Zip-Lining: The Best New Way to Travel

With incredible views and stomach churning adrenaline rushes, it’s no surprise that zip-lining is becoming one of the most up and coming travel experiences.

Zip-lining History

Although zip-lining has become a big tourist attraction in many places, zip-lines were not originally designed to fulfill human desire to feel like they are flying. Instead, zip-lines were built to help transport people and perishable goods down mountains.

The people transporting goods would put their things into a basket, strap into the zip-line, and ride to where they could sell their goods. Without zip-lines, this journey down the mountain could take days, causing their goods to spoil.

Zip-lining was the most effective and safest way to get down the mountain.

Years later, Australians picked up this idea to help with their trading and transporting of goods. Instead of going through the mountains, though, the zip-lines in Australia were designed to help cross bodies of water.

Commercial Zip-Lines

Flash forward to today. Countries everywhere are still using zip-lines to help transport goods, but they are also building their own commercial zip-lines. Whether it is in an amusement park or a rain forest, zip-lines can practically be built anywhere.

In 1979, Donald Perry developed the first canopy zip-line at Finca La Selva in Costa Rica. In 1997, a Canadian named Darren Hreniuk opened up “the Original Canopy Tour.” This became the first commercial zip-lining company in the world. This company is still open for business and has had more than 1.5 million guests “soar” on their zip-lines.

Although commercial ziplining is a prominent tourist attraction in Costa Rica, it is not limited to that one country. Zip-line companies can be found in almost every country in the world. Will you be going to another country sometime soon and are interested in zip-lining there? TripAdvisor is a wonderful website to begin your zip-lining search for a safe and reliable zip-line company.

Be Advised:

If you are planning to go zip-lining, be sure to go to one with a company, not just in someone’s backyard. These home made zip-lines have caused some controversy over the past few years. There have been cases of people building zip-lines on their own private property. These zip-lines are not checked to see if they are up to code and a majority of the time those lines snap. This results in injury and sometimes death to the person riding.

Commercial Zip-lining Companies are Taking Precautions:

It is possible for a zip-line that has been checked time and time again to snap. That, though, is very uncommon. Zip-line professionals are taking precautions to make sure the riders do not fall even if the line snaps.

A majority of zip-lines are built to withstand more than one thousand pounds. If a rider gets stuck before they land on the platform, the instructor can go out on the line and pull them to safety.

Several zip-lining companies also do not just have one line that the rider is attached to. Most companies have two or three lines that a rider is attached to. This way, if one snaps, the other is still able to hold the rider up.

These precautions are some reasons why zip-lining is a growing trend. In 2010, zip-lining was something people were interested in trying, but the safety regulations were still not always up to par. Companies have began building longer, faster, and, most importantly, safer zip-lines for people to use.

Even though you might have anxiety over going zip-lining for the first time, conquer your fears and get ready to zip through your next vacation!

Homeschooler in the Real World

Emma Folts, a sophomore at Wheaton College, shares her experience about her transition into college and how homeschool has both helped and hindered her.
How has your homeschool experience benefitted you, especially in your transition into college?
I think the one thing that homeschooling did that was really helpful as I entered college was that it taught me time management. As a homeschooler I had the same freedom as a college student has to put things off during the day and go see a friend instead. Since I had that experience, I knew the cost of that.
Also, personal responsibility and accountability with assignments. I feel like a lot of the other students had more expectations for gentler grading and that the professor would give them retakes or extensions, but that wasn’t something that ever happened to me in school. That learning curve wasn’t added because I never had it the other way. I think another thing was that because I was homeschooled, I was familiar with the format of teaching and then studying on my own.
Did you see any issues with your transition socially?
I think that homeschooling had two ramifications for me socially. One was helpful, one was hurtful.
It was really helpful because as a homeschooler, I had spent a lot of time realizing and developing who I was as a person and learning to recognize people who were being themselves, and those were the people I sought out as friends. Friendship as a homeschooler takes a lot more investment. I knew I was choosier with my friends which made me a lot less anxious and a lot more content.
The only real negative impact of the social bit was that I was really used to getting to choose the time I got to spend with people. As a homeschooler I spent a lot of time with people, but that time was controlled by me. As a college student, I found that you can’t really control the time you spend with people and alone time is not really available. Learning to deal with that was a lot harder than anticipated.
Any last comments on homeschool and how it has affected your college experience?
I think homeschooling is really helpful, however it does take a slightly increased amount of advocacy with your peers when you’re entering into college. I think a lot of people come in with certain assumptions about homeschool, especially students. You’re going to get a lot of, ‘oh my gosh, you don’t seem like a homeschooled person!’ [You can’t] take that too personally and explain your experience so that friends can understand it’s an important piece of you, though it might not look like the homeschooling that they’ve seen.
My encouragement to anyone who is a homeschooler transitioning into college is to realize the benefit that you have having been homeschooled, and to realize that the bit of advocacy and explaining that you need to do with your peers is totally normal and that it’s not a big deal. Once they understand your experience, it’s not something I’ve experienced being looked down on for.