Hot-air balloon ride over Valley of the Kings, Luxor 10/30/09

Turn your speakers way down on this one. Hot-Air ballooning over the Nile and the Valley of the Kings, Luxor / Thebes, Egypt. This was a lot of fun and it was a really beautiful morning, as you can see. Our ride began at about 6am. At one point, we were led to believe we were about to land, early, in a very tall corn field (or sugar cane field), and you can see this isn't met with much enthusiasm/

I actually love hanging over the basket and seeing that there's nothing beneath us. It's either unearthly quiet when the flame isn't roaring and we're gently drifting, or it's realllly loud. So, turn your speakers down.

Only after I returned from that trip did I see that hot-air ballooning had been halted since May '09 due to several accidents in recent years and too many balloons in the sky at the same time. Under a new law, there's a much lower number allowed up simultaneously and there are now tougher requirements for balloon pilot training and tests. The ban was lifted about 3 days before we went up.

Taken with still camera - Canon SX10 IS

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• egypt
• valley of the kings
• luxor
• thebes
• hot-air balloon

[FSXISCOOL]

great video..love the labels...i have been luxor 8 times..and Egypt 11..

Never been on the balloons..they always looked great in the morning taking off..nice video...that balloon was packed lol..never knew so many people were accommodated by one basket...

[anieb]

@FSXISCOOL, You're very lucky to have been able to be there so often. The balloons are definitely fun, though they had been banned for 6 months and then unbanned 3 days before we went up (we didn't know this). In Turkey, the balloon baskets we were in held only 8 people plus the pilot. In this case, 20+. It was fun to be able to walk around and it actually felt more stable.

Glad you enjoyed the labels! I just discovered this YouTube feature, which isn't super-intuitive. Thanks!.

[anieb]

Yes, it fits 20 or so. The only other hot-air balloon ride I've ever taken had space for only 8 people, two to each divided quarter in the basket.

Our ride wasn't nearly as dramatic as yours!, I'm glad to say, though it looked for awhile as if we'd land in one of those fields too.

[familyruncorn]

That was a HUGE basket and balloon!