I'm sat on the grass, next to the vast swathes of sand of the Namibian desert, at the skydive centre!!!! Yes, me, who is afraid of heights and taking off in planes, has just jumped out of a little plane and skydived from 10,000ft.
We're in Swakopmond which is meant to be the adventure capital of Namibia and so I decided, having never had the desire to do this before, that I would like to do a jump. I then changed my mind once the Weiss beer I'd consumed at the Brauhaus had worn off. I then changed my mind again and before I could think about it more, I'd booked my spot. Tony being the supportive husband he is said if I did it, he'd do it with me. This was after he'd said if you were to die doing a skydive you have about 40 seconds to think about it before you hit the ground!!
The two of us went up in the plane and with us, another skydiving instructor who is practicing his landing. He jumped at a lower altitude. Watching him freefall, with the acknowledgement that that would be us in s few minutes time induced a few tears. I was at the point most definitely petrified.
When it was Tony's turn to go, I couldn't watch in case anything happened to him. My last words to him were 'I love you'. It was probably slightly more worrying given that Tony's jumping partner was the owner of the scenic flight company he'd bumped off at the last minute the day before, in favour of another company to take him on the two and a half hour flight of the desert and skeleton coast. It was just a little awkward when we turned up at the skydive office and realised he'd be one of our jumping guides!!!!
I actually really enjoyed the freefall. It was the bit after the parachute opened when you have time to think that I was looking forward to being on terra firma, knowing I was safe. When the instructor handed me the ropes to steer the parachute I started to feel slightly nauseous as my stomach lurched around as we twirled above the ground. I quickly handed him the reigns back.
I landed after Tony and once my feet were on the ground he ran to me and gave me a celebratory kiss.
I'm so glad that I've done it so that now, when I'm 60, I won't have a driving ambition to have a go. What's even better is that I did it on my honeymoon and it was a shared 'first experience' of skydiving for both of us.