Oh Snap!

When I was in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe last spring I did something I never imagined I would have the guts to do: bungee jump. With my three other American friends we signed up to do the whole package: zip line, bungee, and swing. First you have to pretty much sign your life away. If you ask someone the risks that work there they say you’ll be fine, there’s nothing to worry about, but just in case you die please sign this paper so your family can’t sue us.

            The entire experience was amazing. I was the last of my friends to bungee and had watched more than ten other go before me. I stood at the edge of the platform looking into the horizon (not because it was peaceful but because that’s what they tell you to do). Below me is the Zambezi River flowing from the falls. With no time to even think the man yells, “Three, two, one, BUNGEE!”. I jump and he pushes. At that point whether you want to go or not, you’re going. It was a rush of pure adrenaline as my body flipped, twisted, and turned up and down and all around for a 111 meter drop. At the end, with all my blood rushing to my head and a man bringing me back up to the bridge, that was it. I was fine, not even sore or anything! I then continued to do the swing which is actually way more terrifying than the bungee, but I survived that as well. After an amazing time in Zim, we went back to Gaborone and recommended it to everyone else who was going just as our friends who had already had gone recommended it to us. Everyone knew: If you go to Vic Falls, you HAVE to bungee. The chance to jump off the highest bridge in the world twice for around $100… that’s a once in a life time opportunity.

            A few days ago my friend and roommate from the University of Botswana posted on my facebook wall a link. The title read “A Aussie Bungee Jumper’s Cord Snaps But Survives 111-Metre Fall,Croc-Infested African River”. I read the article which later added a video to the top. Go take a look and even watch the video where you can see the Australian girl move down the river after her bungee snaps. I then found another video which is a news cast of the bungee including a short interview with the girl where she talked about what the experience was like. I found one other article as well called, “Oh Snap! Bungee Jumper Plunges into Zambezi River at Victoria Falls”

            Many of my friends I studied abroad with that also bungeed have been talking about it over facebook. Some of the ones who chose not to do it are now thinking that they made the right choice. It is crazy to think that it could have been me. What would I have done?

 Needless to say, this is probably going to make it hard for them to get as much business, after that how many people trust them? And here’s my question: Before you knew about the story would you ever bungee jump? Did this accident change your mind? Or have you ever bungee jumped? Would you do it again?  Let me know your thoughts! 

I've got the travel bug

                Since I was a young girl I have been spoiled by family travel. Not spoiled like living in Paris for the summer or spending a few weeks at each Hawaiian island, but I have had opportunities for one or two week vacations to places like Cancun, the Dominican Republic, a cruise to Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, Mexico, and a couple other places. I’ve vacationed in the United States as well and the summer before 6^th grade I even went on a cross country trip from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Yellowstone National Park out west. Each travel experience I have had left me wanting more; except Mount Rushmore, that shit was boring.

                Last January, a year ago, I was able to study abroad in Gaborone, Botswana in southern Africa. A lot of people ask me, “Why Botswana?” and I do not have a good, short, clever, answer to that so let’s just say that I thought it would be the most culturally interesting. I wasn’t interested on going to a vacation-like spot for 5 months, I wanted to really experience a different life in a new world. Well that and I couldn’t afford to go to New Zealand. But anywhere in Africa is really what I wanted. And Africa is what I got.

                If you want to read about my travels to Botswana, South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe check out the blog that I kept while I was in Africa. It was the most amazing experience of my entire life.

                One thing that I learned during my time abroad is that there is a big difference between going on a vacation and traveling. Growing up I mostly went on vacations; one week trips to a beach where all I did was lay on the sand hoping to get tan, swim in the ocean, eat out, and maybe meet a couple other kids by the pool. But traveling by a crowded bus and hitchhiking for a day and a half to places like Victoria Falls where I stayed at Shoestrings backpackers and got to talk with locals and go bungee jumping off the world’s highest bridge... Now that is traveling. Not to say that vacations aren’t very fun, I’ve loved every one of them! And also I think you can do some traveling while on a vacation. This past summer my mom, aunt, and I took a day excursion in the Dominican Republic to a somewhat less touristy area and to see a school, see chocolate being made, went zip lining, and almost lost a leg in a horse/truck accident… again, now that is traveling.

                Now that I have really had a good taste of what it’s like to travel, I want more. It’s like having so much [insert your favorite food here] in front of you except the more you eat the more hungry you are (and pretend like calories don’t matter). I feel like the whole world is out there for me to explore and the more places I’ve been, the more I want to keep traveling; the more I want to see new things, do new things, meet new people, and the list goes on and on. I heard this Professor at this study abroad luncheon thing call it the “travel bug”. He said that when he was our age he got it, and since he’s been traveling the world every opportunity he gets. I have the travel bug, for sure.

                I am not quite sure where exactly I want this blog to go. I think It’s mostly for myself, to connect with others that have a love for travel too, and also to try to reach out to those that want to travel but havn’t, or even those who don’t really think they want to travel. I can’t even fathom why most of my friends don’t really want to travel. It makes me think of a quote that I read on the ceiling of a room at Long Street backpackers in Cape Town, South Africa: “The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.”