The Dubai Diaries
My life as a flight attendant in the Middle East!

Cappadocia – A hot air balloon ride through the valley

Day 2 – A Magical Sunrise Hot Air Balloon Ride

Our second morning in Cappadocia saw us up bright and early, ready for a once in a lifetime experience – a hot air balloon ride! If you’ve been reading my blog for a few years, you may remember my amazing trip to Myanmar, with my friend Kirsty. She was pregnant at the time, so we were not able to ride in the balloons (click here if you’d like to read!), however this time Emma and I decided it was worth splurging for the experience.

We booked our hot air balloon ride via our hotel tour desk, and there are many different operators offering the ride. From what I’ve read online, the price varies depending on whether it’s high or low season, and we paid €100 each, which I found quite reasonable.

We were picked up while it was still completely dark outside and taken to the office of the hot air balloon company, stopping along the way to pick up a few more people. Once there, you could get some coffee and hot fresh bread rolls (the coffee was truly awful but the bread was lovely, at least!) while the organisers got everyone into groups to be driven out to the launch site.

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Cappadocia – A Magical Fairytale Getaway

Day 1 – The Green Tour & Where To Eat In Goreme

Just before the world started to shut down and flights were getting cancelled left right and centre, I was lucky enough to visit the beautiful place that is Cappadocia.

My good friend Emma and I managed to get leave at the same time, so planned an amazing trip to Cappadocia and Istanbul. Sadly we never made it out of the airport in Istanbul as we had to catch one of the last flights out of Turkey before the borders closed, but we really made the most of our time in Cappadocia while we were there.

Getting There

We are lucky that as cabin crew we have access to cheap standby flights, and from Dubai there are usually 2-3 flights a day to Istanbul with Emirates, either IST (Istanbul Ataturk Airport) or SAW (Sabiha Gokcen Airport). We decided to go via SAW as the connection to Cappadocia was better for us.

We had a couple of hours wait and enjoyed our first taste of some delicious Turkish food in the airport, and then hopped on a quick 45 minute flight to NEV – Kayseri Airport.

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March Roster

First of apologies for the silence over here on The Dubai Diaries… no excuses, I’ve just been busy enjoying life at the moment!

So, where am I off to next month?

  • DAC – Dhaka, Bangladesh (turnaround)
  • ARN – Stockholm, Sweden
  • CSV Review
  • LHR – London Heathrow, UK
  • Annual Leave
  • BOM – Mumbai, India
  • BHX – Birmingham, UK
  • CSV Graduation
  • JFK – New York, USA

First up is a turnaround to Dhaka, Bangladesh. This is a pretty long day (around 5 hours each way plus time on ground), and sometimes it’s a layover but due to the timing I’ll be doing the turnaround.

After that is another trip to Stockholm. Although I was only just there in January, I’m happy to go back as the hotel is in a great location, perfect for exploring. Perhaps I will even get some snow this time!

Then I have my final review for the Cabin Supervisor pool, that I’ve been working up towards these past 6 months. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Straight after that is a trip to London Heathrow. I haven’t done a flight to Heathrow in a while, as Stansted is close to home so I try and get that flight when I can. I’m looking forward to this one though, as my best friend Lucy lives in London and she’s hoping to be able to take the day off work so we can do something fun together!

Then I have some leave – my friend Emma and I are planning to visit Turkey. We’re thinking a few days in Cappadocia and then a couple in Istanbul. If you’ve visited, feel free to leave some tips in the comments below!

Straight after my leave is a back to back combination of a turnaround to Bombay and then another layover in Birmingham. I’ve just been there, and didn’t manage to do much as all of the trains were cancelled due to Storm Ciara!

Then if my final review goes well, I will have the graduation day for it. This is actually the same as when I joined and completed the 6 month probation, and will be with all of the new crew.

Last up a trip to my favourite US destination – New York! I was originally rostered a São Paolo, but managed to swap it quite soon after the roster came out. I’m excited to visit New York in Spring!