'Scuse me While I Kiss the Sky - Paragliding!
Story by Janet Goldman. Photos by Robert Rosario.
Video by Martin Rehder
This country seems to be filled with adventurous things to do. This is just one of the many things I have encountered. It all started when I saw a message on Facebook, “paragliding April 19th sign up now”. This was something I hadn’t thought about in years. I remembered seeing people doing it several years ago and thinking wouldn’t that be cool to do, fly like a bird in the sky. My first big chance at doing something similar was in Texas when I went hot air ballooning and thought that was the ultimate, but nothing so far in my life compares to paragliding.There was no second thought when I read the message, I had decided immediately I was doing it. Everyone I talked to that signed up talked about it continually until the exact minute they took off.
The adventure started at the Taewha Hotel where we were picked up by several vans which transported us to Eonyoung. There we stopped for the guides to decide which was the best mountain for us to jump from. Sounds funny - jump from - but that essentially is what we were doing. There were about 17 of us on this adventure all in different vans heading up the 900m mountain, to the point of no return. I listened to the girls in my van discuss their fears of heights, all with variations. Who was afraid of flying, tall buildings, looking over the cliff like the one they were looking over as we drove up this fairly steep mountain with no room for driving mistakes. Yet, all of us were beaming with excitement, waiting for the thrill of a life time.
Robert prepares for the first flight of the day
They called for the first person to jump and I was thinking very seriously about it, but decided I wanted to see how this all worked first. Robert was the first brave soul to partake in this journey. They strapped him into a vest type thing with a seat on it, as we all watched with enthusiasm. Then they showed us how we needed to sit and explained what we needed to do once we took off. My adrenaline was pumping and I was ready. As Robert took off we all cheered him on, he soared through the sky like a bird. How amazing this looked.
A Tandem flight over the mountains.
Finally it was my turn, I was all suited up and ready to embark on my flight. I wanted to yell with excitement, but I just kept my cool. They guided me to the edge of the mountain and told me I had to run and then I would just take off. Then I got scared! What? I had to run? Where, I thought? My guide was strapped to me and turned around to guide the parachute into the sky for take off. Then I heard, “Run!” Before I knew it I was flying in the sky, like a bird soaring over the valley below. How beautiful it was. My guide never said a word which I am guessing is because I kept shouting how amazing it was. Words cannot describe how unbelievable this adventure was. Even the people most frightened of heights, landed and shouted with excitement to do it again.
Janet oozes adrenaline after her flight.
Here's the details on how to arrange your flight:
- Cost: 60,000 won per person
- Where: Taewha Rotary
- When: Weekends, 9:30am
- Food: Bring your own and drinks