My Experience Of Astral Projection

I'm a relative newbie to this phenomenon so please try to bear with me - I have some questions and am hoping that some things can be explained to me. This is something I've very, very rarely discussed and have always felt it was deeply personal.

I'm aware that the narration of all of this can seem a bit strange or even contrived - it's because I'm quite excited about what I managed to do last night which I believe was my first deliberate episode of astral travel/OOBE so again, please bear with!

From a fairly young age I was aware of the fact that it was possible to leave one's body at night. It happened at intervals, say every few weeks that I was aware of throughout my life, but as I say, I'd always kept it to myself.

So the first time someone mentioned it to me that it was "a thing" that I did fairly regularly, it was a medium with a deck of tarot cards. She matter of factly stated that it was something I did, as blasé as if she was telling me that I might go down to my local bar on a weekend.

Once I realized that this was something that people have experienced and it's called Astral Travel/Projection/OOBE I started looking more into it. Up until last night I was unable to have any sort of control over it. It just happened. I'd be in bed for the night, minding my own business, then feel what many people on here have described as that vibration or tingling - for me it's like that but also a twitching and straining sensation with an intense buzzing or ringing in my ears and then POP I'm up watching myself fast asleep... I had also discovered myself that I could, from there, sort of "teleport" myself into various humming landscapes of kaleidoscopes of vivid colours and sounds - very difficult to describe - all just by thinking "GO". Places with an energetic background noise of intense humming vibration that feels somewhat akin to standing in front of a big bass speaker at a nightclub or concert venue but without the pulse rhythm, just a continuous hum.

I had also realized that I could "teleport" to places I'd been before in my daily life or at least to being near someone I know. I had begun as I call "visiting" my girlfriend's house and bedroom while she slept and - bizarrely (maybe someone can explain this one to me, it's one of the ways I knew this visit was definitely not a figment of my imagination) freaked the heck out of her cat which definitely and undeniably saw me on more than one occasion.

Anyhow, going back to last night I had been attempting the whole "body asleep/mind awake" technique quietly by myself the last few nights in a row. The other times I'd simply got confused, my mind followed my sleeping body and that was that. Last night however I managed to do it and it was unlike anything I'd experienced before in my "accidental" travels. So I'm flat on my back, eyes closed and I can feel my body completely relaxing but I'm fully conscious. Then I felt this intense tingling sensation. The best way I can describe it is like pins and needles - pretty intense ones in my hands, feet, arms and legs. Next thing I noticed was that it was quite difficult to move almost as if my body was made from concrete and I had a very odd sensation (remember I'd never actually felt this before, any time I was "aware" of being out of myself I was already there, I'd never been completely conscious of the process, it was just POP and done) of, and this is the best way I can describe it, my ears being a few inches above my "physical ears" and my face being a few inches above my "physical face" - it felt not unlike slowly lifting my head face first from underwater into the air, that same spreading feeling of freedom from the water. I tried to concentrate and not get too excited that I was managing this and "sat up" and then I was floating above myself.

This is when I started to become aware that things were certainly "different" from other episodes. I suppose before I had not been fully "conscious" of my position, whereas this time I was? I first "teleported" to that humming, warm, vibrating colourful place I'd mentioned earlier but was met by three (weirdly) German men in old fashioned flannel (?) shirts who didn't "say" a word but put it into my head that they had lived near here for a time as interned Prisoners of War, had been pilots and wanted it known almost as an aside but important to also note that they were NOT Nazis, but were just professional airmen doing a job. This was all imparted to me in a sort of an upload to my consciousness in a split second and the image was gone. I then thought about telling my girlfriend in the morning all that I'd managed this time around and as soon as I thought about her I was in her room hovering beside her as she slept. There was a loud buzzing in my head and vibration all around me - to be honest we've just broken up and I'm led to believe (I'm not sure how, but I just kind of "know") that the blurring of my vision and the buzzing and vibration has something to do with that. I managed to give her a little kiss (yes it's corny) and I was back in my own bed and body feeling myself wake up.

So... Am I right about the buzzing and blurring in my girlfriend's room and the general unclarity? Is it normal for "others" to randomly contact you while on your travels like the three airmen I met? I've no idea how to convince skeptics among you but I know the difference by now between a dream and a lucid dream and I was certainly conscious and lucid throughout this whole experience which lasted probably no more than 15 minutes. Why did "travelling" deliberately (at least at the start and in meeting the three German lads) feel so very different from accidental occurrences? Thanks in advance for any feedback.