Are you scared of flying?

[KUSA]

The only thing that scares me about flying is losing my luggage. It sucks.

[brewer]

Just a thought. I fly stoned all of the time. Just have to keep it together until you get seated then pass out.

[Cato]

I'm not afraid of flying and 20 years ago I was scratching out a living riding submarines. Besides, it's not gravity that kills you...it's the sudden stop.

Kidding aside, I hope you can find a way to overcome your anxiety. if visiting far off places is your goal, there's no more efficient or cost effective means of getting around. Flying is perfectly safe, the statistics should be easy to find. The basis for the 'not designed for flying' argument suddenly disappears if you consider driving, eyeglasses, heart transplants, indoor plumbing, the internet, distorted guitars, the wheel, etc.

To be honest, flying is quite boring. It's like riding a cramped bus after having the privilege of standing in three different lines in order to get an x-ray and rectal exam.

I still do enjoy take-offs and landings and am fond of surveying the countryside on a clear day trying to determine where the fuck I am. The change of topography on any reasonable flight is interesting. Flying at night is a bit different. You have to contort yourself so that your eyes are adjacent to your nipples to get a view of the stars. It's interesting to note how much darkness there is in certain places between towns. The most interesting thing at night is how many planes you can identify at different altitudes and headings. Transoceanic flights are a bit of a bore as far as sightseeing goes, although I'm still transfixed how the whitecaps of waves appear not to move. 

I love flying with my wife on the rare occasions we get to travel together; most of my flying has been for work after leaving the Navy. She reminds me that the experience and actually looking forward to your destination can be fun. 

When I do travel for work, most of my enjoyment comes from the unmolested reading time I get. Like most, I work my ass off and consider flight time 'my time'. I feel sorry for those that travel for business and are now compelled to pay for WiFi. available on many flights, in order to keep clanking away on their laptops as if they never left the office.  


This is probably way more than you bargained for in a response, but despite the fact that the experience can be exciting, mundane and frustrating all at the same time only demonstrates that there'e way too much shit to think about other than gravity.

[vorlon13]

Just do what a lot of people do and get stoned prior to takeoff. ETOH, weed, RX, (together or separately)  they all make it more enjoyable. Makes going through security is kind of a pain. Not much fun standing in line hammered.

I did precisely that before 12 Steppers.

[Cato]

Hell, when I get the opportunity (and the money) I like to skydive.

Hell yes! On my bucket list, although I might have to outlive my wife to do it.

[Anomalocaris]

Not as long as I have a plane around me.

I've flown many times without any planes around me.

[The Valkyrie]

Hell, when I get the opportunity (and the money) I like to skydive.

Hell yes! On my bucket list, although I might have to outlive my wife to do it.

My parents and some friends keep telling me I'm going to get myself killed and that I have a death wish because I like to do "risky" activities.

The last time my Father said that I went to Queenstown in NZ and did a bungee jump and white water rafting.

He's been suspiciously quiet ever since.

[Anomalocaris]

I absolutely love flying.

Hell, when I get the opportunity (and the money) I like to skydive.

Travel is one of my favourite activities.

I've done it many times.   It's fun.  To experience it here in the U.S. it costs about $200 for the first timer.

[Jackalope]

I love to travel.

Flying, not so much.

I cope by drinking heavily in the air.

[Pyrrho]

I am not afraid of flying.  In the olden days, it was actually enjoyable.  Now, with the security theater at the airports, and the overly cramped seating and lack of service, it is not so enjoyable.

But flying is still safer than riding in a car or taking a train (which is safer than riding in a car).  You really should try to get over your fear of flying.  You would be safer flying places than traveling other ways, and it tends to be faster as well, though they waste more time at airports than they used to, so it is not as fast as it used to be.

The reason plane crashes make news is because they are relatively rare and a lot of people die at once.  On TV news, they don't bother reporting every car death in the world, as that would take way too much time and usually only a few people die per accident, making the stories not newsworthy.  But a lot more people die per mile in car accidents than in plane accidents, so you would be safer flying.