I am a huge fan of experiences over things. My family and I enjoy finding experiences and activities to gift each other instead of stuff we don’t really need. For Christmas 2017, my parents bought us indoor skydiving at iFly Manchester. And before you ask, no I am not that far behind in my blogging, it just took a while to book in for the experience.
After trying to find a date and time to suit us all, we finally mad it to iFly in January!
Indoor skydiving at iFly Manchester
I had been vaguely aware that there was such a thing as indoor sky diving having seen friends photos on social media. It hadn’t dawned on me that there was indoor skydiving at iFly in Manchester, near to Chillfactore (somewhere else on the bucket list!) at the Trafford Centre area. When I opened the vouchers on Christmas morning back in 2017, I knew it was going to be a fun experience!
After collecting my parents from their hotel and enjoying a mildly hearty meal at the Trafford Centre, we made our way over to iFly to book in.
What to expect
You need to arrive early for the experience as you have to go through some safety bits and get kitted up. Before you go, it is worth taking off any dangly jewellery which might flap around (they will ask you to remove it when you get there anyway) Then it is time to get into your skydiving jumpsuit. They need to be a bit bigger than you are, but the instructors are excellent at judging sizes so you don’t need to worry. Next up are your goggles and helmet.
You can get larger goggles if you want to keep your glasses on or take them off and go with the smaller ones. I went for the normal ones as you don’t see too much when you’re in there anyway. Other than any hand signals from the instructor, that is.
Once your group are all in your gear, you can watch the other people through the viewing window until it is time for you to all head into the airlock. This takes you into the wind cylinder where you will get ready for your turn.
Taking turns
In turn you all go into the wind tunnel. The training before you get in teaches you to get in and out safely and the instructor is there all the way to check you’re OK. It turns out that entry and exit are easier than they look.
The time you spend in the tube really depends on the experience you chose had the Kick-start Experience for Two. This gave us a total of two minutes each skydiving. On the second round you also get the option to fly high with the instructor for an additional £12. I would highly recommend this as it is ace! (check out the video to see what it’s like!)
Would I go again?
Absolutely! It was such a fun and different experience and certainly made for a different Friday. If you are looking for alternative presents for people, then I would highly recommend indoor skydiving with iFly Manchester.
The only thing that I wasn’t so keen on was the price of the video and photographs. I would recommend taking a willing audience member to do the work for you – an offer of a meal or drink might just sway it for them. These were courtesy of my Mum!
Have you ever done indoor skydiving? Would you like to give it a go? Does the idea make you shriek?
Let me know what you reckon in the comments below!
