Defying Gravity over the Swiss Alps

Once you have tasted the sky, you will forever walk the ground with your head skywards.

I get asked this question a lot, what prompted me to jump off of the rim of the plane? The adrenaline, the thrill, the pounding of heart, the beauty of alps. To answer this more coherently, let's start from the beginning.

While living one day at a time, we get crept up in the monotony of life unknowingly. Unwillingly. It's only natural. But if left unchecked, it can lead to dullness, to questioning everything. And once i started to question, i wanted to change the answers i got. I wanted to free my mind of ifs and buts, of what would happen few years down the line. That is when i decided that i wanted to do something to be in the moment. Something to shake up some adventure in my monotonous heartbeat. Needless to say the answer was simple. I had to let go.

Since a kid i dreamt of how it would feel to fly. Now when i had the means to fulfil my dreams, without a question there was only one place i wanted to start my skydiving journey from. I packed my bags, took a flight and hopped few trains and finally reached Switzerland.

Words would fail to describe how beautiful it was to step inside of the winter wonderland of the world. The details remain for another article.

After resting up the night in a beautifully secluded bed and breakfast in Brienz village, I woke up to the view of Swiss Alps covered in fresh crisp layer of snow. Hadn't woken up with an empty head in the morning in a while. No voices in my head questioning me, no noises around. Just a beautiful snow sheet covering the vicinity outside my window, excited voices of people nearby who were skiing and a faint but irresistible fragrance of freshly baked bread and croissants. I got ready and went to the lobby for breakfast. Someone rightly said that the best place to meet new people is over a cup of perfectly brewed coffee and a full plate of yummy food. I met this lovely couple who were traveling from France with their doggo named 'Sun'. Oh, that was such a hearty meal with beautiful conversations. They gave me a ride from Brienz to Interlaken.

I had booked my dive with the best - Skydive Interlaken for the last day of the year. Well, i wanted to end the year with a bang. They were absolutely best, guiding me on every step even before i reached Switzerland. But winters can get quite unpredictable. On the day, i was scheduled to dive in Interlaken, It was foggy. I thought that my dive might get postponed. Must have been my lucky day, I got upgraded to dive in Lauterbrunnen where skies were clear, sunny and offered a more scenic view.

Skydive-Interlaken offers a pickup service to their diving place. I met few female solo-travelers there who were diving for the first time as well. Being a big fan of movie 'Zindagi na milegi Dobara' (roughly translated to - you only live once) I started drawing parallels between their skydiving adventure and mine. Trust me, it was same by the dot. As I signed the form of declaration indicating I am aware of the dangers that might be associated with this dive, I felt the adrenaline rush. This was happening - FOR REAL!

We all were given basic training on postures to maintain during the freefall which was super fun. After we got in our dive suits, we all got in a car and headed towards Lauterbrunnen. Every inch of those roads gave a new definition to beauty. As we drove away from the fog of Interlaken, rays of lukewarm sunlight seeped inside me. I disconnected myself from all devices in that moment. And nothing ever felt so real. I stood in the diving zone with helicopters (Air Glaciers) around, the entire valley was covered in snow and sunlight bounced off of it making the snow shimmer.

Sancho - my first ever diving instructor and diving buddy! With so much of diving experience under his belt, he was so humble and fun. Hannah and Sancho were the instructors who gave us basic training and then dove with us from 4000 meters above the Swiss Alps. When we went inside the helicopter to gain the altitude the nervousness started hitting a bit but when i saw the winter magic of Switzerland around me, the doubts tossed right out the window. In a long time i was at peace, happy, adrenaline rushing through me and all the care i had was for the next few minutes. What came after that did not matter in that moment. This was exactly what i wanted.

In few minutes, I was standing at the rim of the helicopter, ready to let go, ready to dive. First few minutes of freefall felt like surrendering, nothing to hold you back. Gravity which most of the time went unnoticed in everyday life, felt so powerful in that moment. I remember shouting - "I love my life" at the top of my lungs before the air pressure kicked the voice out of me. Those few seconds of freefall is hard to put in words and it became a life changing experience for me.

When parachute opened, i gained some stability to finally breathe and look around the heavenly beauty around me. Sancho kept on giving me bits of information about the landscape. I even steered the parachute myself. We steered closer to waterfall and the entire town below looked so tiny.

I was finally living my dream.

I WAS FLYING!

A warm thankyou to Skydive Interlaken - you were there throughout my entire experience even before i was there. I am literally counting days before i can jump with you again! Sancho Arnold, Hannah Arnell, Yvonne Wiggers - A big hug and thankyou to all. I am gonna see you again super soon!

A video of the entire experience on my channel

I hope you enjoyed reading my experience. If you are looking for the signs, this is it. Go book your dream activity/vacation and just live it. No one can do it better than you!