Hot Air Balloons…FINALLY

Hot Air Balloon Redemption

With our GAdventures tour through Turkey over, we still had one big regret: We didn’t hot air balloon in Cappadocia. If you’ve been following the trip, you’ll know that we had two opportunities to fly when we were in Goreme. Unfortunately, both were cancelled due to weather and we were hugely disappointed. Ballooning in this region was at the very top of our list for this trip, so when we left Cappadocia, Gimpy and I started looking at our options. Because we had planned some extra days at the end of our tour to rest and explore Istanbul, we had some flexibility in our schedule. And so we started looking around!

The Plan

Booking

Our first challenge was to find an available balloon operator. So, during our bus ride to Konya, I started looking for any availability. That’s when I realized that pickings were slim. Every balloon operator I found didn’t have openings for weeks (long after our flights out of Turkey).  I was starting to worry a little, until I stumbled upon Turkiye Ballons which had one opening for the day we wanted. I immediately booked for Gimpy, myself and another tour mate of ours. And with that, our spontaneous last minute, last ditch, last hope attempt at the balloons was afoot!  Though in all honesty, I still checked my emails daily for the remainder of the tour expecting a cancellation.

It never came.

Getting There and Back

Our next challenge was to figure out how to get there. Given the sunrise start of the balloon flights, we would need to arrive before that. And because we’d already spent three days in the area, we wanted to limit our time there. What this meant was a midnight flight out of Istanbul (SAW) arriving in Kayseri (ASR) at around two in the morning. From there we were able to arrange an airport transfer through Turkiye. They would pick us up at the airport and drop us off at the Turkiye offices after an hours drive. The plan would be to arrive at around 3AM, rest at their offices until it was time to fly at around 6 AM. After the flight we’d then have to kill time until the early afternoon where we’d head back to the airport for a 5:30 PM flight back to Istanbul. Easy Peasy!

With this plan in place, and our last G Adventure’s dinner in the books, we pick up the story from the last blog post.

Crazy Taxi

At the taxi stand, we agreed on a price of 180 TL with the attendant before getting into a cab. According to Google the airport is a solid hour and a half drive from our restaurant. But because it was a busy Saturday, night traffic was quite heavy. But (This is likely when things were lost in translation) our cab driver didn’t think we would get to the airport in time to catch our flight, and mentioned something about an alternate route. Not really understanding we simply let him drive and he ended up getting us to the airport in about an hour (Though at some points he was hitting about 140 KM/h on the highways).

This is when things went a little funky. When we arrived at the airport, we all pooled the 180 TL together and handed it to the driver. After counting it he started asking for 250 and saying something in Turkish. Our tour mate was having none of it and argued that we had agreed on 180. She suggested we get out of the cab. As Gimpy went to open the door, the driver hits the pedal and peels out of the airport terminal screaming Police and a bunch of other things in Turkish.

I was a bit stunned, but was also willing to talk to the police about this if that was indeed where we were headed. However, as we went away from the terminal (and past a police station we’d seen on the way in), I thought I heard the driver say something about tolls. Thinking about it in retrospect, I suspect that in order to get us to the airport in a timely manner our cab went on a series of toll roads. And now the driver was trying to get us to cover the cost.

Normally, I’d be willing to argue the fare even if it meant delays. But, given we were at the start of a long journey, with hot air balloons on the line. I thought it best to try and defuse the situation instead. I asked if an extra 50 TL would cover it and that seemed to calm him down. He turned back into the terminal and dropped us off.

In the grand scheme of things it was only an extra 10$ for us. While I would normally argue the principle, I didn’t want to miss this specific flight and end our grand adventure before it even started.

Getting to Goreme

Thankfully, we had no issues with checking in and getting through security. The flight was smooth and uneventful. In fact Gimpy and I were one of the few lucky ones to have no one in the middle seat between us. So we were able to stretch out a little and try to get some rest on the flight.

When we arrived it was about 2AM. I was a little worried when I saw nobody in the arrivals hall to pick us up. But when we left the building there was a mass of people outside with signs and names of passengers. I guess 2 AM arrivals are a common thing for this airport. Thankfully I found my name, and we settled into the bus for the hour and a bit drive to Turkiye’s office. I fell in and out of sleep during the ride.

Turkiye Balloons

We arrived at around 3 AM in front of the office and it didn’t look open. We knocked, called, and messaged, but wasn’t able to get a hold of anyone. So here we were sitting outside the Turkiye office in the middle of the night at near freezing temperatures.

It was at about this point where a little doubt started to creep in. And I started to worry if we were actually going to fly today. There was a small sinking sensation and wandering thoughts of if we’d wasted a day, or had the business gone belly up. Nothing really good comes to the mind in that situation at 3 AM in the morning!

Unfortunately we waited for about an hour outside until the staff arrived. They seemed a bit surprised to see us waiting for them and opened the office up for us. We were thankful to be indoors, but had also lost about an hour of potential rest time. After some warm drinks, we found comfy couches which we immediately conked out on for an hour or so.

Waiting to Fly!

We woke up when buses started arriving and people came into the office. People were starting to show up for their hot air balloon flights. The staff put out a buffet breakfast similar to what we’ve had at most hotels. There was an array of coffee, teas and juices along with all manner of pastries, fruit and veggies. We grabbed a few items, and settled into our area to wait for our flight. We had read that until you were actually in the air, there were still chances that the aviation authority could cancel all flights. So there was still a little more worrying to be done on our end.

We’re Good to Go!

One of the staff asked for everyone’s attention to make an announcement. It was likely paranoid perception, as both Gimpy and I thought he paused a little longer than normal before announcing that the weather looked good. They would be expecting flight clearance within minutes and that we should get ready to move once we got it.

Soon after we got the call and started loading into vans to drive out to the launch sites. I still didn’t fully appreciate what we were about to experience until we turned a corner and a burst of flame caught my eye and I could see half inflated balloons in a nearby field. They were so colorful in the early morning darkness and it suddenly dawned on me how amazing of an experience we were about to embark on.

Cleared for take off

We arrived at our launch site and our balloon was inflating when we got out. There were already balloons in the air and even still being on the ground the site of the balloons over this awesome landscape was breathtaking! Gimpy and I were giddy with excitement and we were ready to hop aboard and get going! Once the balloon was fully inflated, we were ushered to one of the four sectioned corners of the balloon basket and climbed in. Once everyone was in we were ready to go and with a burst of flame into the balloon we were off!

The one thing I realized right away as we were taking off was that you literally feel nothing as you fly. Unlike airplanes, there is no sensation of increasing altitude, or that drop feeling you get in your stomach when landing. You also feel very little wind while in the air. Since the balloon actually has no ability to steer, it relies on the very mild current of the wind to push it in whatever direction it goes. So if you’re going at the speed of the wind, you feel it even less! Our pilot explained that because you travel with the wind, the landing spots differ with every ride so he had an estimate of 90 minutes in flight but it could fluctuate depending on where we were when the time was up.

The Flight

In the meantime, we simply took in everything around us. Its really hard to describe the feeling that you get when you see the the scene in front of you. I hope my pictures can do it some justice. Between taking them, I had to take a few moments for myself to just take it all in. It truly is mesmerizing and surreal.

At every stage of sunrise there was something new to see. The pink and purples before the sun crests over the horizon.

 

To the bright rays once the sun is visible.

 

 

To the shadows of the balloons on the ground once its fully up.

 

 

The entire experience is something to appreciate and marvel at.

 

Personally, I didn’t think it would be as amazing as it is. But once you’re there, it really is something special and I’m really glad we took all the chances that we did to get here. Despite all the challenges along the way, all Gimpy, our tour mate and I could say was that it was “worth it”.

One of the other great things about this flight was our pilot. His name was Erdal. While his piloting skill was never in doubt, he was able to add a great deal of entertainment to our flight as well. He has this dead pan personality, but often would throw in some amazing jokes and one liners to keep the mood light and jovial.

At one point, he even made reference to the Titanic and the possibility of crashing into the sides of the canyon. Then, out of nowhere, Celine Dion’s My heart will go on starts playing from his phone. Talk about comedy. (And yes, I did mess up the lyrics!)

After about an hour and a half it was time to look for a landing spot, it was a neat process of our pilot judging our trajectory and radioing back to the ground crew where he thinks we’ll land. In the distance ahead, you can see the van (which we arrived in) and a pick up truck with a flatbed trailer speeding through the small farm routes to get ahead of us.

As we neared the ground the pick up truck would position itself below our basket and continue adjusting until we made contact and landed on the trailer. Sufficed to say, we were all very impressed!

We were instructed to remain in the basket until the balloon had deflated a little so it wouldn’t unexpectedly lift while we were disembarking. Once that was done, we all got out one by one and was ushered a little distance from the balloon, where the ground crew would continue to deflate the balloon, and ready it for transport. Waiting for us was a table setup with some snacks and a bottle of Champagne. We all got to toast our flight and have a snack before heading back to the van and the office.

Post Flight at Turkiye

Everyone’s spirits were high and after dropping off our fellow passengers at different hotels we returned to the Turkiye office where Erdal took some time to chat with us about our experience. I learned that when I was arranging our airport transfers and tours, I was actually corresponding with him.  He had heard about our little mishap in the morning and explained that it was actually his fault for not telling security to open the doors for us. It was quite nice that he owned up to it and took the time to apologize.

Just How Close We Were!

We spent the next hour or so chatting about the whole ballooning experience. He shared with us that when he heard about our plans to fly in, balloon and fly out the same day, he was nervous for the risk we were taking on this one flight being a go. (We shared the same anxiousness!) It was at this point that we learned how EXTREMELY lucky we were to have even flown in the first place. If you recall, I was having difficulty finding booking availability on any flight for this day. It turns out that the only reason we were able to get the booking was because he had forgotten to turn off the booking function that day. So when our reservation came in, he was ready to send a cancellation because they were already full. When he got into the office to check capacities one last time, he learned they received two last minute cancellations meaning they could accommodate us.

When we heard about this we were floored. We were a hair away from being cancelled and having our balloon bucket list item left unchecked. I think that Erdal was just as surprised and pleased as we were to have everything work out the way it did.

We chatted about the industry for a bit and how difficult it is when they have to cancel, since like us, many have dreams crushed because of it. After chatting he offered the office space to us to rest and relax until it was time to take the airport transfer back to the airport. Our tour mate, decided to head into town in search of a hostel where she could shower. Gimpy and I happily accepted the hospitality and settled in for a nap.

Goreme

After a bit of sleep, Gimpy and I decided to head into Goreme to stretch our legs a little. It was a beautiful sunny day, and we really enjoyed strolling through the center of town. We’d already spent three days in the area so everything felt pretty familiar.

Coffee

Since it wasn’t quite time for lunch yet, we decided to stop at Oze Coffee, grab a coffee (Turkish of course) and people watch. We spent the next hour just talking. Gimpy and I have been good friends for years, and it was actually a really good opportunity for us to catch up with each other and reconnect. We really haven’t had much opportunity since our last trip in Africa. I really enjoyed just spending the time to hang out with an old friend!

Lunch

The lack of sleep was starting to catch up with us. So we decided to get up and keep our legs moving! We walked around a little bit more before deciding to find a place for lunch. We weren’t really craving any Turkish food, but had scouted out a few Asian restaurants on our first go around here. As a side note, I was actually surprised at how many Asian tourists make it to this remote part of the world. So much so that I counted three Chinese and one Korean restaurant in town.

Gimpy and I decided to try a tiny little Chinese restaurant we had walked by earlier in the morning. We got the sense they were fairly authentic when the waitress only spoke Mandarin and Turkish, languages neither of us knew. We were craving soupy noodles (There’s a theme on this trip) but was told that they no longer had any. So we settled on some fried rice which while small in portion, was actually quite good.

We suspect we may have been given the “foreigner” treatment when after receiving our rice, two big bowls of noodles in soup came out of the kitchen. To our dismay they were clearly not sold out! We simply didn’t have the energy to inquire, finished our rice dishes and strolled around a little more before heading back to Turkiye’s offices to wait for our bus back to Kayseri.

Back to Istanbul

We said good bye to the Turkiye Balloon staff and got on our transfer to Kayseri airport. The ride was uneventful. We checked in for our flight, cleared security and boarded our plane bound for Istanbul.

The flight itself was pleasant, though admittedly by this time we were pretty tired! Upon arriving, and after our incident with the taxi, we all decided to take the airport shuttle (Havabus) back to the Europe side of Istanbul. While it did take longer than the taxi, with the state of fatigue we were in, I don’t think it really mattered. From the drop off point of the shuttle, we took a train back to our original G Adventures hotel where we said good bye to our tour mate, and fellow hot air balloon adventurer.

Settling In

Gimpy and I caught one last train to the AirBNB we booked for the duration of our stay in Istanbul in the Taksim area. Our last little adventure was the walk from the train station to the actual apartment. I had misread the instructions and ended up leading us on a 30 minute uphill “hike” with our full gear on. When instead, we could have taken the train one extra stop, taken the funicular up the hill and had a short 5 minute downhill walk. (Sorry Gimpy!) So by the time we arrived at the AirBNB it was close to 10PM and we were pooped!

Dinner

Thankfully, right on the corner of our Airbnb was a pizza place. We ended up heading down, ordering a pizza to go, and devouring it back at our place. Then it was showers and we both crashed soon afterwards. All in all we’d been up since we left for Gallipoli the day before, roughly 40 hours.

It was a great spontaneous adventure! One we didn’t anticipate having to do. But in the end one that we were happy we did. After all was said and done, and all the things that happened, it was and still is totally worth it!