Malibu Tandem Paragliding

The best part of those Groupon-like websites for me is the opportunity to try random adventures for cheaper! I got a Gilt City deal for a paragliding lesson with Malibu Paragliding. It's run by just one guy - he's not exactly the most organized but I ended up having a lot of fun anyway.

I thought it was supposed to be a lesson on the beach but I ended up doing a tandem paragliding from a cliff. This is actually better if you just wanted to try it out instead of trying to be a full fledged paraglider since you won't be able to with just one lesson anyway. 

So we met with the instructor at a house near the beach. I don't know how it would work if you're by yourself but when there were two of us it worked like this: The three of us drove up a winding road to the cliffs where one of us got set up and did the tandem flight. The other drove back down the road to the house and waited for the gliders to land. Then we drove back up for the other person's flight.

The scariest part of the flight was running off the cliff! At least I didn't have to worry too much about all the equipment being set up properly since the instructor took care of that. He told me to run and keep running until we took off, so I did. I think you can still see me running even when were already up in the air!

After that, all I had to do was sit and float! When the wind conditions are good and you know what you're doing you can stay up for a long time. Beware if you're prone to seasickness, though, as you do sway around in the air. I was up for about 30 minutes I think and loved it! It was a great feeling floating in the air with the view of Malibu all around me.

(Thanks to Virgil for taking the videos)

 The landing is a little tricky but as long as you follow his instruction you should be fine! Paragliding was certainly worth trying. It tends to be pricey but if you can find deals like I did, it's well worth it.