Written by Alexandria Hilton
I have this running list in the notes app of my phone and it serves as a safe place where I can record all of the things I have ever done that have made me feel big or small.
For example, a brisk pajama walk across the street two blocks from my apartment makes me feel rather large and observed by strangers but a connecting-flight-on-time stroll through a new airport makes me feel rather small and unimportant in the best way.
A hot air balloon makes me feel simultaneously big and small.
“If you have never experienced the floaty weightlessness of basket-travel, I’d recommend giving it a shot.”
It’s worth mentioning that this experience may not entice the fearful of heights or those who suffer hair-catching-alight paranoia. But if you have never experienced the floaty weightlessness of basket-travel, I’d recommend giving it a shot.
The obvious kicker is that it’s not exactly a casual Saturday in the city for most of us — there are specific conditions conducive to this kind of leisurely transportation. Unless you live in Cappadocia, where 100+ balloons take flight each morning, it’s not everyday you gaze upon a sky full of oblong blobs of nylon.
You may be wondering, as I am, what makes for great hot air ballooning conditions. A quick google search will reveal to you that hot air balloons prefer the same weather I do: they like to be where winds are light, skies are clear, and the chance of precipitation is not overly oppressive. And like me, hot air balloons don’t have the extra energy to spend adjusting to rapid and abrupt changes. They have things to see! Heights to soar!
In Cappadocia, there are many flat areas for landing and the scenes from above are, of course, spectacular but is there anything else to this city?
As is the case with every city I’ve ever visited, there is always more than meets the eye or makes the headlines. This iconic destination’s volcanic history lends itself perfectly to those who love a strong hike and when I saw something about “fairy chimneys,” I convinced myself this Turkish town was my heaven on Earth. Unfortunately for me, “fairy chimneys” is not a literal expression; the misnomer does not refer in any way to winged creatures and their dwellings. (You’ve come to the wrong place if you’re looking for someone to tell you they don’t exist.) (I would definitely look for them and encourage you to do the same.) The label has been imaginatively attached to the signature rock formations in the area and… well… it’ll be easier to explain if you just go and see for yourself!
See them from above and then explore them on-foot; there isn’t any remedy much better for a shift in perspective, really. To experience any sensation by one’s own bodily abilities and then again by another way outside of oneself blurs the line that separates the body from the world. Maybe this is precisely what has to happen for me to feel big and small at the same time.
Come to think of it, this overlap might actually be the magic of travel.
Let this blog post act as my argument for why boarding a floating balloon in Cappadocia may very well sit at the intersection of uncomfortable as heck and just comfortable enough to distract from the fear of doing something entirely new. There is comfort in first seeing the balloons from below — just enough comfort to approach the monstrous thing on the ground, lift your leg over the side of and into the wicker basket, and float past 99 other balloons in a new section of sky, each carrying someone just like yourself, someone in quiet awe of a change in perspective.
A change in perspective does wonders for the mind.
Humans crave to know their dimensions, their scope. As we add years to our lives, there are increasingly fewer experiences that achieve the nearly impossible task of rattling us loose of the solid ground we are working so hard to create for ourselves each day. We like to be comfortable. We actually need to be comfortable if we are to tick off the tasks asked of us each day. From time to time, though, it is important to see a balloon and then board a balloon, if only just to feel small and big at the same time.
