I recently booked my passage to Philadelphia for Thanksgiving in November this year(8-29). I don't mind flying (or at least I am not morbidly afraid of flying- "the coward dies a thousand deaths, whereas the brave taste of death but once"-as the saying runs), but I suspect I must have claustrophobic tendencies-after 7 hours in the air from London Heathrow to Philadelphia International Airport, I find myself growing a little "antsy" and as soon the flight touches down I just want to rush through Customs, grab my luggage and hit the sack!. Also, on the flight back, (the so-called "red-eye") I watch others sleep and wonder why I can't. Apart from that flying isn't too bad(My mother says that the food on other carriers is better but I prefer British Airways to any other carrier!).
Anybody think as I do?

Terry

Oh I'm totally scared of flying. I have to get over it, I can't take a road trip to Europe, unfortunately!

Anyway I understand how you feel.... I've made 3 plane flights in the past 5 years. The worst one was a 45-minute flight from Austin to Dallas... the turbulence was horrible, even after taking 2 zanax I just wanted OFF! But mostly, I find airports unsettling and I believe it is because of the palpable uneasiness or impatience that just seems to flood the whole place... Think about it... airports are busy, sterile, uncomfortable, and very 'temporary' places. People are rushing in or rushing out or to catch a connecting flight. Alternately, people are just sitting around waiting. You wait in lines that take forever, you have to give up your luggage and it goes onto a very impersonal conveyor belt and disappears through the flap... You go through security and wait on rows and rows of chairs with lots of other people. Then you are shuffled onto a plane and packed in, it's not very comfortable (I've never been in first class though, maybe it's nicer there if you can afford it) and you are totally dependent upon a pilot who is doing something (flying the plane) that you know nothing about. Even the atmosphere inside a plane is different, my skin gets so dry and my lips chap, even on a short flight. I feel like the air is thinner, and it drives me nutty when my ears pop. I just feel like, in a plane, all my control is totally removed. Oh - I cannot sleep on planes either, and when I get to my destination I am like you and just want to sleep!

Can't wait for some other folks to respond and see what their experiences are like...
~Mal

I have a theory that flying for HSPs is kind of like deep sea diving- we have to "decompress" after such an experience. I've never seen that film with George Clooney where his character spends most of his time in the air but I wonder how anybody in reality could do that!

Anyway as my late friend Hippolyte put it to me once-"What cannot be avoided must be endured!"(She suffered from Raynaud's Disease, a circulatory disorder and ultimately died from complications associated with this disease).

Terry