19 NOV 2018- 1PM
If like me, you’ve done the whole “fly for 6 hours, go to the mall, shop all day, sleep all night, go to the beach” thing and want some heart racing thrill and throat throbbing excitement in your life, listen I’m telling you… This. Is. IT. The crazy that is me, did a long-haul flight… landed and checked in by 11am, changed, and was at the XLINE booth in Dubai Marina Mall by 12.45pm.
As we step in, the signs are huge, so we wander around slowly, taking it in.
Men sit around in tailored suits, laughing richly over their latest lavish spends. Couples walk hand in hand, and small groups of Chinese tourists stand in the pathway, ignoring everyone having to walk around them. There are white people, black people, Arabs, Asians, Hispanics and Europeans. Women in stilettos and high neck tops strutting along, looking too made up and plastic for so early in the day. Spa after spa, health centres and luxury hammams line the route. Ghost by Ella Henderson plays over the speaker. Is it normal to feel nostalgic already? Certainly feels like an upgraded version of Westfield, without all the Beckys and hoodrats that roam around day and night. Smells like warm melted chocolate, & it feels good… This aint London for sure.
The booth is tucked under the escalator, and extremely easy to miss- so pay attention. We strolled up to the counter, still a little dazed, exhausted and jet-lagged. I’m not sure it had hit us yet that this was even Dubai. A lady approached us, weighed us in, took photos of our ID and paired us with a harness, helmet and trolley each. Quick safety briefing and were off to the point of no return…
A bus service chauffeured us to Amwaj Towers, a residential building 41 stories high and raises up a whole 170m off the ground and 558 feet away from civilization. For those in London, a good comparison is that it is a little under the BT Tower in Camden and 10m taller than the building with the Sky Garden. Imagine jumping off that?! Bloody hell, even that gives me chills.
I think it was much easier because I just didn’t know. I didn’t know how high up or which building until last minute. Then, the demons in your heads can’t play games with you. Murphy’s law can’t act up and whisper in your ear. You just don’t know. Legally Blind.
We took a lift to the 40th floor and walked up 2 flights of stairs to get to the roof. One guy, Australian fella, had come alone, and you could see his heart pounding with evident sweat. A fat grin plastered through his ginger beard. He was perhaps no more than 26, travelling through Dubai for a day or two. He’d be going to Thailand next he told us, and we’d mentioned we’d be going too. He’d said he’d be near Phuket, staying at Phang Nga Bay. The conversation was short. The view on the rooftop of the 40th floor is breath-taking. The crystal, sapphire-blue sky is cloud-less for early afternoon. It was mesmerising, how simple it looked, yet it seemed to hold every one of our thoughts, dreams, our secrets. The space was a vast thing, stretching out for infinity over our heads. It was terrifying and yet so affectionate, daunting yet friendly. If you stared at it for a long time, watching everything come and go, you would think, maybe, it was all talking to you. It was communicating in a language you couldn’t begin to understand. I got lost in thought before they called for the first two volunteers.
Of course, I volunteered. The worlds longest urban zipline- twice the distance and lasts twice the time at twice the speed as the last one. And I volunteered to go first.
My ginger beard friend volunteered to come with, and slowly, we made our way to get strapped into the superman harness. The guy high fives you, attaches you onto the cable that your trusting with your life, and makes you lie down horizontal onto a launch bed. Once you’re in, the bed is lowered and your hanging, mid-air, 40 floors up, A WHOLE 558 FEET AWAY FROM THE GROUND, ready to fly.
I nearly shat myself. I nearly cried and yelled right there to get me off. Whenever I get myself into moments like this, silence is my friend. Someone once said, “Feel the fear, and do it anyway.” Often, we think, “I’ll do it when I am not so afraid.” But in reality, it works the other way around. The ‘doing it’ comes before the fear goes away. The only way to get rid of the fear of doing something is to go and do it. So, we diiiiiiiiiiiiiiid it baby! We done flew through the sky, over land and water, at up to 80km/h and from 170m down to ground level. I FLEW, did the Michael Jackson moonwalk mid-air, imitated wonder woman, became a local super hero. I FLEW. And it was amazing. The marina water glistens, and yachts bob up and down below you. Everything is so saturated this time of day, full HD colour.
You supposed to be streamlined. like a bullet. They told us if you start turning to one side, pull your weight to the other. I nodded. Easy. I’m not sure what juice they drank to not tell us how strong those winds would be. Wind veered me right, my weight got pushed to the left. I almost flipped, slipped and tripped mid-air. You still move forward, and the helmet provides some sort of aerodynamic vacuum for you. But lard haffi mercy, I could’ve been a leaf in the wind the way I was twisting up in here. Lasted a few seconds though. So, prepare for it. You will be twisted.
If you go, maybe don’t pick the right rope out the two. As you draw closer to ground level, you come awfully close to the brick corner of the mall building. Its quite the scare at the speed your going at- an uncomfortable but safe distance. The whole thing is recorded, and photography is taken for you by the XLine team. The goPro strapped to your helmet gets the best shots of the experience, and so, feeling more alive than ever, we made our way to our lockers to update the world.
The experience felt super safe, built and operated by highly qualified and globally certified teams. They carry out daily testing and regular maintenance of the line, making sure safety is always first. Id like to hope so anyway! The company have strict requirements for the experience; You need to be between 12 and 65 years of age, taller than 130cm, weigh 50 to 100kg and in good medical health. Loose clothing can’t be worn, and footwear is preferably sportwear or boots. Closed. They take off every single day from 9am till 5pm and are situated inside the Dubai Mall. You can click here to book it or visit the booth at the Marina Mall or visit any of the Platinumlist partner merchants across the UAE. The entire experience lasts for approximately 90 minutes, from registering at the XLine booth until you complete the zipline ride.
So, if your looking to go… get ready to hang tight and I’ll see you someday to applaud you. It isn’t for the weak hearted, that’s for sure.
Definitely going to do this again… perhaps this time in Ras Al-Khaimah for the entire world’s longest zip line. A whole 2.83 km long, the Jebel Jais flight is 1,680 meters above sea level and has a glass bottom suspended floor. Um… YES PLEASE.
