‘Oh, the places you’ll go.’ A magical morning in Cappadocia

🎶 I woke up in between a memory and a dream 🎶

Well, actually, I woke up in a bit of a stressful panic. It was 3:30 a.m. and Chuck and I were getting ready to go ride in a hot-air balloon. I wasn’t stressing over the insanely early wake-up call, but over why I was even doing this whole balloon thing in the first place.

Look, I don’t like flying. I fly because I need to get somewhere, but being up in the air is not my comfort zone. At all. I’m a maniac in the air. I used to not be this way, but over time I get more freaked out in the air. Maybe it’s just that thing about becoming more fearful as you get older.

We booked this balloon ride when we started organizing our Turkey/Greece trip. Watching the sunrise from a hot-air balloon is THE THING to do in Cappadocia. And we always want to do THE THING of a place. So it was booked and forgotten about.

Until we left Istanbul and started touring through the rest of Turkey. Then it moved from the back of mind to the immediate forefront. And that’s when I started to think about canceling. Because, truly, I was going to get in a friggen balloon with a bunch of others to go float in the sky with over a hundred other balloons?! OH. MY. GOD. WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?!?

I couldn’t cancel, though. There was a part of me that wanted to do this thing so, so bad. I had to do it. I would never get this opportunity again. And I would kick myself forever for chickening out.

But that morning before the flight…I was STRESSED. Stressed on the pick-up. Stressed on the ride to the balloons. Stressed getting into the basket. (Bahaha, a literal basket?! Jesus.)

Then something weird happened. The panic and stress slipped off me like a sigh. In the blink of an eye, my fear turned into excitement and I couldn’t wait for lift-off. I think I absorbed the excitement coming off every other passenger. It was one infectious, joyous vibe and we were collectively amped to do something none of us had ever done before.

And then we were UP and I literally had no clue because I was recording another balloon lift-off. Seriously! Chuck had to tap me on the shoulder and point to the ground where the people were now looking like ants. I didn’t feel a thing, it was that smooth. From that moment on the whole ‘freaked about flying’ thing became a forgotten memory.

That was the beginning of a day that will never leave me. It filled me up.

Once we were up high, it was wonderful. Glorious, even. It felt amazing. Both Chuck and I were mouths agape trying to take it all in. The land below us was vast and full of charm, but all the balloons floating around us…oh boy, that made the whole thing truly magical.

In the air, we could see the moon still shining in one direction as the horizon was progressively getting oranger in the other.

The land beneath us was shining brighter and Cappadocia’s famous landscapes started to deepen and come into focus.

Then the sun hit the horizon. There was a moment of hushed ‘ohhs’ and ‘ahhs’ as we watched it break. It was everything I hoped it could be. Soul-searing. One of those moments when you witness something extraordinary. Makes your eyes widen and your heart soar.

We went as high as 1,800 metres and our captain took us as low as the trees to pick leaves for us. Eek! (video below) We also floated our way over to the town of Göreme to dip low again to send good morning greetings to the folks who woke up to watch a “balloon sunrise.”

(I wish we stayed in Cappadocia at least one more day to catch the sunrise from the ground.)

After about an hour in the air, it was time to float back down into real life. And just as exciting it was to watch all the balloons go up, it was equally cool to see them come back down. Our balloon’s basket actually landed softly on a trailer hooked up to a truck, comically making it ready to make a quick getaway. 😮

Then our captain and his crew grabbed the bottles of champagne (non-alcoholic) and filled all our glasses for a toast to a glorious morning spent together. We then all received a “Flight Certificate” and piled into the waiting vans to go our separate ways and see what else Cappadocia had in store for us that day. I mean, it was only 7:00 a.m. by the time we left.

Chuck called it a dream world. For an hour it was.