Luxor Hot Air Balloon

This should be the cheapest hot air balloon experience in the world. We paid about RMB 280, and it is said that the cheaper one is 200. The scenery is not as good as Cappadocia, but it is good for the first experience.

Luxor hot air balloon, which is a must-see, is also a comparison of prices from several travel agencies. The price on Ctrip is quite reasonable. If you go to the local area and find a local travel agency, you will get a lower price. If you make a group connection in advance, someone will come to the hotel to pick you up, but our hotel is just opposite the pier, so basically you can get on the boat directly after leaving the hotel. The staff who came to pick us up took good care of us. The whole hot air balloon trip was also very good. They picked us up at 4.35am and returned to the hotel before 8 o'clock. It is worth recommending. Ctrip is direct and worry-free.

This was by far the highlight of my trip to Egypt. Seeing the Sunrise and Temples from above are just amazing! If you are in Egypt this activity is definitely a must!

Start at 3 a.m. to take a hot-air balloon and cross the Nile with a group of people from Mexico, Spain and Colombia by boat. Wait for the ignition and rise together to greet the sunrise on the hot-air balloon.My Dream Has Last Come True!!!

The most expensive self-funded item on the trip to Egypt was $140 per person, but it was more cost-effective than the Masai Mara in Kenya. It's always hard to take a hot-air balloon. It's 4:15 a.m. and it starts at 4:45 a.m. in the open space near the quarry. The sun had just risen, and the golden sunshine shined on him, warming the ocean and breaking the slight coolness of Egypt's early morning. Colourful balloons scattered on the ground, some filled with hot air and flapping their wings; some just started to inflate and droop their heads; and others lay feebly on the ground, because the fuel bottles that heated the air had not yet arrived. The hotballoon basket in Egypt can accommodate up to 20 passengers. The basket is divided into five zones. The area at four corners is the passenger zone. Each zone can stand five people, and the middle zone is the pilot's operating zone. I stood at the top left corner of the outermost place, this position although the field of vision is very wide, but when the heating device spray fire, it is really hot a little overwhelming. Ten minutes later, it reached a predetermined height of 3,200 feet, about 970 meters, more than 100 meters higher than the world's tallest building, the Dubai Tower. Nearly one kilometer above the ground, the tiny hanging basket swaying slightly, and the vast expanse of the world, this is a wonderful experience, like a dream like fantasy! ____________ The early morning mist had not yet dissipated, and the distance over the Nile River was like wrapping a white ribbon around the Nile River. It is the magnificent temple built by the Pharaoh Hatshepsut that moves slowly beneath her feet. Looking down from the high altitude, she has a full view of her ancient vicissitudes and her ruins. Our balloons drifted slowly across King's Valley and Mennong. The world was so quiet that there was no more noise from tourists. Balloons landed safely in the desert in front of the Valley of the Kings. Because of the wind direction, each balloon landed in different places, some even several kilometers apart. Before landing, we saw the car that picked us up running after us in the desert below. The landing was so smooth that we didn't even do the Landing Position we learned before take-off. After landing, the organizers issued a certificate to each of us as a souvenir.

Here I reflect my experience of signing up for a group tour on Ctrip. On July 22, we set out to join a group tour. On the way, we contacted the hot air balloon company Magic Horizon to sign up for a flight. After several email contacts, we confirmed the flight time on August 5, when the hot air balloon company would pick us up at 4 a.m. After checking into the hotel the night before the flight, we immediately informed the hot air balloon company of our room number. Later, we received a flight confirmation letter from the hot air balloon company through the hotel front desk but without a sealed letter. The pick-up time was changed from 4 a.m. to 3:30 a.m. After we received the confirmation letter, the tour guide called the room several times, asking us if we would sign up for a hot air balloon flight tomorrow morning, and said that the Chinese consulate called and asked us to meet him in the lobby to talk. After several calls, we called the tour leader and made it clear that the tour guide had exceeded her duties by directly contacting the group members to discuss matters unrelated to the itinerary, and asked her to immediately find out the reason in person. At 3:30 the next morning, the hot air balloon company had not shown up yet. We called the contact person on the confirmation form, Mohammed. After confirming our room number, he replied that we should wait and they would arrive in a few minutes. A few minutes later, we kept calling again, but the other party did not answer. During the whole process of calling, the tour guide kept lobbying beside him: I told you last night. Believe me, they will not come, and they will not answer your phone again. If you want to fly, I can help. I asked him: What's going on? How did you know in advance that we were going to fly last night? The tour guide replied that he knew everything. I clearly pointed out that it was a serious violation of the law for the hotel to privately look through and disclose the information of the guests. I would contact the Chinese consulate to let the government guarantee my safety. In addition, I explained to him that I had promised the other party that I must keep the promise. If they don't come again, it is their business to break the promise, and I will make another decision. At 4:30, after judging that the hot air balloon company was under pressure and no longer appeared, I said to the tour guide: If you can still guarantee to take off before sunrise, I accept your suggestion. The tour guide said: No problem, we will definitely catch up. So we paid and took the car they contacted to the take-off point. More than 20 minutes after we boarded the balloon, the balloon still hadn't taken off. The sun was out! As we got higher and higher, the pilot kept calling the company to explain that the wind was starting to pick up and the balloon couldn't take off, but the company said it didn't matter and would take off anyway (the pilot's explanation afterwards was recorded). It finally took off, but soon landed on a sugarcane field. The balloon company staff rushed up to hand over their opinion letter, and I just filled in: the flight was not completed. After I came back, I asked the tour guide for a refund, but was immediately rejected. To ensure my personal safety, I immediately called the Global Consular Protection and Service Emergency Call Center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China (86-10-59913991), and then called Ctrip, reporting the whole thing. The consulate hoped to keep in touch every day and send the hotel I stayed in every night to the Consulate Direct WeChat public account. Ctrip told me to travel with peace of mind and help me deal with it when I returned to China.