Flying June 13th

[Melinda]

Hi everyone. I'll be taking my first flight in 8 years on this coming Saturday, now less than a week away. I haven't flown since I had an anxiety attack on a flight; that scenario resulted in me taking the train back from my travel destination, and being too scared of experiencing the same anxiety to fly again.

This flight will be from Philadelphia to Paris, so it will be a long one, and I am a bit nervous; my husband and I are taking a vacation so that is helping me to be excited enough about being there to overwhelm the fear of getting there. When we first made the plans I was extremely anxious and I purchased the CD, DVD, and book from this site to help me to feel able to take the trip. After going over all of those materials I can say that I feel 500% better about flying than I ever did, even prior to my flying anxieties. I just hope that I can still feel that way, and still have this new flying confidence, when I board the aircraft and buckle in for my nearly 8 hour flight.

Wish me luck?
Melinda

[Clairamandine]

Melinda

I know I am French and biased but please trust me that next weekend you will understand why a holiday in the city of love, is worth all the scare and anxiety!

Focus on the destination, take a guide book with you and start making plans about what you are going to see and look forward to etc.

Tell the crew you are not feeling too comfortable and they'll check up on you, also choose a comedy on the flight entertainment system, anything that may distract you! You don't need luck, only a bit of patience and you'll be there.

Take care and enjoy France
Claire-Amandine

[Captain Keith]

Hi Melinda

As you know you don't need luck, just determination and the courage to face your fear...and you've got that and done that so we wish you luck of course.

I 'm pleased that all the stuff you bought from us have worked for you and given you the support that you needed. Paris is a fantastic city and traditionally the French and English don't say nice things about each other!

As Clairamandine says it's the city of love...very romantic interesting places to see. You must go to the Louvre and Mon Martre and have your pictures drawn by a street artist. The food is delicious....and so on.

We look forward to hearing about your flight when you get back.

Meanwhile stay focussed and contact me if you need to know anything.

Keith

[Melinda]

Thank you both! I have spent the last couple of weeks engrossed in my travel books (we are also flying to Rome, so that should be a fantastic leg of the trip as well), and I am very excited about all the amazing things there will be for us to see.

We just finished the bulk of packing. I think I have about 20 times more stuff to keep myself occupied during the flight than I could ever possibly need, including a laptop with movies, audiobooks, and a paperback, but I feel better just having a variety of things to keep myself busy (just in case I can't sleep at all - which would be the ideal time occupier).

I'll be sure to tell all about it when I get back!
Melinda

[Melinda]

I had an amazing trip, and I'm so glad I was able to go! I was having some trouble initially at the airport, and then my husband was able to help me with some kind words. I was really trying to fly without using my antianxiety medication, but after we had a delay because there was an indicator for the de-icing system, then having that fixed, and then being 20th in line to take off because of a weather delay, I decided to take my meds. We were delayed by 2.5 hours, and I think I was doing pretty well without the medication, but I didn't want to chance having a miserable flying experience and then a miserable trip. The medication worked very well, as did the tips I've learned through here. I was able to reassure myself quite well, and I'm really indebted to the hard work Keith put into his tips for helping me to make it through the travel with flying colors. Telling myself "look, everything must be fine because the crew is just doing their normal jobs" and other sorts of normalizing things put me at ease throughout the trip.

The only difficult part of the flying was going from Frankfurt to Rome on Ryanair. Just the whole hectic budget airline experience is not a fun one for a fearful flyer! But after all 4 flights on this trip, and about 20 hours of actual flying, I'm really so glad that I took the trip. Now I've seen Paris, gone to the Eiffel Tower, walked the streets of Montmartre, roamed through the Colosseum, and seen the Vatican - all things I never imagined I'd do!