These days, we can buy ourselves all the consumer goods we could ever want. What you can’t put a price on however, is an unforgettable experience. Whether you’re a natural thrill seeker who enjoys extreme sports, or tend to shy away from excitement, the sensation of skydiving can have a profoundly uplifting effect on your state of mind.

The feeling of falling through the air is simply indescribable, but it certainly tends to make people feel alive! A variety of skydiving experiences are now available, from one off sessions to full extensive courses.


Many people are choosing to give skydiving experiences as gifts to friends and family, tempting especially when, like most of us, you start to feel you’ve bought someone everything already. When you go round the shops and see the same old tired options for presents, it’s easy to see why buying someone a potentially life changing experience is pretty tempting.

The Basics

You might assume that to try skydiving at all you’d need to undertake a lengthy structured course of lessons, but this isn’t actually the case. Many centres within the UK offer skydiving experiences in which you get to have a go with no experience at all.

One of the ways that this works is tandem skydiving experiences, in which you are strapped to a qualified, experienced skydiver and you jump out of the plane together. This options strikes a nice balance between having the unbelievable thrill of falling through the air from 10,000 feet, and not feeling too overwhelmed by the fear because you’ve got someone with the skills to keep you safe right next to you the whole time.


In addition to the traditional ‘jumping from a plane’ variety of skydiving experience, many organisations also offer indoor skydiving sessions. These involve an indoor wind tunnel that simulates the experience of skydiving outdoors, with you hovering above the force of the wind blowing at upwards of 100 miles per hour!

Indoor experiences are not only a little less intimidating than the fully fledged outdoor type, they also tend to be a lot more affordable. As with outdoor skydiving, indoor experiences offer varying degrees of tuition and preparation before you actually have a shot in the tunnel, so you can be sure to make the most of this fantastic experience.

Many people choose to try indoor skydiving when they’re thinking about trying traditional skydiving but are a little unsure and want to both prepare themselves better and see how well they take to the experience. This is a sensible move, as the experience of freefall is so unique that it’s impossible to guess how you’ll respond to it.

Outdoor, extensive

If you’re after the full skydiving experience, a range of courses are run across the country to thoroughly prepare and train you on the practise of skydiving. Naturally these courses take place over a period of weeks and sometimes even months, and afford you the ability to experience the full extent of excitement that is up for grabs through these unique experiences.

One off

The most common type of skydiving experience that people in the UK choose is the one off tandem skydive. What typically happens on these is that you arrive a good while before your jump is due, and receive the basic instruction and preparation that you’ll need.

You are then taken up in the plane and harnessed to your companion skydiver. When you jump from the plane, the skydiver with you will take care of all of the technical requirements, including of course releasing the parachute when you’re a few thousand feet from the earth!

One of the main advantages to this type of experience is actually the fact that you don’t need to worry about doing much while you’re up there. Since your companion is making sure you’re falling safely, you can focus on soaking in the exhilarating experience. It may last less than a minute but you certainly won’t forget it in a hurry.

Many of the centres offering skydiving experiences are well set up to help you commemorate your fantastic time, with professionally shot videos and photographs often available to record the experience.


Whether you’re thinking about doing it for a bet, for charity or just to give yourself a new lease on life, skydiving truly is an experience like no other. Many of the people who try it find themselves returning for another shot, as it’s a thrill that can’t be replicated in any other way.