Tales from the Bonfire: Hitting the Road
Above: Michael Romanek poses with his son and future 2-way partner, Kai, after a successful jump.
My oldest son got his skydiving license two years ago, at age 16. So, this year, we looked to make a summer “dad and son” skydiving trip. Instead of the default destination for British skydivers—Spain, which is too damn hot in August—I thought I’d look at Central Europe.
Rather than choosing one drop zone for a week of jumping, we chose to sample several DZs in several countries. So, we embarked on a nine-day trip (including seven days, skydiving in five countries), clocking 2,679 kilometers on the rental car. Czechia, Germany, Croatia, Slovenia and Hungary. Skyvans, Pilatus Porters, Cessna Super Caravans and MI-8 helicopters.
How was it? It was great.
While we didn’t reach the number of jumps we would have while staying at one DZ, we got to see and experience a breadth of skydiving locations, cultures and vibes that would normally take years in the sport.
We did seem to have a cat-and-mouse time evading bad weather during the journey. But the weather gods smiled on our trip, and we luckily found ourselves at locations just before or just after the bad weather. More than once we heard, “Good that you weren’t here last week.”
I’ve traveled extensively, but still learned on this trip that a one-way car rental can be prohibitively expensive (just picking up at the Vienna airport and returning at the Vienna Town Centre runs an extra 235 Euros). And no matter where you may be traveling, you must return the car to the country where you originally rented it. But on to the jumping …
We began at Skydive Pink Klatovy in Czechia, a great drop zone running multiple Skyvans, complete with a large swimming pool, three choices for food and drink and a very friendly atmostphere. We caught the end of a boogie, as well as their last operating days of the summer. Next was Skydive Saulgau in Germany—a very organized drop zone—where we joined a local jumper from Munich for an excellent dinner.
The third stop took a couple of days, at Skydive Bovec in Slovenia. I’d heard of it being described as the most beautiful drop zone in Europe, and it did not disappoint. We drove down winding mountain roads to the bottom of the Slovenian Alps, and just as we arrived to the parking lot, we saw a load land on a manicured polo pitch between 6,000-foot mountains. We had our only weather hold of the trip at Bovec, and still enjoyed it by kayaking the River Soča.
We then drove to Poreč, Croatia, where we made some picturesque jumps from a Pilatus Porter close to the Adriatic Sea, and finished the trip in Siófok, Hungary, skydiving from MI-8 helicopters (the “beasts” of the drop zone that carry 26 jumpers) next to Lake Balaton.
The trip was a great experience, full of memories with my son. Not all of those memories were jumping—for example, a “Zeppathon” is when you sit your ass down and listen to all nine Led Zeppelin studio albums in a row. It takes about seven hours, and every true fan must do it at least once in their lifetime.
Now that the trip is finished, I think back to when my son was a toddler and would come out to the DZ with me, running around and serving as a packing weight. He was always excited about skydiving. He flew in the tunnel at age two. And when he was younger, I always thought about how cool it would be to jump together when he was older.
Today, it is indeed quite cool. For the next few years, I’m looking forward to seeing Romanek 2-ways on manifest boards.
And after that, when his brother is old enough, 3-ways.
Michael Romanek USPA #196626
London, England