Want to Conquer Your Fear of Flying? It’s Easy… Fly

My wife called me at work last summer and said, "Hey, wanna go to Cabo in January?" In haste, and because of my fandom for Sammy Hagar and beer, I said, "Absolutely" and almost immediately regretted it... you know... because of the whole flying thing.I've always had a fear of flying. As long as I can remember. I think it had something to do with my fear of heights. I couldn't get over the fact that I would be 35,000 feet in the air with nothing underneath me except the floor of the plane.

As our flyaway date came closer and closer, I dreaded it more and more and for some stupid reason, I would watch videos of planes crashing. Probably not the smartest thing to do... you know... because of the whole "fear of flying" thing.

Anyway, our departure date came and it was weird... the closer we got to takeoff, the less nervous I was. I think it was just me telling myself, "It's just like riding on a bus." We boarded the plane and I took, what I thought, could be the last picture I would ever take and last Facebook post I would ever make.

Next, the flight attendant closes the door and we're going to take off. Now, to be honest, I didn't really care for the take off. Some people say that's their favorite part. Not me. It made me sick to my stomach. Not to say it wasn't cool. It's more like a carnival ride that goes about 400 miles an hour. Sure, it's cool, but you feel like you can throw up at any given moment.

Once we got in the air, the plane leveled off and we were flying at about 7,000 feet or so. Not bad. Had a pretty smooth ride... until the turbulence. They freaked me out a little bit but when that happens, look around the rest of the plane. If nobody else is freaking out, you're good to go. If you hear a loud noise and then the captain comes on the intercom and says, "What the hell was that?" THEN you need to panic.

Basically what I'm trying to say is, if you have a fear of flying, don't. There are literally, thousands of planes taking off and landing on a daily basis. THOUSANDS. 102,465 to be exact (give or take a few). The odds of a plane crash are one for every 1.2 million flights. Your chances of dying in a car accident are one in 5,000. And, even if you are aboard one of the one in 1.2 million flights that crash, the statistic is 95.7 percent of passengers survive.

I'm glad I flew and I would do it again in a heart beat for a view like this. It was an amazing trip that I look forward to doing every year from now on.

I truly think that if you have a fear of flying, it's all in your head. It's not bad at all. If I could suggest one thing, bring some gum. Your ears will be popping a lot. Other than that, enjoy the flight.

I will say that I found fear of heights kicking in when I looked out the window...but it still wasn't too bad.