Suzanne,

Tell dad that you can bargain with Jolleys for anything! Don't know this years prices but tell him to plead poverty or anything else he can think of! At the end of the day, the price will be pretty good. It is a relatively expensive excursion anyway, but certainly a must do!

Wev are going to Sharma in June 2007 do's any one know of any ballon flight there

Thanks

Thanks Carrot, have let dad know so I'm sure he will let you know how he gets on.

Thanks again

Suzanne

Trigger,
As far as I am aware, Luxor is the only place in Egypt where balloon flights are a regular occurence. I may be wrong and if I am, we'll soon hear! I would think that hot air ballooning anywhere near large expanses of seawater is a rather imprecise art and therefore quite dangerous!

Hi Carrot

Thanks for getting back to my daughter Suzanne.

We had a great time in Egypt, so much so the day after we got back I booked to go back next year, I would have booked to go back this year but we already have 2 other holidays booked.

Thanks for your help and info
Graham

Hi Graham,
Glad to hear you had a great time in Egypt and managed to get a good price from Jolleys for the balloon trip. Its quite an amazing experience, isn't it!

Thanks for the very concise and informative review of the Orchid, which, i'm sure will be of immense use to many who go in the future. What disappoints me most is that they now charge for the different excursions to sites along the river. These always used to be included in the cost of the cruise. I suppose it was only a matter of time, like everything else in this world!

Best regards,

Roger.

Hi,
Sorry to be nosey! (I call it research!)

What was the outcome of your adventure with the balloon, how long, who did you book it with, how much etc?

I am just interested as a trip idea.

Or point me to a thread about this?

Thank you!

You can find the LATEST info on this from Graham, who has just returned, here. http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?p=913500&highlight=#913500

The company that Graham used has been used by several members of this forum before and are very reliable.

Thanks carrot

This is a small extract to save you reading through my review, unless of course you want too.

The extra hot air balloon trip in Luxor on Monday morning is an additional £70.00 per person. This trip is absolutely brilliant and well worth the money, however here is a great money saving tip that makes it even better.

When you return to Luxor after your cruise go in to Luxor as soon as you can and go to Jolleys, which is located to the right of the Winter Palace and book the exact same trip for £35 per person.
You will be picked up and dropped back off at the boat and have a sail to the west bank with tea / coffee and cake, also a T shirt and the same balloon flight as those who book through FC.
Try to book this as soon as you can as the balloon trips sell out quickly for the Monday.

We used Jolleys to book the flight and as Carrot said they are very reliable (we also booked a trip to Cairo with them), they were very helpful and much cheaper than booking with First Choice or even going directly to Magic Horizon Balloons who FC use.

There are 4 or 5 actual balloon companies in Luxor and they all take off from the same area and travel in a similar direction and for a similar duration, 50 -60 minutes.
We flew with a company called Sindbad Balloons who were very good and professional, our pilot Ismail asked us if we wanted to be the highest balloon out that day so of course we all said yes and then after clearing it with air traffic control at Luxor we ascended to 3500 feet

This is Sindbads website but it is a bit temperamental and doesn't always work.

http://www.sindbadballoons.com/

This is us looking out over the desert on the West Bank

Fab!

Thanks for the info.

That pic above looks great!

Thank you!