Chasing Sunrises & Floating Dreams: My Hot Air Balloon Morning in Dubai

Kyna Nair
Oct 19
2 min read

There are two types of mornings in life:

the ones where you snooze your alarm nine times, and
the ones where you’re standing in the middle of a desert at 5 AM, staring at a sliver of moonlight and wondering if this is real life.

This was definitely the second kind.

The Desert at Dawn Feels Like Another Planet

When we reached the launch site, the sky was still deep purple, somewhere between “night that refuses to leave” and “morning that hasn’t made up its mind yet.”The crescent moon was hanging low, almost like it was waiting with us.

Everything was quiet, except for the muffled chatter of the crew and the occasional whoosh of burners warming up. The desert at that hour has this weird magic, calm but charged, sleepy but alive. I swear, even the palm trees looked like they were holding their breath.

Watching a Hot Air Balloon Wake Up

Then came the balloon.

Seeing it up close before it fully inflates is wild; it’s like a giant sleeping creature. One second it’s a flat heap of fabric…

The next, it’s slowly rising, breathing, taking shape.

You don’t expect to feel emotional, but there’s something about watching this massive bubble of color stand tall against the desert sky that makes you realize how small you are, and how big the world is.

The Moment Your Feet Leave the Ground

The take-off is SO smooth you don’t realize it’s happening until you look down and…yeah, the ground is suddenly far away.

And then the sky opens up.

The sun started rising somewhere behind us, painting the dunes gold. And ahead of us? Little colorful dots, other balloons drifting across the endless desert. It looked straight out of a movie. Like someone pressed pause on reality so we could take it all in.

There’s no loud engine, no crazy wind, nothing pulling you in any direction. Just stillness. Floating. Existing.

A View You Don’t Forget Easily

From above, the desert isn’t just sand. It’s waves.

Patterns.

Shadows.

A whole landscape you never notice from the road.

You see tiny farms, patches of green, and the long stretch of untouched dunes that seem to go on forever. And the sun? It paints everything in this soft golden haze that makes even the quiet look beautiful.

For a moment, everything feels slow, like the world decided to take a breath with you.

Back on the Ground (But Still in the Clouds)

Landing is funny, you brace for chaos, and then it’s the gentlest bump ever. But your mind? Still up there somewhere.

Once the ride was done, the desert looked different.

Not because it changed…

But because I did.

There’s something about watching a sunrise from 4,000 ft above the world that shifts your entire mood. Makes you feel lighter. Makes your problems look smaller. Makes life feel a little more magical.