Random Thoughts | Londoner Life Dot Com

Skydiving In Byron Bay

Posted on February 16th, 2012 in Alternative Things To Do, Random Thoughts by Stephanie

Being an adrenaline junkie, skydiving is something I’ve always wanted to do so on a recent trip to the Gold Coast I finally decided to take the leap, so to speak. It was a kind of spur of the moment decision so I didn’t get the chance to tell any of my family and friends, I didn’t have any sort of life insurance and I hadn’t even packed appropriate shoes or clothing with me on the trip but luckily the skydiving company I jumped with provided all the necessary equipment. I chose to skydive with the company Skydive Byron Bay because they offered the longest freefall in the area of 14,000 feet which is a 70 second freefall!

We were picked up by the free shuttle bus from our holiday apartment in the Gold Coast early in the morning and taken to the drop zone in Byron Bay which was about 2 hours away. After registering our details and filling in all the required forms, we were given skydiving pants to wear and trainers. We were then fitted with a tandem harness which is what hooks you to your tandem skydiving instructor before the jump. After a 5 minute training session on what positions to adopt before jumping and whilst in the air in order to safely complete the tandem skydive, we were now ready to get in the airplane!

The airplane was small and the one that I jumped from fitted around 17 people. It was a little nerve-wracking sitting in the plane because the door was just a flimsy bit of plastic pulled down and I kept feeling like I was going to fall out especially because I was sat just near the door! The view over Byron Bay was spectacular and in no time at all everything was tiny and we had reached 14,000 feet!

The jump wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be. I think it just didn’t really dawn on me that I was jumping out of a plane! The scenery was truly breathtaking and before you know it the tandem instructor has opened the parachute and is navigating you back to the drop zone. I opted to have dedicated photos and a video which means that I had my own dedicated camera guy who jumped out just after I did and was opposite me filming the whole time during the freefall.

Back on solid ground I felt like I had dreamed the whole experience. It goes so quickly that I would definitely recommend jumping from at least 14,000 feet so that you get a decent time freefalling. It wasn’t a life changing experience but is something I think everyone should have on their bucket list and was an experience that I really enjoyed and would definitely do again. Activity Superstore have skydiving packages in the UK so I think I may try that next time!

If you liked this post, buy me a latte :-)

Share This

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

» Comments (30)

Detox With Green Tea

Posted on January 16th, 2012 in Random Thoughts, Green Tea London, Freebies by Stephanie

As it’s the start of a new year I’ve been doing all the usual things such as eating more healthily, trying to stick to my New Year’s resolutions and I even joined a gym and am now completely hooked on Les Mills Body Attack classes! One thing that I’ve also been doing and hope to continue (fingers crossed) is replacing all coffee breaks and my daily English breakfast tea with green tea. Green tea is great for detoxing and has more antioxidants than black teas so is great for removing toxins from the body whilst protecting the immune system and preventing disease. It also helps reduce bad cholesterol present in the body and boosts your metabolism therefore aiding in weight loss!

There are many different types of green tea both pure and flavoured with Japanese matcha green tea being the healthiest. Matcha is a powdered green tea made from ground tea leaves that delivers even more health benefits than brewed tea since you are consuming the nutritional benefit of the entire leaf. It has been shown to even delay premature aging!

Green tea is delicious and refreshing and if you haven’t tried it before you can get 2 free samples from Twinings and try Twinings new green teas. They also have an online tea shop so that you can buy green tea online!

If you liked this post, buy me a latte :-)

Share This

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

» Comments (10)

Hello Kitty Birthday Cake!

Posted on September 7th, 2011 in Random Thoughts by Stephanie

Came across this kawaii Hello Kitty birthday cake in a takeaway cake stall in Westfield shopping centre yesterday, it’s just too cute to eat!

If you liked this post, buy me a latte :-)

Share This

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

» Comments (4)

Halifax’s Facebook Holiday Matchmaker

Posted on July 8th, 2010 in Random Thoughts by Stephanie

Summer has started and although the weather in London so far has been absolutely gorgeous, you’ve probably already booked your getaway or are starting to think about it. But if you’re finding it hard to decide with so many possible options why not try out Halifax’s Facebook Holiday Matchmaker application. This nifty tool analyses the content in your Facebook profile, your friends, hobbies, interests, the books you’ve read, the town you grew up in and also the places you’ve visited in the past and then recommends your ideal holiday destination. I got a 90% match to New York and strangely enough I have a trip booked there in October!

It also saves you holiday planning time by creating a tailor-made travel itinerary of perfectly matched things for you to see and do and suggests where you should stay, what you should do, points you in the direction of their travel money service, tells you what the weather’s like at the moment and it even told me how many Statue Of Liberty visors I could buy for a tenner as souvenirs for my friends!

So if you need help finding your next holiday destination or you just enjoy facebook surfing :), check out the application here.