When we were in Kenya last year, we had an opportunity to take a hot air balloon ride over the Masai Mara for $500/person. That was much too steep for our bank account, and we declined. When we heard a balloon ride over the Valley of the Kings was an option for this trip, and that it cost a much more reasonable $135/person, we were among the first in line to sign up. When we got the 4:00 AM wake-up call, however, I was questioning the wisdom of that decision.
We left our cruise boat at 4:30 and headed for the barque that would transport us across the RiverStyx Nile to our heavenly transport:
We look perky, don't you think?
When we arrived, the crew had just begun to inflate the five or six enormous balloons that would carry our group and some others aloft:
We left our cruise boat at 4:30 and headed for the barque that would transport us across the River
It's a good thing they provided us with a nutritious breakfast:
A burst of flame shot into the void:
. . . and one by one the balloons rose up like oddly colored specters into the pre-dawn grayness:
