I'm on a boat!

I'm way behind! But I'm back now and have no travel plans until July.  Thank goodness.

So if you noticed on my Facebook, I recently went to San Diego for work to watch a missile launch. Don't worry, it was only a test, and here is the article. 

I was lucky enough to go for a ride on the support ship and witness the launch in person. It was a great trip, albeit short. Here are a few photos:

The view from my balcony

The pirate ship parked next door.

A Whale of a Fountain

I'm on a boat!

 

Silent Sentry

But enough of all that. Let's get into some real serious topics. Like how much I hate flying.

Anybody that knows me pretty much has a clue that I absolutely hate flying in an airplane. I am not as scared of a terrorist attack as I am of the plane falling out of the sky by accident. Irrational? Yes.

Usually a week or so before the flight I start to feel the effects on my body. I don't FEEL scared yet, but my body starts rejecting food and I start losing sleep. The day before the flight, I usually start worrying about all the "What-Ifs", which I won't go into detail about, and the day OF the flight, I am so anxious that I cannot focus on anything else.

With all the flying I've been doing lately for work, I have actually been doing REALLY well. On the flight to Georgia, I actually sort of ENJOYED it. Oh, did I mention that I find planes extremely interesting? And that I love to watch them take off and often drive off the road doing so? It's just that whole BEING on the plane thing...

Anyhoo. So I boarded the flight to San Diego, not especially worried, just knowing that I'd be extremely bored for 5 hours. My first clue of what lay ahead was when the Captain welcomed us aboard, and noted that we were going to hit a line of thunderstorms about 45 minutes into the flight. My second clue was when the flight attendants let us know that they would be delaying their beverage service until after we passed the storms. My third clue was 20 minutes into the flight when the Captain came on again, let us know the storms were approaching quickly, and told the flight attendants to be seated immediately.

The next hour was the worst of my life. Things were pretty bad already, then the Captain informed us that the next 20 minutes were going to be extremely bumpy. They were not kidding. I have never been so scared.  We were truly in God's hands up there- that thing was pitching, rolling, dropping- felt like I was in a cocktail shaker.... I absolutely NEVER recommend boarding a plane if there is a huge line of storms on the radar.

I felt like a little girl who needed her Mom. I was scared, alone, and certain that we were going to fall out of the sky imminently. I tried to remind myself that if it wasn't safe, they wouldn't fly. But it didn't really help AT ALL. I was shaking like a leaf.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the girl next to me said "So did you watch the Oscars last night?" I looked up at her, bewildered, and said shakily, "Yeah, yeah I did, did you?" And from there on we talked about the different movies, who won, why we were going to San Diego, her upcoming wedding, etc. I don't know her name or anything, but it was the nicest thing in the world. I really appreciated her effort to distract me and I'll probably never forget it.

After about an hour of "shake it like a salt shaker", things calmed down, beverage service began, I read "Harry Potter", and the next four hours passed slowly, but uneventfully until we landed in SD.

THANK GOD THAT WAS OVER.

Unfortunately I had to go get on a ship- in the middle of the ocean. What a traumatic 3 days.....

Luckily we had amazing weather. I was not seasick, although I still feel like I'm rocking on a boat, and the return flight was (mostly) smooth. The last 30-45 minutes were also rather turbulent, but a few factors helped me get through it:

a) I was listening to the flight deck via the armrest radio
b) The skies were clear
c) Nothing could ever be worse than the flight out

And so, I survived. Scarred for life, probably. But I guess now I will be able to calm myself down with "it's not as bad as that one time...".

Anybody else scared of flying? Or any other irrational fears?