It's a Bird, It's a Plane, Nope. It's Ameen!

We had so much flying planes in San Diego that we decided to go flying without all the metal. We decided to go hand gliding! And in San Francisco there are several great places to catch some air.
To go hand gliding you have to go off a cliff or a mountain. As air comes in from the ocean, it continues across the land until it hits the cliff. The cliff then forces the air to go up and over the cliff. This updraft is what keep the hand gliders up in the air. Without an updraft the glider would come down rather quickly.

The bad part is the glider has to stay near the cliff to stay airborne. You can;t really use it as a mode of transportation. But when you are in the air, it is so peaceful. You are flying along like a bird. It just might be the closest thing to being a bird there is. And it's safe too. The company we went with has never had a problem in over 8 years!

Here's Hina getting all her gear on and strapping herself to the glider.

But here is a tip. If you want to save money, do not contact a company. Find out where the gliders take off from. We took off from a place called Fort Funston. Go there and you will usually find the instructors that work for the companies and you can get a much better rate dealing directly with these people.


And here she is jumping off the cliff! Yes you really do have to run and jump off the cliff, but it's not as scary as it sounds.
Being scared of heights, I did go but I don't think I will do it again. But it was definitely a memory that will last a lifetime. If you get the chance, go. You won't regret it.