It is Sue’s birthday on Tuesday next week so today was planned as a surprise birthday treat. This is also her last weekend in Al Ain so the timing was perfect as the balloons take off about 40 minutes drive from the hotel.

Sue had no idea what was planned, only that we needed to be out of bed before 4am to get to our meeting place by 5.30am. Not her idea of a perfect start to the weekend.

Given the limited number of activities that could have persuaded me to drive into the middle of the desert, before dawn, she had pretty much worked out what the ‘surprise” was going to be and was just a tad nervous.

No need to be nervous. After the mad scramble to get 20 people into the basket we were very quickly up to 4000 feet and enjoying spectacular views just in time for sunrise.