In 2011, on my first international trip alone, I went skydiving in Austria. I was on a tour with TopDeck, and it was one of our excursion options in both Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland and Tyrol, Austria. Despite having told my parents I *wouldn’t* go skydiving while I was in Europe, I couldn’t resist the opportunity of skydiving over the beautiful landscape (and my dad, to this day, still won’t talk about it).
I’m a bit afraid of heights, so I was unsure how I would handle skydiving, but it wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be. The anticipation was definitely the scariest part! The thing is, when you’re in free fall, you’re too far away from the ground for your brain to be able to process that you’re getting closer to it… Unlike with bungee jumping, there’s no ‘ground rush.’ Even without the ground rush, it was an incredible thrilling experience, and I would definitely go skydiving again sometime!
Oh, and I definitely didn’t tell my parents until after I did it 😛 Nothing like getting an email that says “I went skydiving. Don’t worry, I didn’t die. You can kill me when I get home if you want…. My tandem master had over 30000 jumps so it was fine! It was totally worth it too. It’s gorgeous here! I’ll show you my video when I get home if you’d like. Love you momma!!!!!!!!!”
I went diving with this company. They were extremely professional and safe, and I would recommend checking them out if you’re looking to jump out of a plane when you’re in Austria!
Amazing pictures! You look way too happy risking your life like that!
Know exactly what you mean when you say, “when you’re in free fall, you’re too far away from the ground for your brain to be able to process that you’re getting closer to it.” You have no idea that you’re falling hundreds of feet per minute, but you still get that awesome rush! Never felt as alive as when I went skydiving. Truly amazing experience that everyone should have at least once!