoud was our pilot. One by one, we climbed into the rectangular wicker basket divided into 5 compartments with the middle for Mahmoud and his large tanks of propane fuel. There were 24 passengers, 6 in our section and I stood closest to the pilot. Mahmoud gave pre-flight instructions: not to move too much (like there's plenty of space ha ha!) and more importantly, our positions during landing (we squat on our feet while grabbing the handholds facing opposite the direction of landing). As Mahmoud fired up the burner unit, I felt the heat of the flame as it shot upward. The ground crews removed the tethers and . . . slowly . . . slowly . . . we ascended heavenwards.

ground crews help stabilize a balloon on the ground

slowly rising above the launch site

a view of sunrise in mid-air

hovering above the fertile West Bank of the Nile

gliding past the enormous Temple of Hatshepsut
dedicated to ancient Egypt's only female pharaoh

some of the non-royal tombs as seen from above

a birds-eye-view of the ruins of Ramesseum

the rising sun casts a golden glow on the Theban Hills:

somewhere down below is the Valley of the Kings

flying close to the ruins of Medinat Habu

the pilot

ground crews tackle the deflating balloon
after we made a safe landing in the desert

We climbed up to 1,500 feet and felt entranced by this once-in-a-lifetime experience. The 45-minute ride was smooth and the landing was perfect. It gave new meaning to sightseeing for me - one especially involving Egypt's history that's literally set in stone. Even that grumpy old man Mr. Fredricksen in "Up" wouldn't mind a detour to Luxor.

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