Travel diaries

Huma Amir Shah is the kind of morning show host that Pakistan needs more of. Anyone watching the show - aired on Geo News every morning - can clearly see how different it is from other morning shows that process the same kind of generic clutter day after day. Geo Pakistan is not only informative but also entertaining at the same time and that’s partly because of Huma and what she brings to it.

It’s been almost a year Shah is co-hosting the show, which is why she never got a chance to take off, given the nature of the show. However she recently managed to take her long-awaited leave and went to Dubai on vacations. She made an advance booking for ‘Skydive Dubai’ (skydiving centre in Dubai) and had one of the most amazing experiences of her life during this 10-day trip. Here she shares her skydiving experience with us and how this entire process made a difference to her life.

"I felt an acute sense of calm as soon as I jumped off the plane," Shah shared. "When I looked down from the plane at first, I didn’t know what to expect but I discovered that the fear was totally out of the window. There was a sense of calm and peace which is very strange given that I had to jump from an incredible height. It was like a true calling for me as I have a very special bond with nature. I also felt that it was an ode to my late father who was a pilot and always encouraged me to get into adventurous sports. He had been with me in

every sport that I had done before this so it was the first time I did it on my own. My friends were freaking out as they cannot even think of doing it. I think it’s in my blood and the desire to do it was there for a very long time."

Though Shah is a "thrill seeker" and has indulged in activities like paragliding, bungee jumping and others for years, this was the first time she experienced skydiving. "Now when I have done it, I was thinking why I didn’t do it before," she added.

Elaborating on the entire process and what one is required to do, the

morning show host informed, "First you’ve to specify the location on which you want to dive - it can be a desert or palm location. Obviously the idea is that when you dive, you want to look at the view so I opted to jump on the palm island. We went up to 13000 feet. I had an instructor with me for the tandem jump where two people are attached to each other. There was a photographer too who was supposed to click my pictures and make videos throughout - it’s part of the package. There’s no training beforehand, you’re just told about your positions that where and how you have to jump. It is like 60 seconds of free fall in which you’re dropping like a stone after which your parachute opens up, followed by 3-3.5 minutes of floating. The air pressure is so high that you feel your ears will explode. That’s the moment when you appreciate the beauty of it. The fun thing is that I was not at all scared, in fact I was a little extra excited as I could anticipate the thrill and a rush that I was about to experience. It offers a very unique perspective of the view of any city - the sun, skyline and water (that are very close to nature) - since you’re hanging to something and floating down."

However she noted that the best part of this whole experience is that it allows you to know more about yourself and what you’re capable of. "It’s a self discovery. A discovery that what sort of extreme situations you can handle. This gives you a lot of confidence which is quite empowering," she concluded.