Dubai Stopover
I flew on to Dubai for three nights (although the first night was pretty much none existent – as I didn’t reach my hotel until 5.30am) and was collected at the airport as arranged – a very impressive service. After a few hours sleep, I wanted to make the most of my day, so I took a taxi and went to one of the shopping malls for a few hours; they are one of the things that Dubai is famous for. The Malls there are huge - I got lost just trying to get out of one! I kept going to where it said exit, only to find that they were “car park exits” and not exits where taxis were waiting! Back at the hotel, I enjoyed some more sunshine, around the pool. It was over forty degrees and you couldn’t sit out in it for very long; so I sat actually in the water reading my book for about an hour – now that was nice! What a relaxing way to read your book! At teatime I had a delightful meal (and not as expensive as I was expecting) in one of the hotel’s five restaurants before retiring to bed - ready for tomorrow’s early start.
Before leaving home, I had booked an Early Morning Balloon Flight and I had to ring to confirm it was still going ahead – which it was! I had booked a balloon flight on a previous holiday and knew they were so prone to be cancelled so I was trying not to get too excited. Anyway, I was collected from the hotel at 4am, and driven two hours to the “take off site”, which was way out in the desert. I had taken both my fleeces and my coat – I thought it would be cold high up in the sky; but the minibus driver told me that I wouldn’t need those extra clothes – he said it was going to be really warm up in the balloon’s basket.
When we arrived, I looked around for toilets, but it really was in the middle of the desert - not even a bush in sight! There were twenty-three people waiting to get in the bigger balloon’s basket, as well as a couple in the smaller balloon - they had hired it privately. Our pilot was Peter, a Hungarian and a very commandant-like character. He told us to put a safety belt on around our waist, in case of an emergency, then he divided us into two groups, one lot had to get in the right hand side of the basket and the other to get in the left hand side.
Apparently the previous day, he had, had to cancel the flight when people were already in the basket – because the wind had suddenly had got up. Peter was ordering all of his ground crew to assist him in inflating the balloon, some were holding it down, two were operating the enormous fans and Peter was firing heat into the balloon himself. Suddenly, as the balloon started rising from the ground, he shouted that we must all get in the basket as quickly as possible. Everyone had to scramble over the sides of the balloon (there were only two foot holes to enable you to climb in), and I think I went in “head first” – what a jumble of people.
The basket was divided into five sections; the middle for Peter and the other sections had five or six people squeezed into them. Within about twenty seconds, everyone was in, the ropes were released and the basket was moving up and then down to the ground, and then up again! At this moment I didn’t care if the flight was cancelled, it was too manic, too scary – I really didn’t like it at all. But then, everything went calm and we were airborne! Smoothly we glided up, higher and higher – and it was amazing.
The “take off” was forgotten and everyone was enjoying the view. The sun had just risen and as we rose to four thousand feet, the desert below looked incredible. We saw small farms that were growing grass to feed their camels, impalas running about, and miles of sand dunes with the occasional oasis. We were drifting very slowly, at about twelve kilometres per hour and could see the other balloon far off in the distance.
Peter kept in constant contact with their pilot and they compared notes regarding the altitude, the different wind speed and direction it was blowing. It was surprising that at just a thousand feet below us, the wind was blowing so much stronger and in a different direction. Every so often Peter turned the basket around one hundred and eighty degrees, so that we could all see all the way around, and at one time he told us all to look into the sun and smile. He had wound his camera out on a wire, and took a photograph of us all!
As he kept pulling on the cables to put more heat in the balloon it was so, so hot. It felt like it was singeing my hair and I thought that my coat was going to melt onto my skin. The heat was unbelievable – thank goodness I had left my fleeces in the minibus! After about forty-five minutes we saw the other balloon starting to descend, Peter spoke to the other pilot and the ground crew, and told us we would be probably landing at Al Fukar Lake - which was a dried up area, flat enough to land a jumbo jet on.
Apparently we had covered quite a distance today, about thirty-five kilometres in an “S” shape. We had to practice what to do when we landed, put your arms around the person in front (except for me, I was the odd one out), put cameras away, and hold on to the ropes inside the basket with both hands firmly – and not let go AT ALL. We had to squat down with our backs to the direction we were facing – and keep calm. I was starting to feel – well, more than anxious! We had five more minutes to admire the scenery below, but some people started feeling ill and were told to be sick over the side!
Peter told us not to look at the ground as we were coming down, but it was hard not to look down because we were going over some fabulous sand dunes with palm trees. He told us that it was going to be a bumpy landing because the wind speed had now reached forty kilometres per hour (that would have been too fast to have taken off an hour previous). As we hit the ground, I was absolutely petrified. The basket bounced on the sand several times before it started sliding along for several hundred metres.
The basket had tipped up onto its side, sand was coming in everywhere and everyone was screaming. When it finally came to a halt, we were all stuck there on our backs, feet in the air, sand everywhere – but happy to be on “terra ferma”. What an experience! Peter told us to stay exactly where we were, he jumped out, and we thought that he was going to collapse the balloon and fold it up, but he didn’t! He got his camera out and took a photograph of us all in that very uncompromising position! We were in hysterics by now, and by the time he had finished; we literally fell out of the basket.
The ground crew arrived quite soon with drinks for us all, which were desperately needed. The balloon was folded up, the basket loaded onto a trailer and we were all put in four by four vehicles and taken back to where our minibus was parked. This part of the adventure was the worst bit; it was so bumpy that I think everyone felt sick by the end of it! As we drove back to the hotel the haze was really bad, it looked like there was a sand storm ahead of us. Apparently the haze is particles of sand clinging to water droplets in the air – it is not a fog at all.
I was so glad that I had booked to do this; it really had been a “Once in a lifetime experience”, especially over such amazing terrain. I don’t know if I would ever want to do it again though – the sand landing might not be so soft next time!
Before leaving home, I had booked an Early Morning Balloon Flight and I had to ring to confirm it was still going ahead – which it was! I had booked a balloon flight on a previous holiday and knew they were so prone to be cancelled so I was trying not to get too excited. Anyway, I was collected from the hotel at 4am, and driven two hours to the “take off site”, which was way out in the desert. I had taken both my fleeces and my coat – I thought it would be cold high up in the sky; but the minibus driver told me that I wouldn’t need those extra clothes – he said it was going to be really warm up in the balloon’s basket.
The basket was divided into five sections; the middle for Peter and the other sections had five or six people squeezed into them. Within about twenty seconds, everyone was in, the ropes were released and the basket was moving up and then down to the ground, and then up again! At this moment I didn’t care if the flight was cancelled, it was too manic, too scary – I really didn’t like it at all. But then, everything went calm and we were airborne! Smoothly we glided up, higher and higher – and it was amazing.
The “take off” was forgotten and everyone was enjoying the view. The sun had just risen and as we rose to four thousand feet, the desert below looked incredible. We saw small farms that were growing grass to feed their camels, impalas running about, and miles of sand dunes with the occasional oasis. We were drifting very slowly, at about twelve kilometres per hour and could see the other balloon far off in the distance.
Peter kept in constant contact with their pilot and they compared notes regarding the altitude, the different wind speed and direction it was blowing. It was surprising that at just a thousand feet below us, the wind was blowing so much stronger and in a different direction. Every so often Peter turned the basket around one hundred and eighty degrees, so that we could all see all the way around, and at one time he told us all to look into the sun and smile. He had wound his camera out on a wire, and took a photograph of us all!
As he kept pulling on the cables to put more heat in the balloon it was so, so hot. It felt like it was singeing my hair and I thought that my coat was going to melt onto my skin. The heat was unbelievable – thank goodness I had left my fleeces in the minibus! After about forty-five minutes we saw the other balloon starting to descend, Peter spoke to the other pilot and the ground crew, and told us we would be probably landing at Al Fukar Lake - which was a dried up area, flat enough to land a jumbo jet on.
I was so glad that I had booked to do this; it really had been a “Once in a lifetime experience”, especially over such amazing terrain. I don’t know if I would ever want to do it again though – the sand landing might not be so soft next time!
The coastline with its pristine beaches seemed to stretch for miles – I wish that I had booked another day here to spend some time by the beautiful ocean. As we drove back towards the city I marvelled at the buildings, they were so tall, so bright and reflective, so amazing – it was quite a sight.
I could never have walked around the city at all, it was far too hot - well over forty degrees - so I asked to be dropped off at the Emirates Shopping Mall. It was a huge air-conditioned complex full of well known shops, many eating-places and the incredible “snow dome”.
I sat in Costa Coffee watching people skiing, snowboarding and sledging – there was even a real snowstorm whilst I was watching. What an incredible sight, people dressed in winter clothes when it was unbearably hot outside; I was very happy to be in the air-conditioned mall.
After a few hours of retail therapy, I took a taxi back to the hotel where I had a last hour by the pool before getting packed again and ready for the journey home. I could highly recommend a stopover in Dubai, a fascinating place with so much to see and do – especially if you like the heat. It was the end of an incredible day and a fabulous holiday – but as always, I was ready for home!
Lynne
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