Hot Air Balloon Luxor: Take Off Before Sunrise

Take-off happens before first light, and that timing is the point. On most balloon mornings passengers stand in a field watching the sun come up and then climb into the basket. Here the balloon is already airborne when the light changes, so the sunrise arrives at eye level rather than somewhere beyond the horizon in front of you. A driver collects you from your hotel and drives you out to the launch site on the west bank in an air-conditioned vehicle. The pilot takes the balloon up from there. Below, the desert and the ancient temples of Luxor come out of the dark as the sun rises, with the Nile in view across the valley floor. The early start is not negotiable, since the balloon has to be up before the sun is. The pilot flies where the wind allows, so no two mornings trace the same line over the west bank.