13 ‘Experience Gifts’ for Thrill Seekers
If climbing Mount Everest, the highest mountain on earth, is on your bucket list, the holidays may be the perfect time to finally book that trip. A Mount Everest package starts at $65,000.
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Float above a beautiful landscape in a hot air balloon. For $300 an hour, this balloon flight school in Albuquerque provides the user with a training balloon, an instructor, a crew person, a vehicle, propane and insurance.
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If you want a taste of flying a light, non-motorized foot-launch aircraft, you can take a full day of hang gliding training, which will cost you $199 at this Austin, Texas school, and will include on-the-ground training as well as several flights.
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At the Trapeze School New York, throw yourself off a platform from 23 feet up in the air for two hours straight – all for $72 to $92 a class, including a one-time $22 application fee. The school has other outposts in Boston, Washington D.C., Chicago and Los Angeles.
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If your idea of fun involves jumping out of a plane and parachuting from thousands of feet up in the air, you’ll love this gift. You’ll pay either $129 for a 10,000-foot jump or $229 for a 12,500-foot jump at this Santa Cruz, Calif.,-based center.
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For $1,395, fly a light attack fighter for a couple of hours and learn basic air combat maneuvers – or the most experienced fighter pilot can go on a longer mission for $2,095. In both cases, the package comes with a flight video to review your prowess. Air Combat USA, as one example, is a civilian dog fighting school with more than 20 locations in the U.S.
You can either be driven and ride along with a professional licensed driver in a 800-horsepower machine for about $150, or experience the thrill of driving a dragster on you own with a half-day course. It includes a one-hour orientation and two to three runs for at least $350 at this North Carolina school.
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Base jumping, or parachuting from a fixed structure or a cliff, is one of the most extreme sports out there – and we do mean extreme. The fatality rate is about one in 60 participants. During this three-day course, you conduct eight to 12 jumps from a bridge in Twin Falls, Idaho. A skydiving B license is a prerequisite. Prices vary depending on the package you choose.
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A five-day white river rafting trip in the Grand Canyon, ideal for first timers, will cost you $2,341. Once you’re hooked, take your newfound river rafting passion around the world, from Bhutan and Fiji to Morocco and Laos.
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Hop in the driver’s seat for a day-long racing class that allows you to try a couple of vehicles, including a Formula 2000 open wheel single-seat car on the race track. The class is available at several tracks in the U.S. and costs $1,795 to $1,995.
Flickr/Mike Cialowicz
Spend a week on Alaska’s Aleutian Islands during spring migration in the hopes of sighting Asiatic birds that have dropped in on their journey north. A $4,650 trip includes a round-trip flight from Anchorage to Adak, ground transportation, lodging and meals.
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You don’t need to have a scuba diving certification to swim up close to sharks. With this full-day trip in Miami, which will cost you $195 per person, you’ll go a few miles offshore into the deep waters of the Gulf Stream in a cage and have the opportunity to see tiger, hammerhead, bull, mako and reef sharks.
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For $100 per person and an additional $20 if you want to take home a flash drive with pictures and videos of your experience, you can catch alligators from two- to eight-foot long and ultimately earn your “certificate of insanity,” at this Gators Reptile Park in Colorado.
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