Happy Roller Coaster Day!

Don't you love weird pointless days of celebration on the internet? Happy Roller Coaster Day everyone! Apparently that's what August 16th is, so I'd like to take a minute to appreciate that which has brought me so much joy in my life (as if I need any excuse haha!) I thought I'd take a minute today to talk about something that is actually pretty hard to express, but a question I get asked a lot. Why I love roller coasters. So here goes.

The sensation of riding
Seems like an obvious one, and I'm going to sound really snobby when I say this, but I think you have to leave the UK to experience a truly EXCELLENT ride on a coaster. But when you do my god does it stay with you. Everything about that moment, the smells in the air, the temperature, the people you're riding with. Everything about that moment and how all those different elements feed into the overall joy and thrill of the ride. Sheer, unadulterated bliss. Sadly those moments are quite rare, but when you get one it truly is amazing and reminds you why you took up this crazy hobby in the first place.



A reason to travel
OK, so I know nobody really needs a reason, but I definitely feel like theme parks and coasters give me a sense of purpose with my travels. I know for instance some people want to visit every...museum in the world. Something like that I guess, I want to ride every coaster in the world, and thus my hobby has taken me to some pretty amazing parts of the world (and some pretty disgusting ones too, but I guess that's all part of the fun!).

They look amazing
What a marvel of engineering and technology is the rollercoaster. I love wandering around park at work and taking the time to really stand back and admire how truly awesome they are, and how impactful and even artistic they are. The way certain coasters frame and interact with their landscape is truly beautiful. Coasters aren't just thrilling to ride, they're thrilling to behold. Hypnotising the way they twist and entwine themselves around their environment. I've had almost as much fun and excitement watching others ride as I have had riding myself, and I don't think their are many other activities in the world that offer that.



Variety 
It amazes me how many different kinds of coaster there are, even down to the point where I've had full blown arguments with people about what constitutes a coaster. The variety is incredible, and one of the reasons that 'collecting' coasters is so varied and interesting. And I love how every rider has a different 'palette' - like wine tasting almost (only a hundred times less elegant haha!) Everybody has their niche, the quirks they love in a coaster and look for in what they consider truly great, and whilst we rag on each other for our likes and dislikes I think there exists an underlying mutual respect for each individual's favourites. Even if they are wrong sometimes ha!

A satisfying collection
At the end of the day, websites like coaster-count exist because this hobby is ultimately the world's weirdest collection. And there's nothing more satisfying than adding to that collection and watching it grow. Meticulously noting down and cataloguing your collection in whichever way you choose, nurturing it, celebrating the milestones and that feeling of victory when adding a particularly rare or elusive one, or even finally riding that legendary coaster that you only ever heard stories of before experiencing how amazing it is for real yourself.



Losing yourself
I hate to say it, because it is such a cliché, and something I find journalists talking about when they don't really know what a 'thrillseeker' is, but there definitely is a sense of losing yourself when riding a coaster. I hate to call it escapism, because I'm not about escaping my life. Riding coasters isn't some fantasy or dream, it's an actual thing you can actually go and do in your real life, in the actual real world, that is pure, unadulterated joy. How great is that? Machines that are actually made to put a smile on your face and have you screaming with happiness. It's not about escaping the real world, it's about experiencing extreme happiness in the realest way, owning it and feeling every inch of it, pulling into the station, getting off then joining the back of the queue to ride again for a second time.

Like I said, it's a very hard thing to describe, but there's my crack at it! I'll be enjoying Roller Coaster Day doing what I do best and spending my day at a theme park (albeit at work, but still!). Do you love riding coasters or visiting theme parks? What do you love about them particularly? Leave me a comment below, I'd love to have a chat!