Our final day in Luxor had us up before the sun again. We headed to the boats to cross the Nile and sucked down some tea and coffee to get us warmed up and ready for the morning.
There were a ton of little boats ferrying balloon riders across the Nile. Ours was the last to go across due to some technical difficulties. Our balloon pilot kept saying, "Sunrise...inshallah" when people would ask if we were going to make it in the air for the sunrise. Inshallah is an arabic word that means "if God wills it"... and it is extremely common to hear it uttered for every little thing (it also gets used as an excuse for things not happening... which, in Bahrain, we hear it a lot...haha)
The sun just starting to peek out over the water
Right as we drove past the Colossi of Memnon we could see the balloons in the air! A burst of excitement shot through me at this point because I knew the weather was cooperating and we were going to get to fly!
The Launch site
Our balloon being inflated
Right before takeoff
The fuel for our flight! The fire was amazing because it was pretty chilly that morning and every burst of flame would warm us through! It was fantastic!
Stella was so excited!
Right as we were lifting off
Lift off felt effortless... we were on the ground one moment and the next we weren't.
And inshallah worked that time because we got to see the sun rise!
The launch site from the air!
Every direction we looked was absolutely breathtaking. I took so many pictures but I also put the phone up and enjoyed the view.
To me flying in the balloon was so calm and quiet. It was a gentle float through the air and didn't really feel real. There weren't any bumps or hard drops, it was just... effortless. There were moments up there where I didn't even register the other people in the basket... they all just fell away and it was just us in our little section floating around. Definitely my favorite way to fly!
Christopher said it reminded him of an isolation chamber he did a few years ago...movement without really feeling movement and quiet. Like we were adrift and weightless. He also said that unless the pilot was giving orders or calling down to people on the ground, he felt like we were alone and everyone else just melted away.
In yoga we call those moments of Samadhi, or bliss. Its the ultimate "goal" you're trying to reach in meditation-nirvana- but occasionally in life the universe grants you unexpected moments of Samadhi and this was absolutely one of them.
Stella says that it felt strange in a good way...like she was standing on air.
When I was a little girl we used to go to this thing in Kingsport with my grandparents called Fun Fest. It was a summer festival filled with parades, games, carnivals, concerts, fireworks, and a hot air balloon launch. We would always go to "breakfast with the balloons" and have donuts and walk around talking to the pilots and picking out our favorite balloons and watching them take off. By the time we were back at my grandparents house the balloons were flying overhead and we picked out our favorites from that morning. I just remember always wanting to ride in one and how magical just seeing them launch was as a kid. As an adult it was absolutely as magical as I had always hoped and dreamed and I am so, so glad we had the chance to do it... especially at sunrise over the Valley of the Kings in Egypt!
It was so cool to see the lush green spaces butted up against the desert...this melding of opposites created such a beautiful landscape that you can't really appreciate from the ground.
Stella had her own little window to look out of! Which was perfect since she wasn't tall enough to see over the edge of the basket.
Ramses II's temple
We dipped so close down in the middle of the temple! I could zoom in and read that placard down there!
We were closing in for our landing and the ground looked so wild- you could see all the little rectangular spots where baskets had touched down before!
It took a couple of hops, but we finally landed!
Deflating the balloon!
Not pictured are the little local kids who came out to meet the balloon. They were nice but definitely out for money. When we got in the van they were at the window begging. We had a couple of five pound notes and some candy that Stella gave to them. It's one of those things that happens fairly often in countries with a poorer population. It's hard to see and a stark reminder of our privilege.
After the group piled in the van we headed back to the little boat to take us to the East bank and back to the Hilton.
We took another nap after we got back to the hotel and this was the point that I started not feeling amazing. My throat had been a little scratchy that morning, but I just figured it was being in the cool air. By the time we had woken up from our nap, I was full blown sick with a nasty cold. I'm talking terribly sore throat, sinus pressure, headache, chills, the works. Christopher and Stella headed down to the pool and left me to rest a little while longer. I took some cold medicine (I always travel with a bag full of meds we might need) and headed down to the pool to read while they swam.
It was a gorgeous day!
I sat in a lounge chair drinking pot after pot of tea with mint and we ended up having some snacks by the pool for our lunch.
Stella swam for about five hours that afternoon! She was wrinkly and worn out by the end of the day!
One last sunset over the Nile
We all piled into the hammock and watched the sun go down
We had dinner and then went to pack our bags. Before bed we had a couple of games of Uno! It helps to pack stuff like cards or a small game to entertain ourselves in the hotel room since the tv channels are mostly in arabic (unless we feel like watching the news...which, we don't).
The next morning we got up and had breakfast at the hotel and then headed to the airport. Security was segregated into a men and women lines, which was bizarre, but we went with it. There were some very oblivious Europeans who hopped over to the female line because it was shorter and were turned away and sent to the male line. Another one of those crazy reminders that we aren't in the West anymore.
We made it to Cairo and had to get from one terminal to another and it was a bit of a shit show. One security guy told us one thing while another told us something else entirely. Finally we found where we needed to be, checked in, filled out our customs forms, made it through security, and got to our gate. I was really nervous about this part of the trip because we only had about 2.5 hours between flights, but it worked out. We cut it close, but not too close so its all good!
We made it back to Bahrain and I kept it together til we got home and then I let myself fully feel as bad as I was feeling and Christopher was feeling it too. We crashed early that night, happy and blissed out and still in awe of the fact that we had just spent five days in Egypt!
Our trip was absolutely wonderful and I am so glad we took the chance and went! Egypt was one of those trips that I've dreamed about my entire life but never thought we'd actually get to go. My advice to everyone is to take the chance and go. Save your pennies, do the research, and take the plunge. It was a trip that we will never forget and absolutely worth the money and the time it took to plan it out!
