Ready to Jump!

For as long as I can remember, I've wanted to go skydiving. When I was young, my sister, brother and I did a bungee jump in Tennessee from one of those 100 ft or so towers. I thought I'd wet my pants, but I did it anyway. For years after that, I told myself I'd one day jump from a plane. 

In the last few years, I've listened to my cousins' stories of jumping, watched their videos, and scrolled through their Facebook photos with envy. Everyone else I spoke to about wanting to go told me I was crazy, that they'd never jump out of a perfectly good airplane. My brother, who I've always considered to be a bit of an adventurer, told me he'd put on a squirrel suit and jump off a mountain, but NOT out of a plane.

Despite the lack of encouragement from many, I knew that relocating to China, which was a "jump" in and of itself, would be a chance for me to take the skydiving plunge. I figured that New Zealand was the place to go, and I set my heart on "one day."  

A few months ago, not long after I moved to China, I enrolled in a Groupon mailing list for Sydney, Australia. I had considered going there for Christmas and New Years, and as Sydney is a really expensive city, I thought checking out the offers on Groupon might give me a few more opportunities to do some things I'd not ordinarily spend the money on.  

Low and behold, in late September or early October, I saw a Groupon for skydiving with Adrenaline Skydive in Goulburn, about two hours from Sydney. I tried to purchase the Groupon shortly after seeing it posted, but it had already been removed from the site.

I emailed the company and they told me not to worry, that there would be more offers soon. I waited to see if anything else would come up, and it did, but when I saw it, I realized that the offer would expire before I'd get to Australia to use it. Again, I emailed the company and asked what they suggested. I told them it was a dream of mine to jump and that I would be bringing a friend along with me, hoping that would persuade them to help me out.

I didn't get a lot of friendly assistance from the company, but they told me to hang in there, that something else would come up. Again I saw an offer, and this time the expiration date would work. I tried immediately purchasing two (I had convinced my friend Molly to join me). Once the Groupon had been purchased, I thought the process for scheduling our jump would be an easy one...but I thought wrong.

I called Adrenaline several times (my ACN digital phone allows me to call anywhere in the world for a low, low price of $32 a month). I tried the number three or four times over the course of a few days and I was never able to get through. I called other numbers in Australia just to make sure it wasn't my phone. I called my phone provider and had them try the number, but no one ever had any luck. 

I began to worry that I'd purchased these jumps (a $370 value) and that I'd not be able to use them.  I emailed, Facebooked, and called again and FINALLY got through to someone, although I was aggravated by this time because the one response I got from the email was that there was "nothing wrong" with the phone and that "people call all the time."  I could have used a "we're so sorry for your inconvenience," or a "how can we help you," but that's not the Aussie way (see the next blog for more info here).  

Once the jump had been scheduled for December 30 (although we agreed on December 29), I felt better. I was excited to have that part sorted and all I had to do was figure out how I'd get from Sydney to Goulburn. This of course wasn't a big issue as I simply had to rent a car. 

I had been craving a good drive since I only get chauffeured around in China (that sounds great, but trust me, it's not as wonderful as it seems). Molly and I hired a little car on the Monday night before our jump and I drove us home, excited to be behind the wheel, even if it was on the "wrong" side of the car. My practice in Ireland prepared me for this so it wasn't an issue. Molly really wanted to try driving too, so she got behind the wheel later that night and then she and I split the trip to and from the skydiving site.  

On Tuesday morning, we got up really early so we could leave Bondi Beach (our awesome accommodations just outside of Sydney) and drive to Goulburn. We headed out of town by 6:30 a.m. as our jump was scheduled for 9.  I drove us down, Molly using the GPS on my phone to navigate from the passenger seat, and we pulled into the airport at 9:02. I was so worried we'd be late and not be able to go. 

When we arrived, there were several other cars parked in the lot and the doors to the place were closed. A gentleman by the name of John came and opened the door, apologizing for it being locked. He said he had to do that because the wind was so bad it was blowing the door open. Hmmm, come to think of it, it was pretty windy. The next thing he said was, "Did you get my message?" I looked at him sideways and responded, "No." Was he kidding, I'd tried countless times to reach them, when had they tried to reach me?

"I don't think you have my Australian number," I said, "I gave you my Chinese line and my email." After checking all of those (and having no messages or missed calls), I shrugged it off. "It's too windy today," he said, "we can't go up in this weather." Molly, who had been a bit nervous on the way down, looked relieved. I was pretty bummed.  

John told us we could wait around and see if the weather died down, to see if the wind would perhaps slow. I think Molly and I sat there two hours waiting, and the wind gusts continued to blow up to 30 knots. Even the professionals weren't going up with that force. 

I was pretty disappointed as the airport was to be closed the next two days for New Years and I knew I'd be leaving at the end of the week so there would be no rescheduling for me. I got a little jealous when John asked if Molly wanted to come back since she had more time in Sydney. I don't think she'll go without me at this point, but I think I might have been upset since it was something I really wanted to do.

In the past, when I've gotten upset, I've shed a few tears. That's actually an understatement as I recall losing my camera on my first trip to Europe when I was 15 and I distinctively remember hyperventilating on the beach in Italy. That may or may not have happened a few other times in my life, but the older I get, and the more I travel, the less things like that get to me. 

Don't get me wrong, I really wanted to jump. I'm upset I didn't get to, but there were no tears and there was no anger towards the people at Adrenaline or the weather forecaster or anyone. I truly believe all things happen for a reason, and for whatever reason, the Lord didn't want me jumping that day. I can't promise it's the end of my skydiving adventure though. I still have the Groupon, which John said he'd honor if I come back to Australia, and I still have the "itch" so to speak. I also got to play dress up in the jumpsuit so I'm thinking it'll be something I try to do in the future...I looked kinda cute in that thing. ;) Sorry Mom, no matter the situation in Sydney, I'm still ready to jump!