I did it. Sort of

[astral flyer]

Ok so last night went to sleep as normal. I was dreaming about climbing up a tower or something may of been the Eiffel tower. I was so high up then i woke to the s p and vibrations very strong, so i thought ok this is it i tryed to leave but the vibrations got so intense i broke out of it. Feeling like a wimp and disappointed i thought about the vibrations again i felt them come in at the top of my head same kind of thing happened but this time i felt a fleshy arm on top of me so i broke out of it again. It was of course my own arm. I went back to sleep. About an hour larer i woke up and got out of bed walked into the hallway and i saw something  run away. Like an small rat i realised i was out of body i went outside to try and fly but to no avail. I saw a figure in front of me i felt he was negative  so i ran into him it worked he went away . I then came into my bedroom and saw my body and jumped back in. The reason i say sort of is because there was a dream like quality to this. Any thought guys. Im sorry for poor punctuation.

[Volgerle]

Many projections have a 'dream like quality' to them because you always (or often) have  lucidity fluctuations. Moreover, the astral is thought-responsive and thus it is like in dreams that your subconscious often produces your own thought projections and emotions (fears, doubts, expectaitons, joy, desires, etc.). Your thought forms are 'real' nonetheless.
And then there's the theory (which I also cling to) that everything is a projection of the mind, including dreams, in other words: you are already projecting while dreaming, just in a kind of 'personal astral zone' or as Frank Kepple called it "focus F2".

[Nameless]

Congratulations Astral Flyer!! Have no doubt because you did project. Now I want to caution you. Your next experience may be way different from this one so remain open and remember to allow whatever happens.

As Volgerle said many events have that dream-like quality, don't let that stop you.

[Xanth]

"Life" can have dream-like qualities as well.
That doesn't make it any more or less real than anything else you can experience.

Simply put, an experience is real if you experienced it. 

[ThaomasOfGrey]

My first conscious exit had that dream like quality. It hasn't been present in every conscious exit. If I remember correctly though the experience didn't feel that "dreamy" while I was there. Retrospectively after waking it felt much like a dream, but I wonder if that is because of our familiarity with the transition to wakefulness and the imperfect memories simply resemble the dream experiences we are used to.

If we were truly acutely aware of the dream quality of our experience that could act as a pretty good dream trigger. Works from time to time for me, but usually it isn't the atmosphere of the dream, its something that is factually awry to my normal experience.

It's interesting because in some ways the more realistic and immersive our NPR experiences become, the more difficult dream triggers seem to become because the experience is so convincing.