This particular item on my "30 Things" list has unequivocally received the most wrath from those that are following me on this journey. "FAKE skydiving?" they ask. If your aim is adventure, challenge and conquering fears, why on earth would you decide to go fake skydiving instead of pushing yourself to experience the real thing?
Well folks, that's because I'm chicken s**t. I value my life and would very likely be haunted by nightmares filled with parachutes that fail to open, giant birds that appear out of nowhere and crash landings into shark-filled waters should I decide to actually attempt jumping out of a plane. The contradiction here is that part of me really, really wants to experience it, and thus I discovered a happy medium that a) was affordable thanks to Groupon, b) simulates the feeling of skydiving and c) offers minimal risk of bodily harm. The compromise came in the form of none other than iFly Orlando, a tourist trap conveniently located on International Drive and home to a 130 mph wind tunnel.
My partner in crime for this adventure was my sorority sister and almost-lawyer Alex (P-S: Good luck on the bar!), whom despite not seeing me since college graduation, so kindly responded to my request on Facebook for a tag-along. The two of us met promptly at 1pm for our reservation and were swiftly shepherded upstairs to the "observation" deck where you can sit and watch other people take part in their "flying 101" class. It's all a little bit comical to be honest -- those observing are positioned on one side of a giant plexi-glass-framed wind tunnel with 8-10 people donning embarrassingly blackmail-worthy "flight suits" sitting on the other side. One by one they get up and enter the flight tunnel, only to flail around like a fish out of water as an instructor pulls and prods them in an attempt to help them take flight. For a moment, you feel sort of like a spectator at a zoo. Here you are sitting in front of this glass tube and laughing to yourself as people contort their bodies every which way and make incredibly "flattering" facial expressions thanks to the wind. It's all very funny until you realize that very shortly this will be you!
After about 20 minutes of watching others in the observation deck (and intently studying the body position of those who were "successful" at flying versus those who were not), we were taken upstairs for our flying class. This wasn't much of a class, but rather an opportunity to meet our instructor, Adam, watch a short video about what the experience would be like and then learn about the body position we were supposed to mimic (arms bent at the elbows and held up by your ears, legs bent at about a 45 degree angle, back curved at the hips to create a gentle U shape, chin up). From there we were given our very own flight gear -- a jumpsuit, helmet, goggles and ear plugs -- and corralled down to the wind chamber to await our turn at flight.
At this point, I feel that it probably makes sense for me to share the video of my flight experience, as well as Alex's. Please excuse the incredibly amateur editing and crappy quality, but at 4 minutes in length, I had to reduce the quality to make the video compatible with this blog. Commentary will resume below...
As you can tell from the video, my flying skills were less than stellar -- Alex did a much better job than I did! Apparently I was bending my arms too much and my instructor kept telling me to relax, which was weird considering I felt totally relaxed! The weird thing is that as much as you think your body will just assume the right position once inside the wind tunnel, when you actually get in there for the first time, the experience can be incredibly disorienting. Not to mention you have just 60 seconds to get it "right" (the experience includes just 2 minutes of flight per person, 1 minute at a time), so there is pressure to figure things out quickly so that you can actually experience the sensation of flying. Luckily, I caught on eventually, and my second go around I had a complete blast during the 30 seconds that the instructor grabbed on to me and literally flew me up and down, spinning in circles throughout the tube.
Once everyone in the group has had their two turns, it's back upstairs to return your flight gear, get your certificates of flight, pick up your DVD (hence the reason I was able to share the above footage) and see some photos of yourself in flight (they charge $3.95 just to E-MAIL you one photo, but c'mon, if you don't have someone on the other side taking pictures for you, how can you NOT buy at least one?). And with that, you're done!
In all honesty, I left the experience a heck of a lot closer to considering going REAL skydiving someday (the instructor assured me that the feeling is almost 100% replicated by the wind tunnel and that there is no actual feeling of falling), although unfortunately, my bravado has since faded the more I have time to actually use my brain to think about the situation. At the end of the day, part of me still really wants to push myself and just go for it -- I think I may regret it when I am older if I don't -- but in the meantime, I still have to work on squashing the paralyzing fear that has prevented me from doing it thus far!
Stay tuned for a new blog post in about two weeks as I tackle yet another item on my list -- singing karaoke with a live band and back-up singers at CityWalk's Rising Star (I'm heading there for my 27th birthday, ya'll!). Video evidence will be in abundance, so it will be a sight worth seeing!
0 comments:
Post a Comment