“Merry Christmas Cartier, for your present we’re pushing you out of a plane” – quoting my parents on Christmas Day 2015.

First question that pops into most people’s minds when it comes to skydiving is ‘why on earth would you willingly jump out of a perfectly good plane?!’ Prior to this experience I can’t say I fully understood the want or need to do it either, all I knew was it was something I really wanted to try. Now that I’ve ticked it off the bucket list, I’m hooked!

It was an experience like no other. The closest us humans will ever come to flying.

Travelling in a plane is one type of flying, you experience the same views and concepts as you move through the air but actually free falling is something else.

At 14,000ft. with the ground below you rapidly approaching as you free fall before releasing your chute, skydiving is both exhilarating and terrifying. The mere concept that you are putting your life in the hands of your instructor and a parachute, which is fundamentally just a piece of material, is quite a deranging thought. Despite the dangers and risks that accompany this adrenaline fuelled activity, hundreds of us regularly take part in it and pay huge amounts of money for the opportunity to do it!

Plummeting through the air at what feels like a ridiculous speed with adrenalin racing through your body, you can often forget to stop, breathe and take in what is going on around you. The most vital piece of advice my instructor gave to me minutes before we jumped was to not let the adrenalin take over the experience. As you fall really let your senses take control – smell the fresh air, feel the cool touch on your skin as you descend through clouds, listen as the air rushes past you and through the chute, open your eyes and take in the endless picturesque  views, and as silly as it sounds let that air rush into your mouth and taste the freshness of it. Making use of your senses will benefit in the long run; it will play vital roles in you remembering the entire experience.

The views ↠ to die for.

The rush ↠ unreal.

The need to do it again ↠ 100%.

I honestly cannot recommend the experience enough. It is something I will definitely be doing again and again as many times as I can. I cannot thank my parents and awesome instructor – Jono – enough for playing such vital roles in my life-changing experience.

Company I jumped with: Skydive Australia

Instructor I jumped with: Jono

Check out the video of my jump below or head to my Youtube channel here.

Tip:

↠ GET A VIDEO AND/OR PHOTOS OF YOUR EXPERIENCE! Despite the price, I would without a doubt recommend paying to get the video and photos of your jump – you never know if you’ll do it again and for your first jump it’s so worth re-watching and re-living the experience!

↠ STOP AND TAKE IN THE MOMENT! Adrenalin can and will take over throughout the experience, it’s really important that you try to control it during your jump so that you can take in the moment and not let it get past you. Focus on everything happening, smell the air, feel the air on your skin, listen as you fall and soar through the air, and open your eyes and take in the views.