Item #9 – Go Indoor Skydiving

40 Things for 40 Years in 40 Weeks: Item #9 (Bucket List) – Go Indoor Skydiving

I’ve never had the inclination to jump out of a real plane and go sky diving but I recently discovered that you could do it without the plane or the parachute and that idea definitely peaked my curiosity. Given that I was to add some new experiences to my #40for40in40 list I decided that this would become item #9!

My husband said he was up for trying it with me and it just happened that we had a date night planned to celebrate our wedding anniversary this past weekend so we thought.. why not go sky diving and go to dinner after.. because that is what one does for an anniversary celebration right?

I had seen the commercial and the ads for iFly several times but I had no idea what it would be like. I booked it a couple of weeks ago but had sort of put the actual thought of going to do it in the back of my mind. We arrived on the day of a little early and watched some other newcomers try it. It looked easy enough. They were all smiling afterwards. Even the ad-on feature to do a “high flight” into the tunnel above looked pretty fun. After watching a few amateur flights, one of the instructors jumped into the tunnel and put on a show. I was amazed at what this person could do.. flips, turns, flying upside down, going up the tunnel at rapid speed and zooming back down. It was like they were literally dancing on air. It was really incredible to watch.

As we went in to watch our safety video and got suited up, I started to get a little nervous. Why was I thinking this would be a good idea? But we were put in a group with a birthday party of several 10 year old girls and another family of three kids that were probably ages 6-10… So I thought okay, if they can do this so can I.

One by one we filed into the tunnel and sat on the bench. My husband and I were at the end of the line and we waited for all of the kids to go in front of us to go. It was finally my turn to go. Our instructor Chris gave me the signal, I stepped into the doorway to the tunnel, assumed the position I had been taught, leaned in head first… and flew! It is the most bizarre feeling. It’s like your floating weightlessly but also being pushed. You almost can’t breathe despite the fact that all of this air is blowing at you. You can move but you can’t move on your own. Just weird all of it!! As a new flyer you get two – 1 minute sessions in the tunnel. Now a minute in that tunnel doesn’t sound very long but with that amount of wind, pressure and noise being blown at you all at once - it almost feels like time stands still.

We both completed our two flights and even did the high flight at the end of the second round. We both agreed that it was a lot of fun. This was something totally different that I certainly never thought I would do. Our instructor Chris told me I was a natural several times and I did far better on my first flight than my second because I guess my body was more relaxed the first time – which was a surprise to me. But I guess that in the right moment, I was able to let go and FLY!

Thank you to my husband for entertaining this crazy idea and here's to more years of flying through this crazy life of ours together!

And so that completes #9 on my list. 16 items checked off the list and 24 to go! Stay tuned for more… #40for40in40