21 July, 2006 | Leave a Comment
This will come as a shock to no one, but I’m terrified of flying. In preparation for my mega flight next week, I must now start daily Zen meditation in an attempt to bliss myself out. Valium would be easier, but drugs are never the answer. Just say no!
I hate flying for two main reasons:
1) Fear of confined spaces
2) Fear of death (i.e. crashing, mid-air collision, terrorists)
That’s an awful lot for one neurotic person to handle. And it’s also boring as hell. For whatever reason, I cannot read books on planes, only trash magazines. I think books require too much concentration. It’s much easier to stay alert for strange plane noises and potential terrorists while reading Hello magazine than Middlemarch. When I’m on a plane, all of my senses are heightened to an animalistic level. It’s quite exhausting. And hours of reading about Eurotrash and D-list royals doesn’t help.
Given my fear of flying, it was probably quite stupid to fly non-stop to L.A. My reasoning was that it results in less flying time over all (and one fewer take-off and landing), but 11 hours is a long time to sit on your ass while hurtling through the sky in a tin can. (And if the plane is full of kids going to Disneyland, that will totally suck.) At least I can be content in the knowledge that my sister has promised to take me to Whole Foods upon my arrival. Whole Foods, how I have missed thee. I may just collapse from happiness overload.
Anglofille said @ 10:56 am | travel |
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I’ve never met anyone, EVER, who didn’t have fears of flying, and mostly of number 2 on your list (the plummeting uncontrollably into the ocean or open field is always number 1) myself included. I think if everyone would just be open about their fear then maybe on all flights everyone could huddle together in the center of the plane and tell ghost stories and have sing-a-longs to comfort each other and pass the time (which for some reason, on airplanes, is quadruple the normal amount of time down here on solid land). Even as much as I hate people and don’t like crowds I think this sort of bonding on a plane might make me feel less alone and less petrified of hurtling toward earth in a capsule controlled by possibly drunken pilots. Safety in numbers anyone? Or for those of us scared no matter what we may just think about how all that weight placed in one place on the plane could screw up the balance and WEIGH IT DOWN AND AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
