While experiencing the unique and rewarding experience of living abroad, some of our students decide to fulfill another Bucket-List item: skydiving! Student Ambassador, Christian (Switzerland), shares his amazing journey with us below!
Before You Go
“In Los Angeles, you can do a lot of different fun activities with your friends. For this week, my friends and I picked a really special one – we went skydiving! In this blog, I want to tell you how my experience was and what you should think of before jumping out of an airplane from 12,500 feet above the ground.
Skydiving School
First of all, we had to decide which skydiving school we should pick. After some research, we came to the conclusion that Perris Skydiving Company (no advertisement!) was the best option considering what we were looking for. It is located not too far from Los Angeles, has great reviews and is not too expensive. It’s about a one-and-a-half-hour drive from EC Los Angeles, so I would recommend that you rent a cheap car for that day to get out there. Right now, they have a summer special, which means you only pay $179 for one Tandem Skydive from 12,500 feet. If you would like, you can also pay an additional fee of about $80 for somebody to record your whole jump.
Be Prepared
My advice for you is that you should go there early no matter what time you are signed up for your jump. Out there the weather can change all the time. If the weather is bad, they will place you on a waiting list. So, the earlier you get there the more likely you will jump out of an airplane that day. If bad weather conditions are not changing at all, they will give you a full refund.
Just prepare to spend your whole day at Perris Airport. But don’t worry, they have a restaurant and even a pool to hang out there! Make sure you wear comfortable clothes and everything will be fine.
Point of No Return
Once you are done with all the paperwork, they will call out your name. Things are getting serious. 😉 They make you wear a fancy jumpsuit (see picture) and your instructor carefully explains the whole procedure to you. After that it takes only a short time and you are sitting in one of their airplanes. At this moment, everybody seemed quite relaxed and didn’t really realize what was going to happen in just a few short moments. But this changed quickly. 15 minutes later as we reached our altitude, the back door was opening at about 12,000 feet. Everybody’s pulse went from normal to 170 BPM – that was the point of no return!
A Surreal View
After seeing one after another falling out of our airplane it was finally my turn. You have to kneel at the edge of the door, then your instructor suddenly pushes you out. On the edge, it is very scary but as soon as you are falling you realize that it is actually more beautiful than scary. From 12,500 feet, you have a stunning view over the area! A few seconds later the parachute will open and you glide for a few minutes more, to enjoy the gorgeous landscape. On the ground again, you can take photos with your instructor and they will give you your certificate and a free t-shirt.
All in all, it was an unbelievable experience and I would recommend it to everyone, no matter what! And believe me, if you are afraid of heights you can still do it. When you are up there, everything appears so surreal and unreal, that you don’t even realize how high above the ground you are!”
— Christian, Student Ambassador (Switzerland)
Find out more about Cambridge English in Los Angeles
Post Edited By: Ashley Lee