Fly Away

So my friends bought me a paraponting ride for my birthday. It's one of those thigns where people jump off a cliff with their parachutes already open, and I will be hooked on to somebody.

Very nice gift.

They don't know I'm afraid of heights though.

Anyway, I did it last Saturday and the experience is amazing.

I went to the place where they land and met the guy who I was going to strap up with. He gave me some though shoes and said, "Alright, let's go". We jumped onto a minibus, who took us - and some more parapontists - up to the Saleve. It was a 20 minutes ride. Up there he opened his parachute, hooked me up, gave me a helmet, and said "run over the cliff when I say so". I looked down and couldn't really see as the view was obscured by some clouds. But once the clouds moved I could see that we were quite high up. High. Up. Damn.

He hooked me up (just two carabiners to keep me attached to him) and said to run. I ran and before I knew it we were flying in the air. Actually it wasn't flying, it was more gliding. I didn't fell like falling at all, it was really gentle. We stayed closed to the cliff for the first couple of minutes, even venturing into the clouds. And then we started heading across, over the highway to the landing spot. I kept looking down and holding to anything I can, it was a bit scary for somebody who is afraid of heights. But fun as well.

When we approached the landing spot he started to do some crazy moves which feels like I'm in a rollercoaster. The difference is that in a rollercoaster you are attached to the ground somehow. This time I'm not.

It was a really amazing experience, something I will remember my whole life.

Thanks to my friends who got me this for my birthday.