Have you always wanted to take a hot air balloon ride? What if you had the opportunity to do it over the Valley of the Kings in Egypt? Our Travel Expert Monica shares her experience waking up at the crack of dawn to complete one of her bucketlist items with On the Go Tours:
It’s 4am and I am excited as a kid on Christmas morning staring at a pile of presents under a lit up Christmas tree. This is the day that one of my many items on my bucket list will get crossed off….hot air ballooning! But this is not just any hot air balloon flight; it’s a balloon ride over the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt!
I met up with the other members of my On the Go tour group in the lobby of our hotel where we picked up our breakfast and headed onto the bus. After a very short ride, we get onto a boat where hot tea and coffee awaited us for a ride across the Nile and then onto another short bus ride to reach our destination. There waiting for us, was a large open field with 9 or ten gondolas (baskets) with a large colourful balloons getting ready to take flight.
In groups of 12 and 16 we climb into our baskets and prepared for our adventure. The heat from the flame is rather hot and I’m a bit distracted by it, but suddenly I looked around me and quickly realize we have left the ground. We are the 1st balloon to lift off and start to fly.
Luxor lies beneath us as we coast through the sky and watch as the sun starts to rise over the horizon and witness Luxor wake up from its slumber. I have a slight fear of heights, but am not fazed or nervous as we float over some of the most amazing landscapes and start to go higher and higher reaching our max altitude of 3000 feet.
As we fly ,our captain is our tour guide and points out places of interest. I am in such awe that I am barely chatting with anyone in our basket. I am just there living in the moment!
As we start to approach a farmers field, and the ground crew that helped us get in the gondola is there to ‘catch us’ as we start our descend. I realize that my adventure is about to end as we slowly and expertly land. We disembark our gondola with smiles on our faces and excitement bursting as we recount the last hour. Our captain, Amir, presents us with certificates and well wishes for the rest of our adventures.
This has been the most amazing and the highlight of my Egyptian adventure, and one I will never forget!
Looking for more information on travelling to Egypt? Monica Rizk is a Travel Expert at our Flight Centre Adventure Annex location in Toronto, Ontario and can be reached online or by calling 1-855-240-4352