It’s another 4 am loud-speaker wake up call for us. But we get up excited as we are off hot air ballooning this morning!! There are lots of companies offering flights; but a massive variation in price, based on duration, breakfast being offered, number of people in the basket, and quality and experience of the pilot. Since there had recently been an accident between two of the budget companies we decided to go with the 2nd best option, spending a little bit more money on quality.
Our transfer arrived and whisked us off to the ‘Royal Balloon headquarters’. Finding my name on the check-in board was a little hard, the spelling ‘Scat Prophet’ was a good attempt at my name over the phone. Breakfast done, we head with our group of 12 to the take-off site in the Rose valley. It’s a fantastic sight, seeing the balloon filled up; the huge burners being lit while other balloons take off around you. We are in a small group, having paid slightly more for the privilege; 12 as opposed to 16 to 28 people. Better views, better photography – thumbs up all around.
Our pilot is Turkish, the chief pilot of all the Royal Balloon pilots. Turns out he is also the air crash investigator for the recent balloon accident, so we feel in safe hands. Taking off at 5.40am, we see the dawn arrive over the large hill in the distance. It’s a brilliant sight travelling quietly over the valleys and fairy chimneys, the heat from the burner making the chilly morning suitably warm. Of equal majesty is the sea of balloons around us, 52 this morning; their colourful domes dancing in and out of the valleys.
Its difficult to appreciate what it’s like in the height of summer, with up to 150 balloons on a busy day. With no formal air traffic control, the pilots communicate on a shared frequency, asking if they can ascend safely as they cannot see above the big balloons. It’s easy to see how accidents happen. Our pilot explains that soon regulations will come in limiting it to 90 balloons, obviously forcing the price of a trip skyward.

The trip takes us over the Rose Valley and then close to an old monastery calved in the rock. It’s amazing to be up against massive cliffs, only to lift off and climb over a thousand feet to get a birds eye view. Apparently westerners love going close to the valleys, whilst the Asian clients just wanna go as high as possible. Our flight has a great mix of variation!

We plan to touch done, but the wind doesn’t really cooperate as it changes direction as we go lower. Therefore it’s 500m back up the valley to a field to land in. Our pilot manages a perfect landing; right on top of the trailer towed by a Hilux that’s been chasing the balloon. Amazing backing skills to get it into place. With 50 balloons and two support vehicle chasing, the roads in the morning are mayhem.

After unloading, the crew quickly set up a champagne toast, a great way to finish an amazing hour of flying. Well done ‘Royal’, top points and well worth the money.
Now off for a sleep in !

Enjoy the photos, sorry there are a few.