hardrock cafe

I woke up about 11, which was soon considering I slept really late, washed up, got dressed and went on my way to earn my gift. Making my way throw Old Town Square, to this place through this tunnel.

and there it was. The Prague Skywalkers skydiving office. The next 6 hours passed in a second. No, wait, 60 seconds 😉 That’s the amount of freefall time I would be getting. The airport is an hour and 15 minutes away, so we got into a shuttle to take us there. A scenic ride, but I was more concerned about the butterflies in my stomach. Shouldn’t have eaten butterflies. LoL.

Do you know the drill? You get there, use the restroom, then you’re divided into groups ( 4 per turn on the small plane ) and given a briefing on what to do while up there and advised not to die 😀 Then comes the harness, which is pretty tight, afterall I’d be concerned if it wasn’t! Another Korean guy diving with me got his harness on too close to his groin, and I’m pretty sure he got his ball squeezed during the dive. Shit. Don’t let that happen to you! Speak up and tell them that it’s too close, not that it’s too tight!

Ofcourse, I was laughing my ass off when I realised this. Then, just before we get on the plane, we meet our tandem instructor, who has the parachute ( On a tandem jump, you have nothing, and you’re just connected to this guy/girl) and a photographer. Moving towards the plane, I was almost the last to get on, as I stopped to admire the sun, pretty close to dusk; and the others literally ran to be first to get on.

What this meant was, I was going to jump first! *Tell me how to feel!*. The plane took about 15 minutes to get up to 4000 m, I know this because I was checking the altimeter of my co-diver all the time. So cool, watching that needle go from the red area to the white ( reverse, because we were going up ) and with each kilometer gained, I was starting to breathe heavier. Do you remember I have a mild case of motion sickness? And that I don’t enjoy rollercoasters because well my body just doesn’t feel good afterwards? This was like the grand father of all those things!

Thinking through this, it was time, and this wingsuit diver next to me ( professional, alone) just jumped out. AAAHHH SHIT! I was next. We get to the side, I look down, and I think to myself, ” What the fuck was I thinking? ” and then a microsecond later, “Fuck it.”.

We jump. We do a somersault in the air. I then feel the air blowing into me. I feel the speed with which I am going down. Instead of looking down, I look straight, to see the horizon on all sides, with the sun just about to set, glinting off orange. It is freaking beautiful. I am still falling, my eyes start to water, my ears turn numb, I can’t hear a thing but I’m still screaming at the top of my voice. It’s difficult to breathe, so I try harder to take in the air and  it’s almost impossible to throw it out. It’s indescribable.

The parachute opens, and the next 7-8 minutes, I’m cool-ly coming down, breathing easier now, taking in the scenery, the sun warming up my face. We land, and I’m left there, ecstatic and exhausted, not wanting to get up. Perfect.

Ofcourse, the next hour, my motion sickness kicked in, and the journey back to Prague, I was rolled up in a corner trying my best to control it. Thankfully, nothing came out of me! Haha, phew.

Do you know what’s more special about this day? It was Halloween, and I had just received a coupon for a 20 Euro free meal at Hard Rock Cafe, Prague!

Do you know what’s even more cooler? The Hard Rock Cafe in Prague is the biggest in Central Europe! The voucher said I had to make a compulsory reservation before hand, so I wasn’t pretty sure I’d get in that night. Looking for other avenues, Halloween plans with all my new friends didn’t work out, and my college friends were going back tonight. So, I decided it was worth a shot. And ofcourse, that shot paid off. Check out this insane interior:

This, was the first time I went to a high-end restaurant, alone, for a meal, and let me tell you, it was one of the best nights! I got the chance to eat my amazing meal in peace, think about all my birthdays, and this, my 20th birth-week! Couldn’t have been better! I spent a few hours there, ah, such an insightful night!

This got me thinking, and I came to this conclusion : I am extremely lucky!

A lot of things came together at the right place and the right time to make sure I could experience the day like I did. Firstly, when I made my bookings for the diving, the only slot available was the 2 PM. I wanted to do it in the morning, but I’m so glad I could not, as that would have hindered my last night clubbing and I probably would have been too tired in the morning to do the dive. But, 2 PM isn’t exactly sunset. Take the shuttle, 3 :15 PM. Not there yet either. Remember the division into groups? I got into the second group, meaning I would dive after the first group. The briefing + suiting up + the first group dives, and it’s 4:00 PM. We suit up, I get in last because I stopped to admire the sunset, and bam, I’m the first one to get out, no one blocking my view or my photos 😉 The plane takes 15 minutes, and I jump about 4:15 PM? Sunset at 4:25 PM. Perfect. Absolutely perfect! I choose the Hard Rock Cafe voucher, out of the 5 available, and get into the cafe on on of the busiest nights, Halloween. There’s a video DJ, playing live, and it is me eating some of the best food with some classic music, enjoying  every bit thinking about how awesome I am. How awesome this is.