Floating on Cloud Nine: Luxor's Affordable Sky-High Adventure
There’s something incredibly serene about watching colorful hot air balloons drift lazily through the sky. I never seriously considered being in one since I assumed they’d be fairly expensive. It is a shocking surprise to see how little it costs to hop into one of these floating wonders in Luxor, Egypt, so this is one of the rare occasions where I book a travel experience without consulting Kevin. It takes me a few days to finalize the vendor since there are a ton of companies at varying price ranges and I want to get the best deal while also getting the best views. In the end I choose HodHod Soliman, a company that has been in business for over 25 years with a website focused on safety. The booking link doesn’t allow for pickups at my Airbnb, though, which is perplexing since we are located in a spot that should work. I go on WhatsApp and chat with Omar, who allows me to pay through a direct link and assures me that they’ll be able to pick up at our location. He asks for a reminder ping the day before liftoff. The cost is $80 per person and includes the pickup and return to our Airbnb on the West Bank of the Nile in Luxor, a safety briefing, and a 45-minute balloon ride. Had we been living on the East Bank of the Nile, we would have gotten a bit of cake and coffee and a boat ride across the river.
Our wakeup time is 4am for a 5am pickup, which feels super early because we just arrived at our Airbnb late in the evening the night before and this was our first night in this new bed. Omar proactively confirms with me the day prior, so I am fairly confident the pickup will be smooth. Regardless, I have a rough night of sleep due to anxiety about what the day will hold, worry about oversleeping, and annoyance due to a few pesky mosquitoes and flies buzzing in my ear and crawling on my arm. We wait outside a few minutes early, and it’s a good sign that the bus with the driver and one other couple from France is only two minutes late. We chat during the drive about the high cost of gasoline, heat for apartments, and the lack of tourists in France these days. We’re going to Nice for a month in mid May/June, so we assure them that they’ll soon be getting some of our US dollars.
Colossi of Memnon, Luxor, Egypt, built in 1350 BC
The driver motors us past some of the sites we’ll be seeing from the air, including the 3000-year old Colossi of Memnon. Our driver stops next to a bunch of other buses, and we transfer to combine into a larger group to get to the launch site. Butterflies start forming in my stomach, but I’m quickly distracted by the quick safety guidance we get for the landing. We’ll need to squat down in the balloon and all face in the same direction when the pilot gives the instruction at the end of the flight. Our guide also tells a few jokes about how American and French hot air balloons have bumpy landings but Egyptian pilots land smooth as silk.
Our multicolored balloon is one of the very first and prettiest to go up in the air and our turn to get into the basket happens swiftly. My heart swells with excitement at seeing the lit burners and eight-to-ten foot flames that are heating the air inside our balloon so it can fill and rise. Intense heat beats down on my scalp as I put my feet one by one into the basket toe holds and lift my leg over the edge while workers help me hop in. The basket is divided into many compartments, and each “sub basket” holds four people. Our French friends are in the same basket as Kevin and I, so it’s a bit crowded while I try to find my place within the small square. Technically you are only supposed to bring phone cameras, but there are Go Pros and cameras with massive lenses that make navigating the confined space a bit challenging. Every so often there’s a burst of heat as the balloon begins its liftoff.
Surprisingly, my stomach doesn’t flip as we rise. I don’t feel anything at all in my body except exhilaration as we float up over the patchwork of grasses below us. There’s no engine noise or upward force like there is on a plane. I just feel weightless. The sky is not quite light, but not dark, either. Soon the Valley of the Kings comes into our line of sight, the Valley of the Queens, and the Colossi of Memnon, which I can enjoy more easily now because we aren’t whizzing past it.
The sun begins to peek above the horizon as a huge orange ball, and then its light expands and lifts into the sky. My insides glow as if a mirror in awe of the sun’s majesty. I take a beat to reflect on the words of my dear friend Corey’s sweet mother Rosemary who, despite battling ALS, expressed the importance of enjoying as many sunrises and sunsets as possible. I’m grateful to experience this opportunity on her behalf. Other floating bubbles have risen up to join us and we lift, dip, and twist so that all sides get to appreciate the jaw-dropping views.
We begin descending after 45 glorious minutes. Our pilot demonstrates his sense of humor by playing familiar “songs” with the fuel valve, such as the familiar but brief “knock knock” bit from “Shave and a Haircut,” which garnered chuckles from everyone. We spot the sandy roadway and the white trucks filled with workers who will be coming to meet us and reclaim the balloon. Floating down is as effortless as lifting off and gives us one final chance to see the archeological sites up close from the sky. It appears that everyone listened to the pilot’s safety instructions because the landing goes without a hitch. After a light bump on the ground, we scrape the ground for a short distance before coming to a full stop. An onslaught of workers swarm to tie us down. Until that’s firmly in hand, no one is allowed to try to hop out of the basket, else the balloon will rise up again due to its lightened load. In the same way that locals helped people into the basket, they are there again to help them exit. Riders have varying degrees of strength and some people need more help than others, but the workers are patient and respectful.
After everyone is safely on the ground again, we pose for a group photo and multiple cameramen record the exhilaration still lingering on our faces. They’ve also been capturing our entire ride and offer a copy for a fee delivered to your hotel. We all are gifted certificates of achievement, and while everyone is in a happy mood, the workers ask for tips. We are more than willing to give generously to the ground crew and our guide. But somehow the landing draws young children, a man with a trained donkey, and some elderly who also hope to cash in on our good moods. It’s shrewd of them, because after such a privileged experience, our hearts are softened to help those who may never have the opportunity to do what we just enjoyed. We all head out in a caravan of buses to get back to our temporary homes in Luxor.
This is an experience that will be hard to top.
