This was something I had been putting off for a long time, but now there was no getting out of it. This time it was imperative for me to fly to the U.S, after all how could I not not be there for my son's graduation. It's not that I don't enjoy travelling, in fact I love it, but the travel time is quite killing. At least for someone like me who feels claustrophobic in closed spaces. The family suggested that I read up about claustrophobia on the internet - after all there must be something that exists out there than can alleviate my fear. I browsed through a whole lot of suggestions from herbal remedies to flying first class (is this really a rainy day situation?) but realized that they were not working for me, instead were making me all the more nervous. So when booking the flights, we decided to break journey in order to make it more comfortable for me.
The plane took off and after the meals everyone settled in for the night and the lights were switched off - that was my nemesis. Within this closed space and in pitch darkness, I could feel the panic welling up. I had all sorts of images of going into panic mode and I quickly rushed to the back of the plane - the galley. Thankfully the lights were on in there and I felt much better. The air-hostess nodded understandingly when I told her how I was feeling. I think they are quite used to such loony cases. Needless to say, the entire night was spent shuttling back and forth, from my seat to the galley, and from the galley to the seat whenever the seat-belt sign went on (that darned turbulence!). Anyway, in the morning things as usual looked nice and I forgot about my nights ordeal. Now we had reached Zurich and half my travel time was over.
I happily boarded the flight to New York - happy because it was a day flight and by now I had surmised that darkness and closed spaces put together were anathema for me. But after the food service, to my surprise (which was then followed by absolute horror) the blinds were pulled downwards and the lights were switched off AGAIN - it was siesta time. Panic started building up - now what was I supposed to do? I didn't fancy spending another seven hours in the galley (no offense to the air-hostesses). I looked around and everyone looked very comfortable - nobody looked the least bit discomforted. There was an Italian family which was sitting nearby. They were really high spirited - talking at high pitch and cracking jokes - a very enthusiastic lot. Right in front were a couple of guys with a girl wearing t-shirts from Hell's Kitchen. One of the guy's spoke non-stop to the girl travelling with him - till now I always thought that we females could chat - but hey that guy could sure give us stiff competition in a chatathon. I got so busy observing my fellow passengers that I forgot about my paranoia. When we landed, the Italian family let out a huge shout of joy - it was clearly their first time to the U.S too.
Now when I look back I feel nice that I handled my fears better - what was this entire fuss about? So my take from this entire experience has been that one should first tackle the monster, and that it can only get better from there.
P.S - Forgot to tell you that the return flight was a breeze.
The plane took off and after the meals everyone settled in for the night and the lights were switched off - that was my nemesis. Within this closed space and in pitch darkness, I could feel the panic welling up. I had all sorts of images of going into panic mode and I quickly rushed to the back of the plane - the galley. Thankfully the lights were on in there and I felt much better. The air-hostess nodded understandingly when I told her how I was feeling. I think they are quite used to such loony cases. Needless to say, the entire night was spent shuttling back and forth, from my seat to the galley, and from the galley to the seat whenever the seat-belt sign went on (that darned turbulence!). Anyway, in the morning things as usual looked nice and I forgot about my nights ordeal. Now we had reached Zurich and half my travel time was over.
I happily boarded the flight to New York - happy because it was a day flight and by now I had surmised that darkness and closed spaces put together were anathema for me. But after the food service, to my surprise (which was then followed by absolute horror) the blinds were pulled downwards and the lights were switched off AGAIN - it was siesta time. Panic started building up - now what was I supposed to do? I didn't fancy spending another seven hours in the galley (no offense to the air-hostesses). I looked around and everyone looked very comfortable - nobody looked the least bit discomforted. There was an Italian family which was sitting nearby. They were really high spirited - talking at high pitch and cracking jokes - a very enthusiastic lot. Right in front were a couple of guys with a girl wearing t-shirts from Hell's Kitchen. One of the guy's spoke non-stop to the girl travelling with him - till now I always thought that we females could chat - but hey that guy could sure give us stiff competition in a chatathon. I got so busy observing my fellow passengers that I forgot about my paranoia. When we landed, the Italian family let out a huge shout of joy - it was clearly their first time to the U.S too.
Now when I look back I feel nice that I handled my fears better - what was this entire fuss about? So my take from this entire experience has been that one should first tackle the monster, and that it can only get better from there.
P.S - Forgot to tell you that the return flight was a breeze.
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