Tag Archives: Fear of flying

We Don’t Fly-Part 2

19 Oct

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

I’ve been looking back on our July Cruise vacation. We flew from Florida to Alaska. We had a lot of anxiety but didn’t feel we could turn down our daughter’s gift of an Alaska cruise, The flight to Vancouver was not ideal, but it wasn’t as nerve wracking as we feared. We were both able to relax For the return flight, our daughter downloaded movies to her iPad Pro for her dad to watch during the flight and he was a happy man.

Our hotel in Vancouver was in the same shopping strip as the famous Tim Horton Donut shop. Now I am a die-hard Krispy Kreme fan. People from up north swear by Tim Horton donuts, so we had to give them a try as they were practically next door. Plus my husband hasn’t found a donut he didn’t like.

This picture was taken the morning after our late and traumatic arrival in Vancouver, so he wasn’t looking too perky. The donuts did lift his spirits.

We made several visits to Tim Horton’s and after multiple “tastings” we gave them a rating, comparing them to Krispy Kreme and Dunkin Donuts.

Overall taste and texture Krispy Kreme was the winner, with Tim Horton a strong second and Dunkin Donuts in last place. Tim Horton did win first place in the apple fritter category, my husband’s favorite treat. Eating one is like enjoying a fried apple pie with a nice amount of apple bits. Dunkin Donuts came in last place.

Moving along back to our flying experience…Going through airport security was exasperating. Seeing our stuff going through a scanner ahead of us made me crazy. ANYONE could pick up our stuff. My husband was in a wheelchair and I was always ahead of him while they detained him.

Our daughter became so stressed trying to make sure my husband and I were ok that on the flights home, I agreed to being wheeled through the airport too. It kind of hurt my pride, but truth be told, the wheelchair escorts walked so fast I couldn’t keep up with them.

By the time our trip was over, we had overcame our fear of airplane travel. We would definitely be willing to fly again if anyone offers us a free vacation! Well, except for the scam caller who claimed to be from Expedia and offered me a too good to be true deal.

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We Don’t Fly

31 Aug

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

What do you say when someone offers you a free cruise to Alaska? Thank you, yes would have been the expected response. In our case our first response was, “but we don’t fly.” And the cruise terminal in Vancouver Canada is a L O N G road trip from Florida!

We both took some deep breathes and decided we can do this, well as long as our daughter flew with us. She is the one who invited us on the cruise. My husband was so excited. Visiting Alaska was a life long dream.

My husband and I have both had an unfortunate incident on our one and only flights, his for work and mine to visit family. Since then we have been avid road trippers. I am a pro at planning a road trip. I love collecting information, planning the route and choosing our nightly stops. Easy peasy. Planning a vacation that didn’t involve car transportation was a whole different adventure.

The hardest aspect of the trip for me mentally, was how do we arrange transportation from the airport to hotel after a red eye flight? Would there be any Uber or Lyft rides? Vancouver is proud of its public transportation system and I explored that option. You Tube videos extolled the ease of taking the Sky Train directly from the airport.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Of course since I didn’t choose a hotel downtown, we would then have to transfer to a bus. Somehow I couldn’t picture us corralling three suitcases and 6 carry on items on public transportation at midnight. I had to look for other options and I was able to book a car pick up fhrough Viatour. We had a free day in Vancouver before the cruise and we did use the public transportation. I was extremely thankful we didn’t choose to use it from the airport.

In Florida we live less than an hour from the cruise terminal. When we have gone on a cruise in the past, we could carry as many pieces of luggage we felt was needed. For this trip we had to pack most everything in a single suitcase a piece plus two carry on bags.

We were in North Carolina at our mountain home for the summer and my husband began packing a month in advance. He nearly drove me crazy with questions I couldn’t answer. What kind of clothes to take, will our suitcases be an acceptable size, should we buy new jackets? Meanwhile I was silently stressing over getting a mental grip on how to get around Vancouver without a car. Renting a car was not pracitcal.

Since we would be flying together from Florida, we finally, we came to an agreement that we would put into our suitcases everything we even thought we might want to take and let our daughter, an experienced traveler, straighten us out when we arrived at her house. She was ruthlessly kind straightening out our chaotic suitcases. Once she was finished, everything was neatly packed and we even had some small spaces should we purchase souvenirs.

Photo by SHVETS production on Pexels.com

Before leaving North Carolina we had a check up with our doctor. We explained that we were offered a fabulous vacation opportunity but were anxious about flying and would like a short term anti-anxiety medication to take before the flight. Because, after all, we don’t fly!

Hopefully, more next week.

I'm a winner

After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience.  Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites,  Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix

In addition to blogging, I’m a general  “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books  

My 2023 goal is continue to use my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media.

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