Countdown to RTW: One Month!

It's now 2012 — the year I'll travel the world.

I'm incredibly excited, but also freaked out that my trip is happening so soon! My townhouse lease ends on January 31, so I have less than a month to get rid of my furniture, car and other crap, buy all the travel stuff I need, tie up loose ends, pack and be ready to go.

I should also buy a plane ticket to New Zealand at some point, right?

Luckily I thrive under the pressure of a looming deadline — I was a journalism major who loved to hammer out all her stories at the last minute — and the fact that my departure is now in sight is such an incentive to get movin'.

It's starting to feel real.


A NEW FRIEND, PLUS BONUS TRAVEL GEAR

I ended 2011 with a few fun activities that didn't directly relate to travel planning.

Last week, I met up with a Seattle Twitter friend, Mindi, for coffee at the lovely new Milstead & Co. in Fremont. Mindi is a proud member of the green-aproned mafia (works for Starbucks) and shared with me her plentiful coffee expertise, of which I have approximately none.

We also chatted about running, traveling, blogging and more. It was a delightful meetup on a rainy afternoon. I love it when an Internet friend becomes a real-life friend!

Mindi also generously gave me several Eagle Creek packing cubes and a small camera bag left over from her days of frequent travel as a sports journalist. Score! Thank you, Mindi!


ENDING THE YEAR ON A HIGH NOTE

The last activity I did in 2011 was pretty cool — I flew!

My dad and I spent an afternoon at iFLY Seattle, where a powerful vertical wind tunnel simulates the experience of skydiving. I've been skydiving twice before, but I was still a little nervous to jump into the 90+ mile/hour wind at iFLY!

My dad reserved our flights ahead of time, and we arrived plenty early to check in and watch other fliers in action. About 30 minutes before our flights, we watched a brief instructional video and learned hand signals from an instructor. Then we each got geared up with a flight suit, goggles, earplugs and a helmet.

Once it's time to fly, each person jumps into the wind for one minute while the instructor helps position his or her body correctly. If you're too stiff, don't keep your chin up or don't have your arms and legs spread just so, you fall to the bottom rather than fly up high.

It's more difficult than it looks!

My dad had trouble breathing through his nose, so he kept his mouth open. The high-speed wind caused him to make some pretty funny faces!

We each flew twice for a total of two minutes. You can also pay more for longer periods of flight, but I had plenty of fun in just two minutes.

The instructor told me that iFLY is actually more difficult than real skydiving, and I thought the two experiences felt completely different. I'd say that if you're afraid to jump out of a plane but still want to fly, definitely try indoor skydiving. At $60 for a standard session, it's also much more affordable than a $200+ real skydive.

If you have the guts and the funds, though, go for the real thing! There's nothing quite like free-falling down to the earth. There's also nothing quite like the sense of relief you feel the moment that parachute opens. : )


MORE ADVENTURES AHEAD

I hope to do lots of fun stuff throughout my travels, although I'm good on skydiving for a while and don't know if I have the guts to try bungee jumping — eek! Extreme activities also tend to be the most expensive, so I want to pick and choose wisely.

I'm definitely going to go ZORB globe riding in New Zealand, though. How can I pass up the chance to roll down a hill in a giant plastic bubble??

I'm also open to suggestions. Be sure to let me know about any activities I MUST try as I make my way around the world!

###

New here?

• Here's the lowdown on My Story
• You can add Answering Oliver to your feed reader
• Feel free to subscribe to Answering Oliver by email
  
• Liking Answering Oliver on Facebook is also a valid option
• Perhaps you'd like to follow my stream of randomness on Twitter
• Or just hang out. That's cool, too.

###