Tandem Skydiving in San Diego

Falling at 135 miles per hour is what some people call a good time.  I apparently am one of those people.  This is a step-by-step introduction as to what sky diving in San Diego, CA, USA was like for me.

For my 32nd birthday Tilly hooked me up with a tandem skydiving jump from 13,000 feet.  In San Diego, that means you get to see across the Mexico border without your life being threatened.  That sounded good to me, so we went for it.

After a few cancellations because of rain and wind, we finally got to jump a few days after my birthday.  My good friend, Rob, went with us and jumped for the first time as well.

Step 1: Sign your life away.

It’s amazing the waivers you have to sign to be able to do this.  After signing all the legaleese which basically says if you die it’s your fault for being an idiot and jumping out of a plane 2 miles above the earth, you get to wait.  They usually do this to make you so that you’ll crap your pants before you get hooked to another person.

Step 2: Watch as others potentially fall to their death.

This step is where the men become boys as we watch the falling bodies from heaven.  You stand there, watching people get thrown from a moving plane and hope that they remembered their parachutes.  It seems like every person who you watch falling (no, not floating) has forgotten to pull the cord and will fall to their imminent death 2 miles below… no wait, only 1 mile now… yup, they’re gonna die.

And just at the last minute (or so it seems), the parachute comes out. Phew.  Well, if they lived, I suppose I could do it.

Step 3: Get into a jumpsuit.

Why? Because in December it actually is kinda cold, even in San Diego.  I actually wore gloves.  And let me tell you, brrrrrr… my hands could have been stuck in the snow for an hour bare for all I knew by the time we were done.  Oh, and these jump suits are pretty, too.  Hott I tell ya.

Step 4: Do what the instructor tells you.

This is the part where you go through extensive training before you jump.  It goes something like this:

Instructor: Ok you pee-ons, get on the ground and give me 20 pushups.

** Everybody hits the deck **

Instructor: Jeeze you guys are gullible. Ok, but seriously, get on the ground and pull your legs back and your head back so just your stomach is touching the ground.

** We all try, but those of us over 30 snap hips and rotator cuffs **

Students: *Grunts*

Instructor: Next up for you Nancies is some Yoga lessons.

As we all pretend we can pull our legs back farther than they really go and fake that it’s not killing us, the instructor tells us we’re done.  Now that we’ve had our yearly workout of all of 17 and half seconds, we’re just about ready to go.

I think they do this part just to humiliate everyone.  It looks like you’re having sex with the ground, but hey, you’re gonna die, remember?  So whatever.

Step 5: Wait around nervously for the plane to land.

Step 6: Get in the airplane.

Now, if you’re anything like Rob, you’ll forget your goggles at this point.  I don’t really suggest doing that, but Rob rides motorcycles and pretends he’s not a girly man like the rest of us.  His instructor brought him a pair, but I think Rob just threw them off his head as soon as he jumped to prove that he is a man.

So, we get in the airplane and hang out. This is where you make as many cliche and nervous jokes that you can about being killed today.

The pilot does some awesome trick where he goes completely vertical but you stick to the seat like velcro hanging on for dear life.  I mean, if you’re gonna go, you’d rather be pushed out, right?  Not just fall out.  Hey pilot. This has nothing to do with you, ok?

Step 7: Pee your pants. (You should have already crapped in Step 2.)

Step 8: Get comfy with  your skydiving instructor.

Remember where he tore your pride down?  Yea, well, it’s about to get worse.  You sit on your instructor’s lap, hoping he’s just not that in to you.  He clips about 127 metal clips from your back to his chest.  At least it sounds like that.  I am assuming it’s only one because if he doesn’t like your breath or something… just eat a tic tac before you get to this step.

Step 9: Watch the camera person fling themselves James Bond-like out the door and hang onto the plane.

During this step, just focus on that camera and how amazing it is that that person is hanging onto a plane at 13k feet in the air because the moment you don’t, you’re going to lose more bodily fluids.  I looked down for about 1/2 second and just about threw up.  Don’t look down.  Camera guy or horizon.  Camera guy or horizon.  Just keep telling yourself that.

Scream!

Step 10: Get lobbed out the door.

They tell you in your 30 seconds of training that you’re going to rock back and forth two times and then go on the 3rd.  That seems simple and pretty intuitive. Everything you do is on the 3rd one.  You will somehow forget how to count to 3 and get chucked out the door flipping around, seeing the underside of the plane you just left.

Step 11: Freak out.

Step 12: Try to remember your sex with the ground training.

If you don’t do this step, your instructor will knock you out cold.  Don’t flail your arms about. Do the sex with the ground thing and hold tight.

Step 13: Breathe.

This one is tricky.  I’m not sure how many of you have ever gone 135 mph, but that alone is freaky.  If you want to try something fun, try sticking your head out the window like a dog and breathe in.  Just don’t do this on a gravel road or while you are the one driving, but, that’s what it feels like.

Step 14: Relax and enjoy the flight.

This is the funnest part.  Everything up to this is humiliating and nerve raccking.  But this 90 seconds is worth it all.  Look around, twist and turn, have fun.

Step 15: Get your junk yanked up to your stomach when the dude on your back pulls the ripcord.

‘Nuf said.

Step 16: Have a convesation with the guy who is now your best friend because you’re alive, he’s alive, and you just went through a near-death experience.

Step 17: Land on your feet.

This one is hard because you’re probably shaking and didn’t know it.  But, if I can do it, so can you. Stand up and be counted among the living again. Don’t land on your butt.

Step 18: Go to lunch and when the waitress declares that she’ll be serving you today, exclaim “I don’t care! I just jumped out of a frickin’ plane!”

Step 19: Sleep next week when the adrenaline wears off.

To do this all properly, I highly suggest the very experienced and awesome people at this Skydiving School in San Diego.

Skydiving in San Diego from nate ritter on Vimeo.

Nate and I are really excited about 2009.  We both have so many goals for this year and even though it’s only 14 days into 2009, we can see some of them taking shape already.  Our goals vary from traveling (obviously) to finances to eating better to education.  Now please take note that these are NOT new year’s resolutions!  These are goals that we set for ourselves, our marriage, and our life.  They’re things we strive for regardless of the time of year or what happens to be trendy and “all the rage”.

This past year was a fun one.  Our major goal was to move to France which technically we accomplished… if only for a few months!  But we also did so many other things that I don’t want to forget:

• We went to spring training for the San Diego Padres and the Seattle Mariners in Arizona
• We took a boat to Catalina Island off the coast of Orange County
• We saw our first Cirque du Soleil show in Del Mar
• We spent a weekend in Vegas (seriously, what’s the draw? Hated it!)
• Took a road trip along the west coast… Mexico to Canada… in our Mini Cooper
• Nate went skydiving for his 32nd birthday
• Did the usual Southern California day trips: Disneyland, California Adventures, Sea World and the San Diego Zoo.

It was a great year but I’m hoping this year will be full of more “permanent” opportunities such as buying a home (after the market levels out) and building our retirement accounts.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and happy new year to all of you!

(And don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about my Europe Journal.  I’ll post the next entry soon.)

We accidentally slept in until 1:30!  I guess we are both still recovering from jet lag.  We didn’t have much planned for the day so it’s not that big of a deal but it’s our last day in London and I still wanted to squeeze in as much as possible.  Nate wanted to go to Hyde Park and see if we could catch the action at Speaker’s Corner.  So after we got up and got ready we headed to Victoria Station to catch the 4 different tubes that would get us to the park.  We stopped at the Marble Arch first and took some photos.  The Marble Arch is where people have been executed for hundred’s of years (luckily not anymore).  Before the prisoner was killed they had a chance to say anything they wanted before they were beheaded or hanged.  Hence what turned into Speaker’s Corner.  So every Sunday afternoon the corner is full of people speaking their mind.  Today was no different.  The people that want to speak (or yell) set up a little box or stepladder to stand on and usually they set up a sign or banner of the topic/view/religion/whatever that they want to talk about.  It seems like it usually ends up being a debate (or yelling match) between the speaker and the crowd. Most people were debating about religion or politics.  Some people give out brochures on different views or organizations to join and some were even giving out free hugs!  It was fun to be among the yelling and shouting people and share in a tradition hundred’s of years old. After the fun at the park we headed to a cafe, had a late lunch and read for the rest of the afternoon.

Marble Arch

Debating Religion

Free Hugs

We’re now sitting in the salon (aka sitting room) of our hotel.  I’m writing and Nate’s emailing and researching cell phones for use in Europe.  We leave for Nice, France tomorrow morning and have to leave the hotel at 2:45am!  We have to catch the 3:15am train to Gaetwich Airport to catch our flight at 6:30am.  If I had known how early we had to leave the hotel, I would have booked a later flight!  We’re both a bit foggy still and I don’t think tomorrow’s going to make it any better.

Cheers!

Guards at Buckingham Palace

Today was much more laid back compared to yesterday.  We slept in a little, had some breakfast at our hotel and then walked to Buckingham Palace.  The changing of the guard happened at 11:20 and even though we got there at 11:00 it was already crazy.  There were people everywhere!  It was insane.  Police on horses were keeping the crowds in check.  There was a parade with a band, there was yelling and saluting and then the guards just stood there…. DOING NOTHING!  How boring!  Why is this such a big deal?  Why do so many people get there hours ahead of time to watch guards walking in and then standing?  Nate and I kept waiting around thinking that there’s gotta be more to this thing than just standing.  But there wasn’t, so we left.

We decided to head to the Tower of London.  The tubes (subways) between the Palace and the Tower were shut down for repairs so we had to walk.  On the map it didn’t look too far but it took us almost two hours to get there.  Even though it took so long, it was an unexpectedly beautiful day and it was a wonderful opportunity to get some great pictures.  We explored alleys, took pictures of architecture and enjoyed a cappuccino and tomato sandwich in the shadow of an old church.

The White Tower

The Tower of London has been a backdrop to many of the novels I have read about London’s history.  I am absolutely fascinated by England’s history, especially the 1500’s during the time of King Henry VIII.  It was surreal to be there.  It not at all what I expected it to be like.  In fact, I was having a hard time even remembering the history and stories because it just didn’t fit with what my imagination had thought up.  There was a guard/tour guide that gave us a tour of the grounds and told us a lot of history of each place inside the walls.  It was great to have him tell us the stories and refresh my memory.  The Palace, also known as the White Tower, is not as palace-like or grand as I would have thought.  The grounds weren’t pretty and it was extremely small compared to what my imagination had painted.  The Bloody Tower wasn’t any bigger than a 2-story Starbucks and didn’t have an extensive history like I thought it would.  The only things that I thought were somewhat fitting to what I had imagined was the chapel and the house that King Henry VIII built for Anne Boleyn.  When I walked into the chapel I felt like I was entering history.  Even the air and the sunlight streaming through the slits in the stone walls felt ancient.  Anne Boleyn’s house was off to the west of the palace built in a quaint cottage style that she loved so much.  Anne was executed on the green in front of her home and next to the ancient chapel for treason against the king (although it was most likely the king’s madness that drove him to declare her death sentence).  They have built a memorial where she was executed and it takes my breath away when I look around me and realize that these buildings where the last thing she saw before she was killed.

Anne Boleyn's House

I had a wonderful time wandering through the grounds and touring the Palace.  Kings, Queens, knights, commoners, lords, ladies, prisoners and executioners have all walked upon this dirt.  Have looked at this view.  Have touched these walls.  It was a very moving experience for me and I’m so glad I got to see it for myself.

After our time at the Tower we hopped on a bus (instead of walking back) and headed for Victoria Station.  Nate has a business contact in London, Ande, and we met up with him at the station.  We walked around some of the neighborhoods and ended up at a fancy little restaurant in Chelsea.  I ordered Ahi tuna and a glass of wine.  While Nate and Ande talked business and computers, I relaxed and reflected on our life these past couple weeks.  I’m loving this time but I’m really aprehensive about living in France.  I keep thinking about it and how we don’t know the language.  We don’t know the culture.  We don’t know anyone.  Sometimes I think we are absolutely crazy and other times I’m impressed by our adventuresome spirit.  I know that total immersion into a culture and a languare is the best way but the fact that we don’t know anyone terrifies me.  It’s not like we’re going to be living with a host family that will help us.  It’s not like when I lived in Sweden and was surounded by people that were in the same boat as me.  It’s just me and Nate and no one else. I’m going to be relying on him like never before as he helps me step out of my comfort zone.

London is amazing!  After we landed at Heathrow Airport at about 3:00pm local time, we got our packs from baggage, went through customs and headed to our hotel.  We bought a 7-day subway card and followed the signs for Victoria Station.  Our hotel, Elizabeth House, in in Westminster and is a very quaint rickety old building.  The staff have been wonderful and helpful.  Our room is a tiny 9×8 room with 2 twin beds which we have pushed together.  The walls are a dirty white on the top half and a very strange shade of lavender along the bottom.  There’s a small sink in the corner with a mirror and a perfect little window overlooking the backs of a bunch of row houses.  It’s fun to peak in the windows and see people in their daily lives.

After checking in, we went for a walk to stretch our legs from the long flight.  We meandered through charming streets passing cute cafes and pubs full of business people.  We stopped for some dinner and then headed back to our room for some much needed sleep.

Today has been a busy day packed as full as we could get it.  We bought tickets for a hop-on-hop-off bus tour and rode the entire bus route.  In the 2 1/2 hours it took us to everywhere we wanted to see and we learned a ton about London.  (As cheesy as touristy activities are, you can learn so much from them.)  I got a really good layout for the city and can now navigate fairly well.  Once the bus tour was over, we hopped onto a boat tour which was included in the price of the bus tour.  We took a 1 1/2 hour boat ride down the Thames… from “Big Ben” to Greenwich.  It was a wonderful trip and the guide was really entertaining.  Once in Greenwich, we hiked up to the Conservatory and where the median of the world is longitude 0.  We went through the free museum and learned about charting and stars and navigating the oceans.  We also learned about time and how they make clocks.  This is where people always feel obligated to take the “I’m standing on both sides of the world” picture.

We took the boat tour back to Big Ben and set off to see if we could get tickets to “Phantom of the Opera”. It’s one of Nate’s favorite plays and I have never seen it so we thought that seeing it in London would be the greatest way to see it. Unfortunately, it was sold out for the next week so we decided to get tickets to the 7:30 show of “Les Miserables”. A very good runner up to “Phantom”. After grabbing a dinner of fish and chips at the Silver Fox in Trafalgar Square we headed to the theatre. What an experience! It was so much fun to be at a theatre in London and to be part of the crowd. Some people were dressed casually and others were glamorously attired with evening gowns and tuxedos. Nate and I felt slightly out of place in our hooded sweatshirts and sneakers but once the lights went down it didn’t matter what people looked like. We sat about 15 rows back from the stage and it was a perfect. The play was great and the actors were amazing. Nate had to buy two cups of coffee during the breaks to stay awake but I was riveted by the energy and excitement of it all.

Nate’s asleep as I write this… it’s been a long day. I”m trying to just take it all in and appreciate every moment– even the ones where we’re sleeping.

A little background if you’re just joining us: Nate and I decided to move to Europe in 2005. We both love to travel and instead of trying to do a whirlwind tour of Europe crammed into a few weeks, we decided it would be great to rent a flat for a year and use it as a home-base while we traveled. We could go back home to do laundry, catch up on sleep and Nate could work for another week or so (on the internet) and then head back out to continue exploring Europe. It took us a lot of planning and dreaming and saving to finally make it happen. We decided to move to the south of France since the climate is so similar to San Diego and would be a relaxing place to return to after our traveling. We moved to France on May 21, 2008 with the plan of returning in a year. But plans don’t always work out how we intend as you’ll soon see.

Journal Entry: Wednesday, May 21, 2008 2:30pm LAX

Nate and I are at LAX waiting for our flight to London. We have been in a packing frenzy for the past 5 days. Even though Nate and I aren’t pack-rats, we somehow managed to accumulate a lot of stuff while living in San Diego. But all that is now behind us as we eagerly await our flight.

Nate is creating a “Europe” distribution email list right now so we can send everyone a goodbye email with our contact and blog information. I’ve been chatting on the phone with friends and family and just taking it all in. I can’t believe that the day is finally here. That we’re actually sitting here with a boarding pass in-hand that will get us on a plane headed to Europe! This adventure is going to be amazing!

Our plane that will take us to Europe

9:05pm

We’re sitting on the plan right now and we’re at about 20,000 feet and somewhere over the California desert. I can’t believe that we’re here! That we are actually sitting on a plane headed for London. It’s surreal and so crazy! Nate prayed right before we took off and dedicated this trip, our year and our adventures to God. It’s going to be a life changing experience and this is only the very tiniest beginning. I’m moved to tears every time I think about what we’re doing. I’m not sure if they are tears of sadness for the chapter we just closed or tears of joy for the great adventure ahead. Maybe a bit of both. One thing that is probably the best thing about all of this… Nate’s coming with me and we’ll go through this all together.

Nate & I on our Honeymoon in Kauai

Next week Nate and I are heading to Hawaii.  We rented a house with some of Nate’s college roommates and their wives/fiances on the island of Kauai.  It’s going to be eight days of sunshine, beaches, hiking, boating, luaus and pure bliss.  Now some of you might be wondering why Hawaii would be so great when I live in San Diego with the beach at my doorstep and 75-80 degree weather in November.  My answer would have to be… it’s the people we’ll be going with (okay! and a smidge of the tropical heaven away from home).

Chris, Aaron, Johnny, Steve, Nate

When Nate and I started dating waaaay back in 2001, he was in college and he was living with this great group of guys: Aaron, Chris, Johnny and Steve (and Levi the downstairs neighbor).  There was always something going on at their apartment and it was the place to be.  People were always coming and going and there was always something to do or someone to talk with.  I spent many, many hours there and became great friends with all the roommates.  They’ve all been a part of mine and Nate’s relationship… they’ve seen the best and worst of us.  I count them as dear friends.  Over the past seven years they have all gotten married (minus one but he’s engaged) and even though I’ve spent time with all the girls, I don’t feel like I actually know them all that well.  Hopefully by the end of this trip we’ll have created memories and a bond that will last a lifetime.  Lifetime friends are the best kind

And maybe us girls will have to plan an annual trip like the boys’ annual snowboarding trip.  Hmmm… a girls’ spa weekend has a great ring to it.

Houston Skyline (by telwink via Flickr)

This week we took a flight to Houston, Texas, a city neither Tilly nor I had been to yet. The purpose was two-fold.

First, our friends Lach and Kari invited us to come early to have an opportunity to teach the Public Information Officers in the Houston/Galveston area about social media (all those sites like FaceBook, Flickr, BrightKite, and Twitter. Of course, I also promoted CrisisWire, our current project of choice.

Lach and Kari were kind enough to drive us around and let us stay at their place. They are fantastic and awesome people to hang out with. I can’t say enough good things about them.

We were also in town for HeroCamp, which was a fantastic event. It was very challenging and I think we learned a ton during this whole process. We did actually get a great product idea rolling and the next steps mapped out. We’ll be using Akoha (with their permission of course) to create a hero deck, hopefully inspiring the kids to do heroic things and thinking about making them a habit.

During our time here, we’ve had some amazing food. Tapas, tacos, and more. Great stuff. I recommend Houston highly, especially with a cell phone that can check Yelp out while you’re here.

Here’s a brief summary of what my business is all about:

I offer an alternative to submitting press releases.  Instead of writing about the 5 W’s of a company and hoping that a newspaper or journalist will pick up the story, I am giving companies a more effective way to reach their target demographic.  By writing a tailored story about the company I can bring to light facts that would normally have been forgotten and make a lasting impression on the readers.  In addition to writing this story, I will research which publications and websites would be best to get published in and will reach their target demographic.

Please check out my website at tillyritter.com and watch my company unfold.

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I would love any advice, ideas or support you may have for me.  Also, if you’re interested in me writing a story for your company, please email me at tilly@tillyritter.com