On that Sunday, the 26th January, from the time I woke up, Tom Petty’s first two lines of Free Fallin’ kept on buzzing inside my head like an ear worm.
And guess what? In another 4 hours, I was actually free falling, from an airplane, 14,000 feet high.
All I can say is that, it was like a high dosage of adrenaline, and my heart beat like a tremendous drum solo by Gavin Harrison.
Experiencing my first hot summer Australia Day, I did a Tandem sky dive with a professionally trained sky diver from 1300 SKY DIVE.
Upon reaching the site, we were required to fill out two forms, and were all set for the jump. An instructor was assigned to each of us (my wife and I), who helped us to dress up and gave us basic instructions required for the jump.
Then there was an announcement, that our 14 people carrier aircraft was waiting for us to board. Once on board, I tried my best to not think of the jump during the flight, and the mesmerising views during the flight were enough to help keep my mind off it.
Once we reached the jump height, a red beacon started flashing, which was an indicator that the jump was in the next minute. I have seen similar scenes from World War 2 documentaries, when American paratroopers were dropped on the western fronts of German occupied Europe. At least, no one was shooting at our aircraft.
In a minute, a green beacon started flashing, and the door of the aircraft was opened.
This is when I could literally hear my heart beating over the loud sound of the aircraft and gusting air.
Soon enough, I was made to sit with my legs hanging from the aircraft, something I usually do on tables and not aircraft doors.
In a second I was free falling.
I think the feeling can best be experienced than described. All I can say, is that it was something I had never planned or imagined doing, but after laying my feet on the ground, I felt so much more alive than I had for the previous 30 years of my life.
This post was written by Tathagata Chowdhury, or TC as he is known to the team.
In his spare time, he likes to write stories, poems and anecdotes about his travels on his blog Earth, Sky and Me.
For those that are interested in trying this experience for themselves, the tickets can be purchased directly from the 1300 SKY DIVE website, and at times from Groupon, with some discount.
Once tickets were purchased, we were required to book a jump slot with them, but of course, at our convenience. We needed to pay an extra 100 AUD, since we wanted our videos and photos to be captured (they use GoPro, and create amazing videos, so it’s worth it).
You can drive to the skydiving centre or book a free shuttle for a pick-up and drop. We opted for the latter.
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