Hot air ballooning over the valley of the kings.

How's it going Steemers ?

I would like to share some photos from when I faced my fear of heights and got into a hot air balloon, while in Luxor Egypt.

It was an early start for the day, about 4am. We got on a boat to cross the Nile to the West bank. On the boat we had a small breakfast which kind of calmed my nerves a little bit.

Once we got to the other side a van was waiting for us to take us to the hot air balloon site which is right near the Valley of the Kings. It is still pitch black when we turn a corner and we can see a field of light from all the hot air balloons filling up with the fire.

My heart started to race with the thought of getting into one of these things as we walked towards the hot air balloons.

For some reason I pictured the basket to be small, and to fit about 10 people or so. But the baskets are huge! They crammed 19 people into this one basket. I was very nervous to say the least.

They gave us a quick landing procedure rundown, we had to hang onto the little ropes inside the basket and crouch down on landing. In case of worst case scenario of the basket crashing on landing and tipping over.

This quick talk did nothing for my nerves. I was gripping the side of the basket like I was about to be shot up into orbit in a space rocket.

Now one thing that I never thought of was how the pilot controls the hot air balloon. His only controls is to make the balloon go up by putting more hot air into the balloon and down by letting hot air escape from the balloon. The wind moves it around left to right, front to back. So you never know exactly where the balloon will land.

Once we were all loaded in like a sardine can. The pilot turns the fire up and we slowly start to rise.

Before I knew it we were looking down on top of buildings. We couldn't see much as it was still dark,

but 10 min in the pilot yelled "LOOK TO YOUR LEFT" and the morning sun broke the horizon.

It was a beautiful sight to witness. But now the problem for me was that I could make out how high off the ground we were and I started to get a bit dizzy from vertigo. So I gripped on tight as we hovered up and down over the buildings. We were probably 5 meters above one residential building and the sound of the fire being gassed up is very loud. I would hate to have to wake up to that sound at the crack of dawn every morning haha.

As the sun came up we could see the mountain where the Valley of the Kings was carved into. It was truly an amazing moment! I had conquered my fear of hot air balloons and heights and I got to do it over one of the most ancient places on Earth.

We floated around in the sky for about 20 min enjoying the views of Luxor and the river Nile before we started to make our descent and pick our landing spot.

On our way back down we where getting extremely close to the building tops and power lines.

We slowly drifted over one building and this young boy stuck his head out his window and was waving at me. I waved back, then I watched him run out the front door and down the stairs as he started chasing our balloon. He had the biggest smile on his face as he continued to wave at me while chasing the balloon.

We flew very close over a power line, then the pilot picked a spot to land in a field in someone's back yard. As we got closer to landing, a ute full of guys come speeding up and they all jump out to help with the landing. We touched down back on the ground relatively soft. As the guys all grabbed onto the basket my anxiety went away!

I did it! I battled my fear of heights and dealt with it. I will never get into a hot air balloon again but I have now ticked it off my bucket list ☺

As I climbed out of the basket the young boy who was chasing our balloon came running up to me yelling " John Cena, John Cena" I guess the kid though I was John Cena the wrestler haha. All the local kids came running up to the basket begging for money and some other guys trying to sell us tourist treasures. (There is always someone around you in Egypt trying to sell you tourist treasures, they will seize any opportunity with the quickness) the young kid that was chasing us wasnt begging and just wanted to say hi. I high fived him them I shook the kids hand and slipped him some Egyptian pounds and I put my finger over my lips and said shhhhhhh.

He was super stocked haha can't belive he thought I was John Cena. What a cool little kid.

What a great experience it all was. If you have never been in a hot air balloon before I suggest to add it to your bucket list if you're not afraid of heights.

Thanks for stopping by.

Peace

G

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