Jumping Out of a Plane

#4.

What better way to end my 20s than to jump out of a plane? I figured I’d go out with a bang. Or fall. Whatever. I did it. I actually jumped out of a plane. And it was scary as hell.

I met up with my sisters in Portugal and we drove to Portamaio where the airfield is—Algarve Skydiving. We had a bit of a late start, but fortunately it was just the 3 of us jumping that day and they were super nice about it.

I was up first—I am the birthday girl. Cornelia took us through a quick safety introductory lesson. After we got the motions down, I got into my jumpsuit and harness. After I was good to go, I crawled into the puddle jumper of a plane—a Cessna 182 to be exact, strapped myself into my tandem master—Bruno, and we took off.

We flew around the Southern coast of Portugal for about 20 minutes admiring the views. It was a beautiful and I actually saw the Western coast too—so both the Mediterranean and Atlantic were in my sight. I chatted with the other guys who were jumping and tried not to think about the fact that I was going to be free falling momentarily. Once we got to 10,000 feet—above the clouds—it was time to go!

We opened the door and my legs were hanging over the edge of the plane. All of a sudden I was screaming my way through the clouds. About 45 seconds later Bruno pulled the cord and we were floating our way down. We saw better views outside the plane of Portamaio, the neighboring towns, and the coastline—with my feet just dangling there. What did I do? I just enjoyed the view. Bruno did some crazy dizzying spirals in the air—where I really tried hard to not get sick. About 4-5 minutes later we made our way down and were landing in the airstrip where the twins and the other crew were waiting.

It was then Ambreleah’s turn, followed by Alysia. First time for each of us. We are now official sky divers! Would I go again. Definitely. Will I be scared the next time? Probably. But it will be an incredible adrenalilne rush, just like this one was.

30 Before 30—officially done!!