I ain't getting on no plane, foo'!

I would really like some serious advice. As I have mentioned before, I am absolutely petrified of flying. However, my OH has made the extravagant gesture of actually booking us a 3 week holiday in New Zealand in February next year to celebrate our resepective 30th birthdays.

I really want to go. We'll be touring the whole of NZ and it looks absolutely beautiful. I've also just been physically sick at the thought of the flight and incurred his wrath for being stupid.

How can I deal with this? Hypnotherapy or the like? Tranquilisers? 'Test' flight somewhere? It's a 24 hour flight from Heathrow to Auckland, for gawd's sake, via Los Angeles.

I dunno whether to hug him or kill him.

I'd like an option as easy as possible... it'll be a cold day in hell before I get on a glider!!

Mother has suggested a hot air balloon ride or parachaute jump

You can't realistically sedate yourself for 24 hours...unless you're an American college student...in a healthy way.

Maybe a mild tranquilizer.

I didn't know such things existed...!

Thankies!

To start with, I'd take a short flight somewhere, just an hour or so. You'll get used to taking off, landing, boarding, disembarking, etc.

Then when you take the longer flight, pop an ambien and drift off to sleep.

Apparently LEARNING to fly can help, as it adds a bit of control, and changes your perception from planes being these bit metal things that float in the air, to a piece of machinery that works in a certain way, that you can rely on. I mean, you trust cars, dont you?

I suggest gritting your teeth and getting the fuck over it. Fear has no power you don't voluntarily surrender to it. No drugs, no psychobabble, just put it out of your mind and march through it.

Nonstop coitus during the entire flight.

Also good.

take a few films with you to watch.

say, final destination, airport, die hard 2, alive...

If I do take that appraoch, I hope the others on the plane don't mind the smell of fresh, nerve induced vomit. For 24 hours.

Summer, what is the root of your fear of flying? Lack of control, as it is for most white-knucklers, or something else?

Can't work on fixin' it until we know what's broken, luv!

I think it's a combination of things, Marso I don't like heights, as I get dizzy and nauseous. Though you can't tell while on board, I know I'm high up, so I get psychosomatic symptoms.

Then I think part of it stems from a couple of bad experiences that I've blown up in my head -- bad turbulence frightening me on a flight back from Spain when I was really little (about 5 years old), and a light aircraft ride when I was 12 which also frightened me.

Check the storage area in the seat in front of you...good chance it has an airsick bag.

This is going to sound really stupid, but genuinely I have no idea -- if you're sick in a bag on a plane, where do you put the bag when done?

Eat a half oz. of shrooms right before takeoff. You'll have a blast.

On the foodservice cart.

It may surprise to learn that I don't like heights either- when I'm not in an airplane. When I'm flying, there is no such thing as 'too high'. But I don't like looking straight down out a hotel window any higher than about 5 stories- that's about the point my nutsack retracts and I start feeling tingly.

It's too bad you had a bad experience with turbulence. You just have to remember that turbulence is nothing but eddys in the air, and the planes are designed to deal with turbulence from a structural standpoint. I liken it to driving a car on a gravel road.

I can sympathize with psychosomatic fears- I get them every time I go into the Doctor's offce. I am probably one of the worst cases of 'white coat itis' on record. I know it's irrational, but I can't help it. Sit my ass in the doc's office and my pulse races and my BP shoots up.

This is a hard one. Sounds like you have a strong phobia. I'd normally tell you to stop by the airport bar and have a couple stiff ones to take the edge off, but for 24 hours that ain't gonna get it. Chances are you're going to be on a big plane, so it might help you to sit center cabin. Sitting forward also reduces the amount of aerodynamic forces you'll feel- it's a better ride. You can feel every little trim change and bump in the ass end of the jet. If you don't like heights, stay away from the window seats.

Other than that, I'm not sure what to tell you. I can quote safety stats and such, but most white knucklers don't find those to be a comfort. I'd sure hate to pass up a trip to NZ because of fear of flying, though. A hypnotherapist might do the trick for you.

The flight attendant will take it and get rid of it, sweetie.

The flight attendant has the ...honor...of disposing of the bag.

I don't get airsick...or seasick, which is basically all the same thing, motion sickness. I've flown commercial...mostly back in the 70s...after that my flight experiences where that I either had a chute on or sat behind a control yoke.

Try this out, and an airplane will be a cakewalk.
And apparently, you are not alone in your fear! (article)

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article533694.ece

Find an amenable fighter pilot, use your evil girly skills to get him to take you up for a ride...and dare him to scare you.

It won't be pleasant, but once you've survived buzzing the tower at close to Mach 1 while doing a barrel roll, you won't fear anything a mere airliner can throw at you.

Don't eat a full breakfast beforehand, though.

It probably helps to think of the pilots and mechanics and such not as screwy-uppy average people like you and me, but as professional, highly trained and skilled individuals who know their job, know what they're doing, know what things are supposed to look and feel like and how to set them right.


Taking a crash course in "survival" swimming techniques might not hurt, either.

Yeah. I resemble that remark.

Good for when you fall off the side of the cruise ship- you won't need them for air travel.

The thought of a 24 hour flight makes even me sick... I'd really start with something shorter to get you used to it. Make a few city trips or something over the summer - Ryanair, Air Berlin, Fly Europe, it's dirt cheap and you can go home the next day or something. In case of emergency, you can take a train back to the UK because you won't be on the other side of the world.

There are also courses for this kind of thing. Simply trying to overcome it with the longest flight possible is not such a good idea IMHO. And while it's a good idea by the BF he should have consulted with you. Just my €0.02 of course.

Or try to land in Miami. The one time I landed there was the most incredible landing I ever had. Don't know what it was, either the autopilot doing the work or an F-16 pilot transplanted to a commercial cockpit but that clear day landing on one of the biggest airports on the planet felt like we were going down on an aircraft carrier in the middle of a hurricane

Why don't you take a visit to a tall building? That might be a start. Or go somewhere where you can ride a roller coaster that goes pretty high up.

Read Erica Jong's Fear of Flying.