This was my first away-from-home drop zone experience. I took a bus from the city, and a cab to the dropzone. The people in the pro shop were my first contact, and were totally cool. The ticket lady wasn't very friendly, but then the two other ticket ladies on the following days were. The boyfriend of one of them gave me a dirty look though when I laughed at her blowing out a whoopie cushion. The russian guys were helpful and gave some good pointers w/ low ego. On the second day, one of the video men, Kevin, loaned me his car to go to the store for food and what not. Totally cool. The lady with the nice rack for an older woman was pretty helpful and friendly to me, the stranger in the strange land, giving me pointers, advice, and my first non-solo jump!!!!, Her boyfriend tandem master showed up at end of day. (Can't remember their names), took me to dinner - and even though though lady gave a lot of skydiving lecture (I think that was after the alcohol kicked in) dude reeled her in..and they did buy me dinner and we got pretty drunk. That was a major highlight of my trip and nice thing for them to do. Dude also used the term "beta" in a way I've never heard before. "It's all about experiencing some serious beta" or something like that. Interesting. I spent the first two nights there by myself. Most of the on grounds staff were not interested in interacting much it seemed, except Kevin and another Russian guy named sasha sleeping out in a tent. Funny guy. There was some irish or scottish looking guy who had pure fire as well. Didn't catch his name. Banana or something like that. Rotors in landing area were not too bad, although all the jumpers got spooked. Probably my inexperience. In general I would say that people were a little less ego-tistical then my home drop zone in california which is super clicky and filled with boring people who can't talk about anything else except skydiving. I'd go back to blue sky. The videographer Kevin cut me a deal and made a spectacular video with all kinds of still shots, music, effects, angles and even dialogue. Killer killer video skills. This was several months ago. I'm going to Hawaii tomorrow. Can't wait to experience my third drop zone experience in foreign destination. Hopefully will find some folks with an identity beyond "skydiver"...and of course, single fat breasted women in my own age range. j/k.
