US teacher stunned after Kiwi skydive instructor’s question in mid-air

Taylor Spinelli, a travel blogger from the US, has gone viral after posting about a shock experience while skydiving in New Zealand.

This article was one of Herald Travel’s top stories of 2024.

An American tourist who travelled New Zealand has gone viral after opening up about the moment a Kiwi skydiver asked a confronting question while in mid-air that left her questioning the US and her job.

Travel blogger Taylor Spinelli posted to social media about how Americans are taught they come from the “greatest country in the world”, but that when travelling overseas they quickly realise how “negatively people look at our country”.

She explained one of the most extreme cases she experienced was when she was skydiving with a Kiwi tandem instructor in New Zealand.

She had revealed to the instructor she was a school teacher in the US, which led to a confronting question.

“I had just done the free fall and we were in a parachute... I had the guy strapped to my back and he started asking questions about myself,” Taylor said.

“I tell him that back at home I’m a teacher in the United States. And he stops and pauses and I was thinking, ‘what is he going to say next?’

“He goes, ‘aren’t you terrified to go to work every day?’”

Taylor’s reaction was one of shock, and it caused her to reflect on the question.

In her social media post, she said she found the query wild given the instructor asked her while they were falling thousands of metres from the sky.

The travel blogger was stunned when her skydiving partner asked a controversial question. Photo / 123rf

“I was skydiving, falling out of the air with this man who jumps out of a plane like nine to 14 times a day, and he was the one asking me as a teacher in the United States if I was terrified to go to work every day.”

She went on to explain that she wasn’t happy with the question at the time as it was her first experience of skydiving.

Taylor said she would have preferred to enjoy looking at the beautiful mountains and glaciers in the distance instead of being questioned about America’s gun problems.

“It was the worst timing I could ever imagine. It’s jarring for us having grown up being told we are the greatest place in the world, no country ever comes close to us, and then meeting these people who will throw you for a loop and be like, no, we actually think you guys are so messed up over there.

“And he’s not wrong, but like do you have to do it when I’m skydiving for the first time?”

Blogger’s video after skydive goes viral

Taylor’s video had more than 1 million views and thousands of comments from around the world.

One American viewer admitted he told Kiwis when travelling New Zealand that he was Canadian so he “didn’t have to constantly be having this conversation”.

Others took the opportunity to share their experiences and weigh in on Taylor’s interaction.

“Timing was wrong but I would have asked the same,” one admitted.

Another added: “Being from NZ and having no desire what so ever to visit the US.”

“Unprofessional on his part. When I did it the guy knew to be quiet and just let me have my moment,” a third added.

Gun violence and school shootings in America has gotten worse over the years. Photo / 123rf

Others weighed in on why the instructor was right, with many highlighting how Americans do not have access to free healthcare, as well as their rates of school shootings.

“Healthcare to me is an even bigger issue. How can you be ‘the best country in the world’ when people go bankrupt for receiving healthcare?” one questioned.

Another wrote: “I live in NZ, but I’m from the states. My brother is a firefighter and my sister is a teacher. I’m more worried about my sister’s job than my brother’s.”

There were 37 school shootings in the US in 2023 that resulted in injuries or deaths, according to an Education Week analysis.

There were 51 school shootings with injuries or deaths in 2022, the most in a single year since Education Week began tracking such incidents in 2018. There were 35 in 2021, 10 in 2020, and 24 each in 2019 and 2018.

This story was originally published in New Zealand Herald Travel on January 18, 2024 and has been updated.