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Insanity for a cause

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What extreme or insane measures have you taken in pursuit of a passion?
16 years ago, February 10th 2008 No: 1 Msg: #27165  
B Posts: 11.5K
About eight years ago I went for a tandem skydive. One, that's all it was going to be - and that's all it was...... except that wasn't the end of the story.

I pretty soon signed up for an Accelerated FreeFall course and became licensed to jump out of planes solo :-)

"Why jump out of a perfectly good aeroplane?" (own up, that's what some of you are thinking!). Well, that's something words cannot explain, suffice it to say that for those of you that have been on a tandem skydive - "you ain't seen nuthin yet!"

I've been in that blue playground above the grey clouds, I've stepped out onto a white carpet of cloud, I know what it feels like to be a bird - that can't adequately be put into words.

Where I lived at the time I got into this perfectly sane sport I didn't actually need a car - but I bought one so I could get myself out to the dropzone. That was soon not enough, and I moved in with a friend about 2 minutes drive from the dropzone, meaning I was driving about 45 minutes each way into university - minor detail.

What crazy sports/hobbies are you into? What extent have you gone to in persuit of that dose of insanity, to keep you sane?
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16 years ago, February 11th 2008 No: 2 Msg: #27204  
When I was 19 I lived in a flat in London where many backpackers who stoped travelling for a while to earn money lived.
I was fascinated by all this travelling they had done and wanted to do it too.
The backpackers told me that there is nothing complicated about it and all I have to do is save up enough money to have £10 per day while travelling and get a good travel book that will tell me everything.
My job only payed £100 per week after tax so saving enough to travel for months at a time was not easy. I managed to tailor my spending so much that I could manage to live on £5 per week plus the rent which was £25 per week including electricity etc. I got enough money together in around 10 months to have a 3 month hitch hiking around Europe trip. 😊 I think the lengths I still go to, to scratch together the money I need to travel is almost an act of insanity. I have shirts that cost 1 Euro each and shoes that cost 5 Euros. At the risk of appearing to glorify stinginess I will say that living on very little in order to save up enough money to travel is an art.

Yeah Jo, jumping out of a perfectly functioning aeroplane is insane. I am not even sure I would jump if it was on fire.

Mel
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