A spectacular view from the hot air balloon

Finally experienced the much-sowed Cappadocia hot air balloon. Honestly, it wasn't that exciting, and by the second half, I just wanted it to end sooner. After all, setting off at 3:30 really raised expectations. I booked online in advance for 1780, with the company Air Kapadokya. Later, I found that Ctrip had a better price: 1660. When I asked my customer service, she said that was just pre-collecting customer money without paying the hot air balloon company yet. They would pay close to the flight time, which is not guaranteed. I don't know if what she said is true, but it seems that the hot air balloons are not fully booked, and there should always be seats available. I saw in the group that some people booked through the hostel owner after arriving in Cappadocia for 275 euros, and if they couldn't fly that day, they would have to pay more the next day. Others mentioned bookings over 300 euros. So, it seems that domestic websites are cheaper. We got up in the middle of the night to wait for the pickup car; we were staying far away, so we were the first stop. Along the way, we picked up several groups of passengers and headed to the company. The company provided breakfast, a box of soft drinks, a piece of cake, and a terribly unpalatable apple for each person. You could make your own coffee with the coffee machine. Around 4:30, we were called to board the bus and taken to the hot air balloon. Everyone climbed into the balloon basket as instructed by the staff. Our basket held no less than twenty people. Later, two more squeezed in, making it difficult to turn around. Dozens of balloons on the ground ignited and ascended at the same time, twinkling in the dark, colorful. Our balloon lifted off at 5:03. The balloon drifted slowly through the valleys, sometimes descending close to the strange rocks, sometimes rising to meet the sunrise, while constantly rotating to allow tourists to see different directions. Not only the unique landscape was breathtaking, but the sight of hundreds of hot air balloons floating in the sky was also spectacular. As the sun rose and the valley lit up, the novelty wore off, with nothing more to see. The hot air balloon company guaranteed an hour in the air, but the last ten minutes or so were basically wasted time looking for a landing spot. With so many balloons needing to land, it felt a bit like a scramble for space. Each balloon was paired with a trailer, and the basket had to land on the trailer, so the ground vehicles chased the balloons, and the minibusses carrying passengers also followed, to take the tourists back to their accommodations. The balloon pilots and trailer drivers kept communicating, directing them to the designated spots. Watching the vehicles scurrying around on the ground was quite entertaining. After the balloon landed, several staff members struggled mightily to pull the balloon down to the ground so that the tourists could climb out of the basket. The staff set up a small table, poured sweet wine, and celebrated a successful flight. They also tried to sell videos, which seemed to be around thirty or forty euros. The minibus driver took us back to our accommodation around 7:30. This tiring hot air balloon journey thus came to an end. Thinking about those hot air balloon employees, they had it even tougher.