Adrenalin Fuelled Ways To Spend Summer 2k12

A few slightly different ways to spend your summer…

activities adrenalin holidays Summer

 

Thinking up a dream holiday, I’m imagining spending a fortnight with all my girlie friends lying around a bright blue infinity pool in gorgeous bikinis with cocktails in one hand, and a book in the other, taking in the rays and gathering beautiful bronze tans.
 
But if the pool/book image is not your idea of the perfect get-away, here’s a list of the top 8 most adrenalin fuelled activities you could get up to instead…
 
1. Skydiving
 
A classic in the realm of adrenalin junkie activities, and surely on everyone’s bucket list – did you know that skydiving is actually safer than scuba diving? I’m pretty sure jumping out of an aeroplane is one of the most exhilarating experiences you can try as a human being – and it certainly puts some meaning behind the motto ‘YOLO’. Best-rated places in the world are Australia and New Zealand, but if you’re looking for somewhere a little closer to home, there are places all over the UK – even one in Devon! If you’re happy to shell out £210 to throw yourself into mid air, and plummet towards earth, then what are you waiting for, this summer could be the perfect opportunity.
 
2. Bungee Jump
 
At a whopping 216m, the Bloukrans Bridge bungee in South Africa is the highest commercial bungee jump in the world. The platform is suspended beneath the road surface on the highest single span arch bridge in the world. If you’re brave enough to throw yourself head first towards the ground, with only a rope around your feet saving you from hitting the ground head first, then this is the one for you. And in this case…it really is a case of the bigger the better…
 
3. Fighter Jet Ride
 
Yes, you really can fly over Russia in a MiG Cold War fighter jet. (Why not think of it as historically/culturally rich??!!) Whilst this pricey activity is definitely not student loan friendly (with flights costing £0000s) the MiG-25 jet is the fastest aircraft ever built and the flight is arguably worth the overdraft. It can climb to 80,000 feet (twice as high as a jumbo jet) in two minutes…that’s 120 SECONDS. It’s described as a true 'edge of space' experience with the curvature of the earth visible from the window. Add to this combat style manoeuvres at faster than the speed of sound and this is possibly the biggest adrenaline rush of them all. (Just don’t look down)
 
4. Great White Shark Cage Dive
 
Providing all of the adrenaline, with none of the danger, (at least in theory), this is an ideal rush for the adventurous underwater adrenalin junkie. Even with steel bars between you and these beautiful predators, you start to feel like the shark’s dinner as they come lurching towards you. Great White encounters are best found off the Western Cape of South Africa, where the sharks come to feed on their natural quarry of seals (and hopefully not you…)
 
5. Bobsled
 
Become an honourary Olympian, by jumping on a bobsled on Mt Van Hoevenberg at Lake Placid – the United States’ only dedicated bobsled track. Squashed (quite literally) between a professional driver and brakeman, you’ll spend little more than 30 seconds whooshing through the zigzag turns and up the finishing curve at such speed you’ll think you’re on the launch pad at NASA’s space station…
 
6. Storm chase in Tornado Alley
 
Tornado Alley stretches between the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains, covering central American states such as Oklahoma, Colorado, Arkansas, Texas and Nebraska. During the spring months, winds spin wildly at up to 500km/h and Tornado Alley can experience more than 400 twisters. As you can imagine, recent years have seen growing numbers of tornado-chasing tours. They run for six days, beginning in twister-central Oklahoma City, and use satellite radar imaging to trace/chase big storms, delivering you a whole new look at twisters and giant thunderstorms. We’re talking man vs nature adrenalin on a whole new level.
 
7. Dive to the Titanic wreck on a submarine
 
If you’d rather find thrills beneath sea level, then visiting the world-famous Titanic must be at the top of any ‘things to do list before you die’ kind of thing. For a mere $35,000 (£22,168) you can scuba dive down 3800 meters to the ocean’s bottom and see the wreck for yourself. An awe inspiring visit, but it’s very dark…and there’s a whole lot of sea beasts down there…and who knows what the wreck is haunted by… Personally, I’d rather enjoy 22,168 Tuesdays at Arena…just saying.
 
8. Running with Bulls
 
I doubt there is a person alive who has not heard of Spain’s annual San Fermin festival where they daily release a number of bulls to run through the streets. It may not sound as exhilarating as throwing yourself out of a plane, but running away from charging bulls down tiny Spanish streets is much more then a simple jog round Campus. Whilst you do get a head start, the bulls are fast, and it becomes all about managing to keep ahead of the charge, because falling behind can mean some nasty goring from those sharp horns, or worse, falling under the hooves.