In The Words Of R-Kelly...

Do you remember being a kid and dreaming about being able to fly? Being Superman or being taken for a flight with him like Lois Lane?

On our last day in Rio Chris and I realised our childhood dream and flew.
I had been feeling like it had been a little while since I had pushed my comfort zone, and I was running out of time because the trip is almost over, so I booked us in for a tandem hangglide with a company called Superfly.

I thought it was a great idea until I got to the place we would be jumping from. It's a cliff over a thousand meters above Rio called Piedra Bonita which means Pretty Stone, and yes it was pretty but it was also bloody high!!!!
A girl was about to jump when we arrived and I started to feel a little sick as I watched her run down a ramp and off the cliff into nothingness.
It wasn't long before we were strapped inn and we got some instruction...well...all they tell you is that need to run and don't stop until well after you've run out of ramp. Then you practice running alongside your instructor ONCE and try not to get paranoid, I mean it's just running right? WRONG! The most simple things like running and breathing stop being automatic when you are scared and everything has to be conscious. So suddenly your legs feel like lead and running seems like astrophysics, you get paranoid "what if I trip?" "what if I stop at the end of the ramp?" "what if I throw up over the instructor?".

Anyway I went first, I had one hand on the instructors back and the other strapped in. A guy taps his feet hard on the ground to signal to the instructor that the wind is right, and he suddenly shouts "RUN!!!!". I ran with all my might, trying hard to look at the horizon and not the ramp which is running out quickly, I keep running and suddenly I feel a tug and I'm horizontal to the ground, I'M FLYING!!!!!!!

It is the most amazing feeling honestly, it is so peaceful and quiet and all you can feel is the breeze on your face. You feel light and high as a kite (heheheeeee). The instructor tells me that this is why birds sing and I now understand how people get addicted to this, it is increadible guys!
Chris loved it too, I watched him land gracefully shortly after me.

So, if you do remember that childhood dream, remember that it's not too late to make it come true.

Sam