If you know me well, you know I am totally and utterly petrified of heights. I can not stand the idea of falling, it’s quite painful how bad it is as I usually end up looking like a right fool in certain situations. I say that because although I’m terrified of heights – I love nothing more than being high up (like really high up) on a mountain, building, monument… looking out over a viewpoint.
But of course looking out over a city or countryside is only ever enjoyable if I know my safety isn’t at all comprimised. As the minute my brain registers any form of ‘risk’ my legs immediately start to shake and panic sets in. It is very much the fear of falling (and dying) that scares me.
With that in mind… I decided to try iFly indoor skydiving.
Why? Well because skydiving always sounds fun but a completely impossible task for me to complete, so doing it indoor (with very minimal risk) sounded like a fair trade.
What I wasn’t sure is how much funny could it be floating around in a tunnel? Surely it must get boring…? Isn’t the whole point of skydiving to check out the view?
It was time we found out.
After a day of back and forth in my mind on whether I was scared or nervous Mo and I arrived at iFly indoor skydiving where we greeted by a very friendly reception team. Standard procedure for these kind of activities, we went through our waivers and signed all the relevant forms. Luckily it’s all electronic, super fast and not overly complicated. The experience is open to children and adults, which was impressive kids from as young as three can have a go.
Then it was straight into the safety presentation, a useful video went through what we should expect and it was followed by our instructor for the evening, Sarah popping in to introduce herself and to talk us through the main take aways from the footage we just saw. She tested us out with a few positions and once she was happy that we all got it, it was on to wardrobe…
I’m always a bit cautious when you have to wear jumpsuits and items that have come straight off another person, conscious of smells… but thankfully these all felt fresh and not overly used (thankfully) and for once I felt like I had a size that fit me well! Ear plugs, goggles and helmet in place, Sarah gave us the once over and then bam it was straight into the tunnel.
We each had two minutes to get in and do our thing, which I kind of thought, wow thats not long – but it was a good amount of time! It meant we all got a couple of turns and it didn’t feel like we were waiting round for ages. Sarah was brilliant, she’d been an instructor for a year and a half now, after falling in love with the weightless experience.
We also had the fantastic experience of going all the way to the top of the flight chamber with the help of our instructor obviously, which was seriously amazing!! Unfortunately the pictures aren’t too great, however I have got some video footage which I’m hoping to share.
Some tips:
- If you have long (or short) hair make sure its all secure. Mine was starting to stray through my helmet holes, creating a new quite fetching helmet hair look (see below).
- Although I knew what all the hand signals meant, I completely forgot to pay attention to them when I was in the tunnel! So be aware of what your instructors telling you, even if it means going against what you think.
As well as being able to just visit and have a go, iFly do have a ‘wings’ programme. The Earn your wings system contains six levels which rewards your progress, starting from white to yellow, blue, green, purple, and red wings. It’ll help you gain the skills need to master the art of indoor skydiving, all the way up to an advanced level.
After our flight, with feet firmly back on the ground iFly had put on a great spread for us. Unfortunately Mo and I were fasting that day so we headed back out, but it looked so good! (I couldn’t resist taking pics – it gave me comfort).
From start to finish I was grinning like a Cheshire Cat (so much so that I did stop paying attention to what Sarah was telling me). It was such a fantastic experience! When I had mentioned to our friends that we were going, they had warned us that we’d fall in love with it, as they have been numerous times since their first flight. And they were right, we absolutely loved it and the fact that they have a skydiving virtual reality experience means that I can experience those views I’ve always wanted – whilst in the safe hands of Sarah and her team.
Can’t wait to fly again!
*** Big thanks to iFly Indoor Skydiving for inviting us to this experience, and to Sarah for taking such good care of us whilst we were there. Of course all thoughts and opinions are my very own and have not been influenced and I am in no way ever obliged to write a review unless I wholeheartedly recommend! (which I do) ***
