Jump Day

February 2nd, Tuesday morning, Brian and I woke up feeling weighted down, our feet too firmly planted on this earth. We craved a change, we needed to fly. 
"Hey should we go skydiving today?" "It's looking a little cloudy"...


So we moseyed on over to the main office at the Rainbow Lodge (our hostel) and before we had a chance to put our lives in order, in case there was a travesty.. we were in a shuttle to Taupo Tandem Skydiving at the Taupo Airport-- the skydiving capital of the world.

After little convincing, our expected 12,000 ft drop was bumped to 15,000 feet and our decision to avoid paying the big bucks for a dvd & photos... well we needed pictures, right?! 


So  I thought we would watch a DVD with serious instructions about how to NOT die. According to Brian, there was a DVD but I guess in my nervous stupor I never saw it... HA They zipped, tied and strapped us into red jumpsuits and in order to pass the time we played rock paper scissors and sang (and danced) along to the radio. 


Next thing we know, we were in a plane, taking off backwards.

How did it feel prior to falling?:


Brian: "I felt, anxious.. I wanted to get up in the air, stop waiting around, be over the edge and waiting to go.  Usually taking off in a plane makes me nervous but it didn't even phase me, and we took off backwards!"
Mai: "I was sitting right next to the door that's clear and slides up.. I was thinking that what I was about to do was absolutely ridiculous but there was no way I wasn't going to hop out of the plane after spending all that money."





So what was it like to fly?


Mai: "exhilarating, insane, breathtaking, heart-pumping, jelly legs, eye tearing, adrenaline rush, flying, floating, fear"
Brian: "All i could do was laugh because i thought it was too ridiculous."


What about when the parachute was pulled?


Brian:"Very serene- cool. You could catch your breath and take in the views."
Mai: "Agreed."


How was landing?


Mai: "SUPER easy. We just plopped right down."
Brian: "I was just worried about not being able to stand up, and I couldn't.. my legs buckled for a second- and then I immediately wanted to lay on the ground"


Do it again?


Brain: "Absolutely, I wanna take a class so I can jump by myself."
Mai: "For sure, the next time I don't want to worry about smiling for a picture."