14th June 2016

Finally the hot air balloon day was here!!!

The long awaited day! Yippiiieeee!!! XD XD

We arrived back at the hotel from the belly dance show at around 11 the night before, finished washing up till almost 12 and we had to wake up at 3, then we should have gathered at the lobby by 4, no mercy is allowed for tardiness. Fortunately, the whole tour members cooperated really well. Everybody showed up at the hotel lobby right in time. We were taken to the take-off area by the bus provided by the hot air balloon crew, and everyone had this lack-of-sleep kinda face, XD , but it was soon replaced by the very "excited" "delighted" "waw-it's-awesome" "it's-unbelieveable-that-I'm-finally-gonna-ride-the-hot-air-balloon" and "my life-depends-on-this-thing" kinda mixed expression. The tired dark circle under our eyes vanished into the air right away. Some of us were busy admiring these big balloons in front of us, some were busy inspecting whether it's safe or not. While me? I was busy telling myself that I was not dreaming at all. I still couldn't believe that it was happening at that moment. It is indeed in my bucket list that I should ride on a hot air balloon at least once in a lifetime. And now, checked!

Truthfully, it costed quite much to ride the hot air balloon. Our tour program actually provided the free hot air balloon service for 10 first participants, while Jenny and I were participants no. 12 and 13. T.T So if we wanted to ride the balloon, we were required to pay USD 250 per person. And that's where we turned into the Two Broke Girls. $.$ 

But I should say, it was really WORTH the money you put in. REALLY REALLY WORTH! 

We actually had the choice not to ride the balloon, in the case that we're saving our money, but we thought "We are here! When else will we come to Turkey? So, let's go!" We didn't hesitate even a bit, and we said yes right away when the tour guide asked us. But just to be honest, I don't regret that choice at all.  I'm pretty sure I'll blame myself to death if at that time, I answered "no".  The hot air balloon is what the whole trip is about. :D This is the best day out of the days we're in Turkey. The day I snapped most pictures in a day. The day where I got to open my eyes even bigger, to realize that there're lots of beautiful and wonderful things in the world yet to see.  

I heard that not all people got the chance to ride the balloon, cause sometimes the wind is too strong for the balloon to fly, and there're people who went home disappointed. I'm so grateful we're lucky enough to get a very nice weather that dawn, cause that day, after we went back to the hotel, and continued our trip, the weather turned gloomy, and a light rain showered the city. Imagine if we were supposed to ride the balloon the next day, it might get cancelled  >o< 

So, really, if you had the chance, and the weather were friendly to you, you should really give it a try! Don't mind the cost. It's once in a lifetime experience. An experience I would like to experience again if I had the second chance, and another again if I had the third chance. The ride lasts for one hour, but it felt just like 20 minutes, the time passed too hastily, so when you are up there, enjoy as much as you can, enjoy every millisecond of it. 

Oopss, I have done too much talking, no more waiting, I'll let the pictures do the storytelling for you. Please do enjoy! :) 

Everybody was looking in awe when one of the balloon was soaring high up in the sky!

Hang on, it's only the first part of the day! Don't miss out the second part! Coming asap! 

See you real soon, 

xoxo

sillyandordinarygirl

Lasmarya

:)