Blog post written by Marissa Klein
TravelMuse has had much to celebrate in the past month: the two-year anniversary of the company’s founding, the re-design of the TravelMuse Planner and the launch of the Yaycations Calculator. To celebrate our accomplishments and all of the team’s hard work, we wanted to do something out of the ordinary: indoor skydiving.
Last Thursday afternoon (Apr. 30), we cleared out the office and headed to iFly in Union City, Calif., for indoor skydiving in its vertical wind tunnel. First, we watched a video and learned the hand signals: legs bent, legs straight, chin up and, of course, “relax!” Next came the suiting up: full nylon flight suits, kneepads, goggles and helmets for all. Finally, we took turns flying with an instructor’s guidance for a minute or two at a time.
So what does indoor skydiving feel like? It’s hard to say, since it’s difficult to equate it to anything other than what it is: hovering on your stomach above a wire grate that is not unlike a giant hairdryer-like turbine. We’d all joked before the trip that this would be the closest any of us would get to real skydiving, but I think after the indoor version went so well, there may even be a few among us who are ready to try the real thing!
Although Kurtis thought a fear of heights would compel him to stay on the ground, once he saw how safe and controlled it would be to fly in the tunnel, he was persuaded to give it a try, and had a great time. Kids as young as 3 can try iFly, and after seeing how much Russ’ daughter loved flying during our trip, Kevin and Dana plan to return with their own kids.
Our iFly outing was great, and we would definitely recommend it for group and corporate events—we can even relive it with the DVDs we got to take home with us! We wrapped up our celebration with beers and hot wings at Jack’s Brewing Company in Fremont before heading home to work the tangles out of our hair and call it an early night. Spending three minutes in a wind tunnel really takes a lot out of you!
Here’s to two amazing years, and on for many more!
Where's the picture of you Fiona? =)