18 May 2017 ~ 2 Jun 2017
It was an epic and memorable trip in May’17, which was originally intended for WL and her friend CY to attend their friend’s wedding in Vancouver. It eventually panned out to be a partial road trip for the 3 of us, and then slowly evolved to be an activities-filled 16-day YOLO trip. Follow the entries to read about the daily happenings!
Day 1: Vancouver / Vancouver Island – Skydiving + Proposal
After a long journey and a long transit at Shanghai, we finally touched down at Vancouver on the morning of 18th May. We met up with Ian & Katrina at the airport, who were the couple that we made the trip primarily for. They drove us to deposit our baggage at our Vancouver Airbnb place, and then got WL's & CY's DataSIM cards to get connected. We parted ways shortly after, as WL and I had a ferry to take to Vancouver Island, which was to leave at 12:50pm. We had a Skydiving package booked that evening at 6pm, so it was rather important that we got on this ferry.
Our 40-minute taxi ride from downtown Vancouver to the Horseshoe Bay Ferry terminal ended at about 12:45pm, and by the time I reached the ticket counter, sales were closed and we were 5 minutes late! Oh no! Missing the 12:50pm ferry, meant we had to wait out for the 3:10pm one, and it would place much pressure on us to be at the Skydiving place by 6pm.
During the wait, we ventured to have a really hearty (read: couldn’t finish the food) lunch nearby, where I urged WL to contact Skydive Vancouver Island, to see if we can actually reschedule our tandem jump to 7pm (the last slot) instead, while keeping our fingers crossed. (Our days were already planned & packed, and we were just spending 1 night at Vancouver Island, so it would be hard to find another day if we missed it.) Thankfully, the nice people at Skydive Vancouver Island were able to accommodate our request!
[Little background info: I had been contacting Skydive Vancouver Island secretly via email prior to the trip to plan for my proposal. They had been really responsive and supportive, and must really be quite excited that day to look forward to our arrival too.]
So we boarded the 3:10pm ferry, which was a 1 hr 40 min sail across the Strait of Georgia to Vancouver Island. WL dozed off shortly onboard, while I enjoyed the little ‘calmness before the storm’, knowing that there are 3 challenges awaiting me once I reach Vancouver Island – attempting to drive on the left side for the 1st time; overcoming my acrophobia via skydiving; and the proposal after. I couldn’t really sleep, although I should be VERY tired from a super long journey.
Challenge #1: The drive
We headed straight to the rental car company at Nanaimo, Vancouver Island. It was both our first time putting our hands behind the steering wheel at the left side of the car. A little stressed and unnerving at the start, I was surprised that it didn’t feel as scary as I had thought. Manoeuvring the car was just one part of the equation – there were still the signs and signals that needed some getting used to. There were some Canada-specific signs and signals, like flashing traffic lights etc. But I was thankful that we started the driving experience at Vancouver Island, as there were probably fewer cars and the highway and roads were quite easy to navigate.
WL drove the journey to Skydive Vancouver Island, and we reached there at about 6:20pm. Luckily WL had called before, to reschedule our session to 7:00pm.
Challenge #2: The skydive
The moment we got out of the car at the lot, a man walked over and greeted us.
“Are you Wei Ling? You booked the Skydiving package, right? You guys can come in when you’re ready.”
WL was pleasantly surprised that the staff at Skydive Vancouver Island had such impeccable service, to even come out and greet her at the car! [I suppose it was truly because we had a secret plan ongoing, and they were there to confirm who she is.]
I also exchanged a handshake with the man, Gord.
“Hi, I’m CH,” using the acronym that I used to sign off my emails with Gord for the past few weeks. We exchanged some winks of the eye.
We started to get ready for the tandem jump. To be honest, my heart was racing. I have acrophobia and I still couldn’t believe I would be jumping off at 10,000 ft (3,050 metres) in less than an hour’s time. Plus the fact that the proposal would be immediately after that totally got me tensed up. The staff at Skydive Vancouver Island was very entertaining and cheerful, as we waited for the gloomy skies to clear. They remained optimistic and positive, and kept reassuring us that the skies would eventually clear up by 7pm for us to jump.
The moment WL went into the toilet, Gord pulled me aside and briefed me on everything. I was told that a facebook live video would also be featuring us and showcasing the proposal process live on their page. That got me even more nervous! I passed him the ring for safekeeping, as I definitely would not want to skydive with the ring on me.
We watched from below how a couple before us jumped off the plane, and eventually landed. It was soon our turn. My hands had long turned cold and clammy, but I guess I was hiding it well. We had a quick practice about the postures and the correct way to land injury-free. Then, a short interview video was filmed before we boarded the small plane.
The plane journey up took around 15 minutes I think. It was really awesome just looking out of the tiny plane, at the great views of the island, the strait, the faraway mountains, and the spectacular sunset that is happening. I thought we were very high up, but Gord showed me the altitude meter that read – 3,000 ft. Oh man. Now, I can’t imagine being 3 times higher.
Then, 8,000 ft. Aren’t we there yet! We went to the level even higher than the clouds. We’ve lost the views below the clouds, and it would feel like you’re jumping into the unknown.
“1 minute countdown!” That’s the cue for us to wear the googles, and be fully prepared. My heart was almost out of my mouth by now. My hands tightly holding on to the chest straps, as if it would give me extra security.
THEN THE PLANE DOOR OPENED.
Just right beside me. The sound of the strong wind was so loud that I couldn’t hear myself. I knew it was going to happen, so I didn’t want it to drag any further. I hastily grabbed my legs and put them out of the door. Dangling out of the plane, waiting for my fate, to fall. Gord started to count “on 1…., 2….., 3!”
We were out of the plane. Free-falling. It was at a speed of 200km/h. My hands were still tightly clinging onto the chest straps until we stabilised and Gord asked me to stretch them out fully.
We were flying. Literally. The feeling was indescribable. It was nothing like being on a scary roller coaster ride. We were falling freely, but it wasn’t that scary. We fell through the clouds after a few seconds, and the view came. I felt like I was above the world, which was really, really small. The sound of the wind as we fell was still loud – I couldn’t hear my own screams. At that point, I knew the experience was priceless. No price is too expensive to know what it feels like to fly and truly enjoy a 10,000 ft view. If anyone would ask me if they should do skydiving, I would yell a “JUST GO”.
After a 40-second long free-falling experience, the parachute opened. The few seconds got us transitioned from a horizontal position to a vertical position. Now that we’re no longer falling at 200km/h, we could finally hear ourselves.
“It’s beautiful isn’t it? Ahh, look at the sunset over there” Gord pointed.
“It’s awesome. And it’s so quiet up here.” I said, taking in the sights, and hoping that the experience would last longer. The world is so beautiful.
Gord then let me have a try at controlling the parachute. He guided me into pulling one side more than the other, and we started spinning really fast. It was a little unnerving, but it felt really nice.
“Do you see those words?” Gord asked, referring to the ‘Will u marry me’ setup near our landing place. I didn’t know where to look, but after a while I saw them.
“Wow it’s awesome, thank you!”. Truly, the words were huge and visible from the air. Now that the skydiving challenge was considered done, the final challenge of the day was coming.
Challenge #3: The proposal
We landed safely on our bums. After being unclipped me from Gord, I stood up slowly and felt so stable on solid ground. The facebook live video was already on and recording! I spoke a few words to the camera, collected the ring from a crew on the ground, and quickly went to see the words on the grass. Nice! Then we could hear WL and her instructor Dan in the air above us.
They landed safely too. She was unclipped, stood up, and there were now 3 cameras filming us. To be honest, it was a little awkward with the little attention (and possibly more online), so I quickly began my speech, which I did not prepare beforehand. I didn’t want to prepare a speech, as I didn’t want it to sound scripted, plus I knew my mind would be blank even if I had rehearsed for it. So the speech was really entirely coming out straight from whatever brain cells that were still alive then.
“Will u marry me?” was followed by a moment of awkward silence! The crew told me afterwards that they themselves were a little nervous during those silent moments. Not wanting to just say ‘yes’ easily and immediately, WL was actually trying to come up with some nice words about me first, which I really appreciated.
Back at the office, we were still sharing our excitements, nerves and experience with the staff. They were really friendly! We talked about our travel plans in Canada, about skydiving in general and other stories. By now, they were already working overtime for us, and yet they still had more video editing to do! [They actually filmed much longer than usual, as the normal skydiving package would have ended once we landed. But there was now an extra segment of proposal footage.]
It was 9pm by the time we drove out of the place and were looking around the darkness for a place to have dinner. Fortunately or unfortunately, we found a McDonald’s, and that became our first dinner in Canada, and romantically or not, it was the first dinner after the proposal.
人生是黑白的.
3:12 PM <3
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