Yes, I did. I did it. I jumped out of an airplane and it was amazing.
I did a tandem sky dive with GoJump Oceanside. What an experience.
I started out yesterday June 2, but the weather just wasn’t cooperating. Clouds were too low, so I had to reschedule or wait around and hope it would clear. I rescheduled. As it was, it never did clear and we would have waited around for nothing.
So here it is Monday June 3rd and it’s looking grim again. I was scheduled for 1:00 pm and at around 2:30 in the afternoon, there was a break. Little by little, the sky opened up. My original jumping buddy hadn’t shown yet. So while everyone was getting into their harnesses, Rob, this guy from the UK, who Hubby and I met the previous day, said he’d help set me up in the meantime.
Getting into my harness was easy and not unlike my rock climbing harness with the exception of the shoulder portion, which he cinches up for me. All the while, he’s telling me what would be expected of me, which was much more than I thought it would be.
Once airborne and it’s time to jump, I was needing to put my legs over the side, tuck them under the body of the plane, lean in to my partner, hold onto my straps and go. I had to ask him a couple of times, to make sure I was getting what he was saying through his British brogue. So, I think I repeated it a couple of times back to be sure. I was only nervous I might forget one of the four simple things he’d told me. lol Surprisingly, I was more excited than scared or nervous. Perhaps, it was because I’d always had flying dreams as a kid. It somehow seemed like a natural thing to do.
Then we did our walk to the plane and of course, I had to do the “cheesecake pose”.
Betty Boop, I’m not.
As it turns out Rob got to be my jumping buddy after all. It was nice to have gotten someone we had already built a rapport with earlier on.
Rob and the rest of the crew were amazing. Friendly and helpful. They recommend, no, they insist we take our jewelry off and/or any loose items off our person, but of course, they can’t force you. I debated on taking my wedding ring off. I sort of felt like it was on pretty tight.
So here we are on the plane, getting ready. The girl across the aisle from me and I were laughing and making faces but as soon as the door opened, the wind coming in made them for us.
We climbed for about 15 mintues.
At 13,000 feet, we’re off! Cowabunga!
It was exhilarating. I still can’t believe I did it.
And of course the face distortion shot. And, the chute deployment.
At first, it was just so surreal.
I was trying to remember if there was something I was forgetting. My ears suddenly popped and ouch that hurt, so Rob told me to pinch my nose and blow. That helped.
Then, suddenly my tummy started to flip flop. I got motion sick – squeamish.
That, fortunately didn’t occur until the chute opened and we were nearing the landing point. By the way, the chute opening did not jerk, like I imagined it would. It was quite smooth. What got me is the swirling around as we maneuvered into the drop zone. It’s all about timing for so many jumpers to land near one another, so we spun around a few times to get situated but, it was like a roller coaster with way too many loop de loops. I was thankful I’d had a light lunch.
And, here we are. Safe and sound.
Hubby did not do this with me. He actually didn’t want to but he did want to be there. Unfortunately, he had to work. As soon as he got off, he came running down but still missed it by about 10 minutes. Fortunately, for me it was a good thing, because shortly after we’d landed, I noticed my wedding ring missing off my finger and I thought crap he will absolutely kill me.
We looked around on the ground as though we actually thought we’d find it. I wanted to die. I had no clue. Then, I remembered handing over a baggy to the girl behind the counter. Did I?
Yes, I did.
P.S. Oh my, was my hair a tangle when I went to brush it later that night. I thought I’d pull every strand out getting the gnarls out. Thank heaven my hair isn’t that long.
What an adventure! That is marvelous that you did it and didn’t lose your ring.
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I know. I knew he’d a had a hissy fit. lol
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I can hear your accent there.
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Great accomplishment. Wow how exciting and fun. Really really happy about the wedding ring not getting lost. Thank you God. Your pictures are awesome
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It was fun. My 6 year grandson is chomping at the bit to do it, but he’s still too small. Maybe on my 80th I’ll go again. That’ll give him time to grow up. lol He’ll be 13 then
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Wonderful! Wonderful! And, it was a good thing to delay it by a day, because…ready for this…because … this is exciting… because … I can’t wait to tell you… because June 3, 1965 was the anniversary of the first American space walk. What a coincidence. Congratulations to you for a marvelous accomplishment!👍😊
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woohoo! Such timing.
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WTG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I feel like a tortoise though, slow to recover. Nausea is finally gone. lol Next time I’m taking Dramamine.
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Glad to hear there will be a next time!
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Congrats. That is an amazing feat most of wouldn’t even dare think about.
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Thank you! I was surprised to see how many people were clamoring to go up!
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I assure you I wasn’t one of them. lol
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Wow…so brave…loved reading your post. So exciting for you!!
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Thank you! I love your stopping by!
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Wow! I can’t tell you how much I loved reading this. How exciting! I’m so happy you got to do this.
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Thanks! Me too! It was definitely a “bucket list” item.
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You are great! And you described your flight so well, it was like jumping with you. Congratulations!!
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Thank you! I’m so glad you liked it.
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Wow! WTG! I’d love to do this one day.
Alison
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Wow! Such an incredible experience it must have been 💚💚🙈🙈
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Hats off to you! What an experience. Thanks for taking me along every step of the way because I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to conquer my fear of heights enough to do this (even though I really, really want to). I’m so happy you found your ring! Whew–my tummy flopped just reading it. I’m so happy you had such an exhilarating experience! Dawn
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How brave, most wouldn’t even consider
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Thank you for reading my posts. I hope you’ve enjoyed them.
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Certainly did keep up the good work 👍
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