Excitement, relief, wonder, anxiousness, disbelief.... just a few of the emotions I was going through
as my employer drove me around the area, explaining the general concept of the flights here.
I was shown the "base", where the office is and where the equipment is kept. I took a look at
the equipment and then we went to the home of one of his best friends, Genghis, who owns a hotel here.
Then he introduced me to a shop keeper (Kemal) and said if I needed anything
and he stressed ANYthing... Kemal was the man.... he then took me to the house where I would be living
and introduced me to the other pilot, Sancho.
Where I lived, from the front.
The two windows on the second floor are my room.
The entry of the house I lived in
Sancho and I would be sharing a second floor flat.
(for a few pics showing the view from my room,
click here)
He is from Spain and his father was the first balloon pilot in Spain. When you ask Sancho how long
he has been flying, he will tell you "always.... since I was in my mothers stomach".
Obviously, his father flew his mother while she was pregnant... the point being that he grew up
with balloons. At the time I met him, he had over 700 hrs and over 100 hrs flying a 425 in Egypt and
Nigeria. He has flown all over and even as a youngster in his teens, travelled with Malcolm Forbes
and his balloons. What a great resource for me! He had been in Kapadokya about a month before I got
there and had flown about 10 times.
Having finally arrived to the place where I could unpack my bags and stretch out or even better,
actually lay prone.... I did just that. I went to bed about 7pm Sunday night... in a bed for
the first time since 3 am on Friday.... ahhhh.... Because I had not slept for more than about 3 hrs
at a time for 3 days.... I slept for 3 hrs at a time my first 4 days here ... Monday morning, after
having breakfast at the office
(a regular planned event each day & part of the perks)
, we went to the nearest police department so I could register as a resident alien. This is located
in the town of Nevşehir, about 10 km
(5 mi)
away, and a city of approximately 80,000. No different from any beaurocracy that I've ever known,
after about 3 hrs
(2hrs and 50 minutes of that sitting in a waiting room)
, they told me to come back tomorrow... so I went back home to catch my series of cat naps.
The next morning
(Tuesday)
, we had a flight scheduled, but only 16 or 17 passengers.
So I rode as a passenger with Sancho flying the 315
(the "small" balloon)
in order to get an idea of the flight path, general area, etc.
