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Located on the border of Jordan and Israel, the Dead Sea is famous for helping people float around, which is great for people who cannot swim, or lazy people like me. You can float because of the high salt volume and though this sounds great for tourists, animals cannot survive, hence the name being associated with death.

But what sort of things can you do while floating in the dead sea?

1)      Pretend you’re an Otter

We all know about Otters and their stylish floating techniques. Well now is your chance to replicate the amazing creatures. Why not take the odd peanut to crush with a rock while you float about.

2)      Play Your Nintendo DS

Playing Nintendo on the couch is boring, you have to play it in the sea to be cool.

While floating in the Dead Sea you’ll get bored with the sensation pretty quickly. So why not take your hand held computer games. The real game is to try and play without dropping it in the ocean.

3)      Fly a Kite

This guy would have more fun flying his kite while floating in the Dead Sea

Never flown a kite while lying in the ocean?  You’re missing out. But if you visit the Dead Sea now’s your chance. All you’ll need is a kite, and you’re good to go. Beware though because you’ll make all the other tourists jealous.

4)      Go On Twitter

Most of the time people visit Twitter and Facebook from the toilet. But this time you can take it to a whole new level. Why not get your phone out and tweet while floating around on the Dead Sea. Be warned though, there’s a high possibility that with you being so relaxed, you may just end up doing what you always do.

5)      Finish that Damn Sudoku

Can’t finish that Sudoku…head to the Dead Sea!

In my experience, you’ll get most of a Sudoku puzzle completed and then someone will start asking you questions. This leaves the puzzle unfinished and left to have an unfulfilled destiny. Well now is your time to finish them all!

Collect up all those unfinished Sudoku puzzles and take them with you. Though you might want to pass these ideas on to other people so they don’t end up having nothing to do while floating in the Dead Sea. Because they’ll soon be annoying you.

So there you have it. 5 ideas for you while you’re floating in the Dead Sea. If you have any other suggestions let us know.

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The Newbie

As a noob to skydiving I didn’t know what to expect. Would I die, how high would I be going and how long would I be falling? All these questions were answered, but I had to do the jump to find out and soon realised none of the questions even mattered.

So, to begin with, despite being a noob there is nothing to be worried about. Skydiving is perfectly safe and though accidents happen, these cases are rare. Try to forget everything you are envisioning about the experience and let it be something new and inspiring. Each jump is a personal experience and no matter what people say, your skydive will be your own.

Despite being keen, there will be a moment when you fear the skydive. It happens for everyone before his or her first jump, and though some are worse than others, you’ll always have that fear at the back of your mind. This shouldn’t stop you though, because not only will you be strapped to a professional skydiver. But the realisation that you conquered the fear will enhance the whole experience. Without it, skydiving may not have the same attraction.

The Jump

For me, the jump didn’t happen on the first attempt. Because of bad weather it was set back a couple of times. But once it was a clear, cold day (around -20 in the plane) I was ready to take the short presentation on safety and training.

Shortly after, without really realising it, you’re in the plane and flying to the point of free fall. The realisation of what you’re about to do still hasn’t really kicked in. It’s not until the professional, strapped onto your back, tells you that it’s time to move. You place your legs out the plane and look over the side. Possibly a bad move, but it was going to get real sooner or later, there’s no going back from here.

Before the launch you rock back and forth quickly so that you can drop out the plane with more fluidity. And then it happens, you drop. Before you go they tell you to shout or scream so that you aren’t caught holding your breath for the free fall. If that happens, you’re gonna have a bad time. For me, I screamed, and shouted a number of things I can’t type here, but it worked and it was at that point that the adrenaline kicks in.

Afters

The jump is a personal experience and one that you will no doubt enjoy, but it’s not until after that the real buzz kicks in. You land, get on your feet and hold back a smile. But no noob can hold it back for long. That skydive smile always breaks through and as you look around you realise what all the fuss is about. You’re hooked on the experience and immediately believe that you can take on the world.

Skydive Fanatic

If after the jump you can’t wait to do it again, there are plenty of places to skydive and take in a whole new experience. These can be local, indoors or around the world. You may want to complete your own research, but here are a few ideas to get you started.

To begin with why not check out Dropzone. This guide to the best spots can help you find a place near you that will run you through the skydiving experience. Simply click on their dropzone locator and you’re almost there.

There are a wide range of ‘best locations to skydive’ but the skydive is what you make of it. If you know a location that has amazing views, such as Hawaii, then this is the location for you. All lists of ‘best’ locations are generic. It should be a personal experience and one that is suited to you.

Still Scared…Try Indoor Skydiving

If you’re still concerned about the skydive then you can always choose a safer option, indoor skydiving. Though not quite the same as the real thing, it can give you a little understanding of what the real skydive will be like. It’s also good fun and something to do that you can be sure to drag your mates too.

A skydive is something that everyone should experience, if you’re able to do so. There is nothing quite like it, and after you’ll be a new person. It may take some encouragement to go through with it, but after your experience you’ll soon realise it will be you giving out the encouragement to others.

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Don’t expect an easy run though as you’ll be going up and down the windy streets as you hastily escape the rampaging beasts. Whether you simply want to watch the mayhem or you are brave enough to partake, it’s most definitely something that should be seen once in your life. Although there are lots of injuries every year, this hasn’t put a stop to it. However, if you do decide to get involved, make sure it remains a life experience instead of becoming an experience that ends your life.

Vinoth Chandar via Compfight

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We’re talking skateboarding, BMX, Moto X and Rallying. Even better is the Winter X games with snowboarding, skiing and snow mobiles. All dangerous sports in their own right, they arguably fit the persona of what makes the X games deserving of the X. The above are all sports that we here at Life Experiences endorse, as they make life that little bit more interesting. I’m not encouraging you to try flips and 360s but these sports are at least worth trying once. However, there’s a life experience and then there is sheer stupidity/madness…whatever you want to call it, there was one sport that was even too extreme for these games.

Prepare yourself for Super Modified Shovel Racing!

To give you a bit of background Shovel racing developed from a subculture that began in New Mexico’s ski resorts in the 70s, when lift workers realized that they could get around the resort by using their shovels. This led to the eventual progression of modifications which turned the sport from simple shovel racing into a different beast entirely. Now, before you say that this doesn’t sound that exciting, remove the picture of someone sliding down the mountain on a shovel from your head, as you have the wrong idea of what makes this such a dangerous life experience. Although this indeed the origins of the sport, it was the X games of 97 where Shovel racing took a dangerous turn, as this was the year it officially became Super Modified Shovel Racing. This was in this year that the modifications to shovels had become so far removed from the origins of shovel racing that the sport was taken out of the games altogether. The accidents came thick and fast, with the final nail in the coffin for the sport coming after the crash of Mr. Strader, a 42-year-old radio producer. He was so seriously injured, cracking his sternum, bruising his heart and breaking his jaw and leg that he had to declare bankruptcy as he couldn’t pay his medical bills. Ouch, A sport certainly only for the mad and/or the brave.

As the above video compilation highlights, you can see why this was a much loved spectator sport for its one (official) year in existence at the X games. However, the enjoyment towards it reminds me of how Romans enjoyed watching the carnage taking place in the coliseum. Without doubt Super Modified Shovel Racing is a great example of when a life experience can go too far in in its search for thrills. Is it wrong that there’s a crazy person inside of me that can’t help but feel I’d love to give it a go one day?

Most Probably…

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My first experience of a scary ride was a Haunted house and is an experience that many would rather not undertake. Horror movies are one thing but to actually be experiencing jumps and frights in reality is another unnerving concept altogether. They have ‘special’ place in my heart as when I was about six years old I went to the local fair with my dad and my sister. Seeing the spooky haunted house I insisted that I went in, even after my sister explained that I wouldn’t like it. Nonetheless, I wouldn’t give in and before I knew it I was on my way into the haunted house. 10 seconds later, the walls screamed at me and I ran out crying. This was not a great start as far as Haunted House initiations go and it wasn’t until I was about nine or ten then that gave it another Haunted house another try. I loved it!  After that came the roller coasters and having had the privilege of going to Disney Land and Alton Towers as a child, the rest, as they say, is history…

Multiple ghost trains and roller coasters later and I was hooked, confident that I could do anything and everything. It wasn’t so much a love of fear that drove me to do it, rather, it was the idea that I could prove “I wasn’t scared”. I was of course but there was no way I was going to let anyone know I was. These experiences cemented my love of scary rides and so, for all you thrill junkies out there, here’s my list for the Top 5 Scariest Rides in the World. We’re talking full blown gut wrenching, spine tingling, fear inducing shock horror masterpieces.  Do you agree?

1. Insanity (Stratosphere Hotel)

By Michael Liu

If you have a fear of heights this ride will be your worst nightmare. Located at the top of the 9^th highest building in the USA and the tallest building in Vegas, insanity has you suspended and swinging above the city below. There’s something particularly horrifying about seeing the tops of buildings and miniscule car as its enormous mechanical arm dangles you over the building.  The fact that you are hanging 64 feet over the edge of the Stratosphere Tower combined with speeds of up to 3 G’s makes this ride sickeningly scary

2. Tower of Terror, Australia.

On the Tower of Terror

After a toss-up between the Tower of Terror and Oblivion as the scariest ‘drop’ ride out there I had to go for the Tower. Oblivion holds a special place in my heart but the Tower’s stats don’t lie. A zero gravity 100 mph drop that is enough to turn you inside out. Taking you from 0-160 km in under 7 seconds up 100 metres in the air, the moment before you are dropped must be truly terrifying!

3. Kingda Ka – New Jersey

By Nate Smith

An American institution, Six Flags has been providing adrenaline fueled, frightening roller coaster experiences for years. However, the best of the best, scarier than the rest, simply has to be The Kingda Ka roller coaster at Six Flags New Jersey. One of the tallest and fastest in the world, this coaster has you hurtling up into the sky and back down again at break neck speeds of 128mph. Rising up to 456 feet the Kingda Ka then makes a dramatic 90 degree left turn before near vertically plummeting to the ground below, this is a ride definitely not for the faint of heart.

4. Fahrenheit – Hershey Park, Pennsylvania

By Talking to Joey

With loops followed by more loops, this roller coaster couldn’t fail to make the Top 5.  Sporting a unique vertical loop rising up to 121 feet before you are dropped wildly, this roller coaster gives you the extremely frightening sensation of free falling. As the steepest roller coaster drop in the entirety of the USA, this is definitely one of the scariest roller coasters out there.

5. Eejananaika, Fuji-Q Highland, Japan

Wheeeere ammmmm I…….(on the Eejananaika of course!)

Prepare to be scared… as this is the world’s first 4D roller coaster (although others have been built since), upping the game for rides that claim to have fear factor. The only thing more terrifying than a rollercoaster with loops and turns is one that spins. This ride has you spinning 360 degrees. Surely not? Oh yes indeed.

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Run for your Life at the Zombies Run

You may have heard that running is good for us. Exercise… cardio, whatever you call it, it’s a very important part of keeping healthy, it’s good for the heart…or they say. Why then is it so BORING, surely someone could do something to make the whole debacle more exciting…?

Well now they have! Imagine a race in which, you weren’t racing from for a time or a position; rather you need to get to the end alive to win. By that I mean, you’re going on a zombies run!

With Runforyourlives zombie run is a 5km zombie racecourse, you get to enjoy running combined with the thrill of running through a horde of Zombies, whilst undertaking obstacles. We’re talking mad obstacles, like running through “blood” and climbing haystacks only to then be faced by a mass of zombies. Where do I sign up, even if it does sound a little dangerous? Well, off course the zombies are not real, as they are in fact a group of workers dressed up as zombies and rather than ‘eating your brain’s it’s up to them to try and grab your tags as you run the course. It’s up to the Zombies to deplete your health and your goal is to make it to the end. If you make it through the course then you’re rewarded with a survivors medal, if you don’t then you are awarded the booby prize of having ‘transformed’ into a zombie. To top it all off, at the end of the day you all then gather round for festivities involving music and BEER with the Apocalypse party. Maybe it’s the horror movie lover in me or perhaps it’s the fact that I have often planned my escape route if in fact a Zombie takeover did ever take place. All I know is…I want to do it!

Production wise this event is also top notch as you can see from the promo video at the top of this post and it takes place across the USA including Florida and Southern California. As a bonafide life experience, the zombies run this is something that you really don’t want to miss or at the very least try at least once. For more info, check out http://www.runforyourlives.com/.

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You only live once right!

1. Book Club

100-106 Leonard Street

EC2A 4RH – Shoreditch

Book Club, Main Room by Yukino Miyazawa

In between Shoreditch and Old Street, this London bar is cool and quirky whilst defiantly reminding its customers there still in Shoreditch, retaining its reputation for all that it is edgy as well as providing the frequently bizarre. Nonetheless, it still manages to retain a likeable homely feel that helps you feel like your trip was worth the effort! This bar meets club is set in an old Victorian warehouse and has many activities, ranging from the challenging to the barmy and they serve to aid your drinking experience with different ones taking place on a daily basis. The décor is very apt with lots of visual stimulation as this bar attempts to integrate fun and cultural experiences with your evenings drinking and giving the bar a friendly and sociable atmosphere. This is best highlighted by the oval hole separating the main bar in which one can peer through to see the rest of evening’s revellers as it serves to remind you that you’re all in it together rather than enjoying separate evenings. The music is eclectic and varied, from indie bands to DJ’s of multiple genres. All in all, the music gets mixed up frequently and with the highly enjoyable Tweetbox, in which drinkers get the chance to request tracks for the chance to win a cocktail such as the comedic ‘Don’t go to Dalston’.
The music is part of the greater experience with other fun activities like the ping pong table to keep your evening varied and interesting.

2. The Loft

SW4 7TG – Clapham High Street

The Loft Promo Vid (makes it look more rubbish…)

On a high street that it shares with many other London bars and clubs, including the infamous drunken hot spot infernos, this is a cut above the rest and is your way out of the general debauchery that is the Clapham scene. A good looking, spacious bar that delivers on the drinks front, combining a feel of both London and Manhattan. Cocktails are the real deal here and a mixture of the decent drinks on order combined with this contemporary setting help in creating a largely unique and relaxed drinking experience. Notably, Loft also has a relationship with Plan B in Brixton, an award winning club well known for its music nights. You can ask for a free wrist band and more often than not they can sort you out with one, the music there varies from Hip Hop to House to Bass, so make sure to check out whose playing.

3. McQueen

EC2A 4AA – Shoreditch

In tribute to the Hollywood legend of the same name, this bar is without doubt one of the coolest bars in Shoreditch. With a banging club sound system and a very good restaurant to accompany the lounge bar this place has got a lot going for it. Essentially it can be whatever you want to be, go to the restaurant, hit up the bar or if you’re going fully wild then smash up the dance floor in the club downstairs. The vibe is very much about looking good and the place has a real sense of style so if this is what you want from a night then this could be right up your street. The staff are also renowned for good service so feel free to ask questions regarding the drinks on offer and they will be more than happy to help. Only downside is that it’s becoming increasingly popular so could be very busy, particularly on a Thursday night or on the weekend so make sure to book ahead if you do fancy it.

4. Bar Vinyl

NW1 7HJ – Camden Town

Being named Bar Vinyl It should come as no surprise that this popular Camden bar should have a close affinity with music. From the outside, it looks like nothing special but this is testament to the relaxed nature of the place and you are rewarded for taking the plunge inside the venue. With cool and imaginative art and décor inside and as somewhere that prides itself on DJs and music, it is a surprisingly unstuffy and relaxing experience in what could be described as sitting somewhere between a night out (as there is always music playing) and an evening pub session. Bar Vinyl provides a very unique experience, the winning combination of decent DJ’s playing good music at a reasonably priced and likable venue.

5. NightJar

EC1V 1JB – Hoxton

Hidden away in Hoxton, NightJar is a hotspot for bar for the cocktail lover. It’s hard to find, with only a little sign to point it out…but that’s the point. It prides itself on its sense of style, alluding to the speakeasy bars of the prohibition era, which all in all contributes to a memorable and stylish drinking experience (at the very least you think you are for being there!). With a wide ranging and unique cocktail menu, there are a lot of different drinks to try as well as some ‘classics’ that you may never have had the chance too, with the menu intelligently separated into different parts, pre-prohibition (1600-1918), prohibition (1918-1932), post-war (1945-2000), and Nightjar Specials. As an all seated bar, this is not ideal for those expecting a wild night out but for those craving a relaxed drinking experience, where the quality of drinks are of the highest order, this could be right up your street.

As  I said before, these bars are each very different and may not be too everyone’s taste. But as far as London bars go, this selected few is a great place to start.

Bar ‘No Thanks’ by Ian Napier

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You may have heard of Gymkhana. You may have not. For those who haven’t, Gymkhana is the practice of testing a driver’s skill. But wait…surely all forms of racing require this, what makes Gymkhana any different? Well, with Gymkhana driving skill is taken to the next level. We’re talking a level of precision that will blow your mind! Imagine 360 spins, 180 degree spins, reversing and with a time limit to contend with too. At its essence Gymkhana is the idea of driving from start to finish whilst hurling your way through obstacles at breakneck speeds. That’s not forgetting that you’re encouraged to drift whilst doing it. With such a wide variety of driving skills on display there’s no question that Gymkhana delivers a truly thrilling viewing experience.

snowdriftaaa by JohnandDez3313

Ken Block, the world renowned rally mentalist is a great example of someone showing the world how it should be done and is close to ‘legend style’ status after his exploits behind the wheel in recent weeks. You may or may not know that he is a self-professed hoonigan. No, not hooligan, hoonigan. Translation, putting your pedal to the mettle and tearing up the streets like a bona fide road warrior. Having earned his stripes in Rally back in 2005 he decided to put the street back into street racing and Gymkhana became the best way of expressing this ethos.

Still rampaging its way across the viral charts is Ken Block’s epic drive through the streets of San Francisco for his Gymkhana 5 vid. This quality ad for his very own DC shoes features the rally maestro pulling off some crazy manoeuvres that will have you rubbing your eyes in disbelief. We’re talking heart pounding, jaw dropping craziness. Oh, and your even treated to some precision camera shots of this controlled mayhem in slo-mo. What could be cooler? Well, what about drifting whilst Travis Pastrana, of nitro circus acclaim, wheelies in front of you.  Truly mental!  After a few weeks at the top of the viral chart and with over 23, 000,000 views on YouTube, check out his ‘Gymkhana 5’ vid if you haven’t seen it already.

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