Travel anxiety or traveling with rogue body fluids

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There are very few things that make me barf. Seeing someone else barf is one of them. Bad injuries are another.

I don’t barf at cleaning up cat stuff. It’s either too much experience or I’m tough.

Taxes and medical tests can make be barfy or cranky (take your pick).

Travel will do it. Even if there is no motion sickness, there is the anxiety. It exhibits itself at one end of the body or the other. Nasty stuff.

I worry about being late. Late for planes, late for trains, just late. Missing a plane or train makes sense because it’s a big deal to reschedule. For other things it doesn’t matter. Logic doesn’t enter here. I still worry.

I worry about getting stranded anywhere – big cities or the middle of nowhere. (I bet there is a long Latin name for that! It ends in phobia.) Others may look at this as an adventure. I am petrified. I’ve spent my share of time in terminals. Waiting. Sleeping. Eating pretzels because nothing is open. Not fun.

When I was younger, I was better at this. I did a lot of traveling even with my anxieties. A nice margarita before flight often helped. Now it just makes me go to the bathroom.

I have fond memories of running barefoot (it’s faster than running in heels) in an airport from the bar to the gate with a friend because time got away from us. That was back in the days when things were more relaxed. Run in an airport today and you may be taken down as a suspect, even if you are old and blonde. (Especially if you are old and blonde!)

Bathrooms are another anxiety. Who fits in those anyway? Twiggy? No matter how little I drink, I always have to use them. Usually after someone sprayed the room during turbulence.

By the way, turbulence is one thing that doesn’t make me barfy. Did I say there’s no logic here.

I have a friend who swears by Xanax for flying. It makes me sleepy so I have the additional worry of sleeping through my gate announcement or maybe the next holiday.

I’m waiting for Scotty. He can beam to wherever I want to go. Just hoping he makes it in my lifetime. Woo hoo!

 

63 thoughts on “Travel anxiety or traveling with rogue body fluids”

  1. Hi Kate,
    I can so relate to this post with regards to travel. I don’t enjoy it much anymore either. It seems to get more and more complicated all the time. My mate and I went on a trip to Panama last month and our cabin baggage was overweight so they told us to put some things into our suitcases which were slightly underweight. Hello, it’s all going on the plane so what’s the difference? Here’s a really funny clip from a stand-up comedian that tackles the subject and it’s a good laugh – enjoy! (love your posts, keep ’em coming)

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    • That clip is funny. My first encounter with armed security was at Athens airport in the ’80s. Military with machine guns circled the area. I didn’t know if I should be frightened or relieved. Good trip though.

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  4. I don’t get barfy, but I’m not a good traveler. I have a lot of anxiety about the same things you’ve mentioned. I think if we didn’t have to go through so many security phases at the airports I could do better.

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    • I did much better before security and overbooked flights. When going through the larger airports I’m never sure how much time security will take. It’s every man for themselves these days! Oh yes, and what you wear….slip of shoes, nothing that causes suspicion. Except for the smoking, I long for the old days of flying.

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  5. I’ve never been a good flyer..anxiety and all, but as I’ve aged, I’m not sure how I feel. I used to plan trips easily and go places without all the technology and travel sites available today, and yet there is more anxiety today then there was years ago. My guess is it’s age but I just don’t know why. I love to travel hit sometimes I just few like being home and not go through everything it takes to plan, pack and get to my destination. But when I’m there I’m glad I went. It’s just getting there that’s the issue.
    And I thought retirement traveling would be such fun..:)

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    • It was easier when you told a travel agent what you wanted to do and they handed you tickets. Now I’m always concerned about the best price, best time of day to avoid delays, etc. People who do a lot of traveling are instinctive about that. Not me.

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  8. Glad to know I’m not alone on how I feel. I used to travel a lot by plane and I didn’t like it. I didn’t like the feeling when we took off or landed. I do want to travel again, I haven’t traveled in years. Any tips on dealing with take off and landing, plus turbulence? Books, advice, videos, etc.

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    • Nothing works for me but at some airports they have classes on fear of flying. Our airport runs them occasionally. I’m not so afraid of flying but of all the inconvenience and fear of missing a connection or my luggage.

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  9. I’m the same about being late. My ex never cared either way, which made our going out anywhere pretty much a stressful experience. Thankfully my wife now is like me in that regard, so we both tend to come up with ridiculously conservative estimates for how long it’ll take to get somewhere. We tend to visit Starbucks or similar near any place we’re going because it’s just too early to arrive. 🙂

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  10. I used to love flying. Take offs and landings were fun, and people-watching was superlative. We flew once after 9/11. I despise having to get to the airport so early and going through security. I hope I never have to fly again. John just did three round trips to NY in the space of four weeks, all driving. He is not as anti-flying as I am, but it’s cheaper to drive our grandsons back and forth than to have them fly.

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  12. Traveling would be so much better if it didn’t involve traveling! I love being somewhere different, but the hassle getting there almost makes me not want to go. My husband and I often go by car if possible – we add hours or days to the trip, but we enjoy a road trip so much more than the pain of flying. We have a couple of trips coming up where we have to go by plane and I’m already dreading the experience.

    Your story about running through the airport with your friend reminded me of a business trip MANY, MANY years ago. My friend and colleague had a three-hour layover in Chicago so we did what any sane person would do and found a bar. I guess we ended up having too much fun there because three hours just wasn’t enough time. We had no idea how big that airport was (our hometown airport at the time only had one terminal) and missed our flight out. Of course, back then, it was much easier to change flights.

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  13. I haven’t flown in over 10 years. Do Not Miss It!

    And you are right about those bathrooms . . . I am 5’2″ and 120 pounds and I feel cramped in there. I can’t imagine how the “large and tall” crowd manage to maneuver in that tight space.

    Yesterday someone was telling me about her 18 hour flight from San Francisco to Singapore. 18 hours! 18 hours on a tube sailing through space! ACK!

    I did enjoy taking the Auto Train from Florida to NJ to get my mom and bring her back here after dad died. Everything but an overnight bag got left in the car so it was easy to wander around the terminal until boarding. And the cocktail lounge and dining cars were great fun. I would do it again.

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  14. I don’t fly that often so to me it is still an adventure. I love it. I love the feel of the plane taking off. Even found an all day $5 mimosa bar in Portland during a layover so now we don’t even mind that. What I mind is the expense! That makes me nauseous when the bills come in. I guess I have been lucky not to have had any bad experiences.

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    • Enjoy your experiences. I don’t think I ever really enjoyed it although when I was with friends flying to the islands, it was different. It was easy and the islands had no security at all. In fact most were just pavilions without walls. Most places did not require passports.

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  15. I only do travel by car. No bus (no matter how nice), no plane, no train. Well, I would take Amtrak for a day trip. Plane travel is not an option for me ever again after an unfortunate incident with a tuna sandwich on take off. Car travel is so interesting in a thousand different ways! 😀

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    • I am back to car travel too. When I lived in NJ I would take the train into NYC but I haven’t been there in years (and I don’t live in NJ anymore). The thing about car travel is that if you don’t leave on the dot, it’s ok. You can stop along the way if necessary. I just prefer that it isn’t too long a drive. When we go to the beach, it’s by car.

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  16. I don’t enjoy travel like I used to. I remember when flying was elegant and we dressed up for travel. Now? It’s a circus.

    I worry the whole time, and all of my worries are rational. Not having a real ticket in hand sends my blood pressure up before I even get to the airport. Then, apparently I’m a bullseye target for the TSA, so I usually get hassled by them… just so they can claim that they did their jobs, I suspect. And the germs everywhere in an airport and plane creep me out. Not to mention the whole will my luggage make it to my final destination? That’s a crap shoot.

    Air travel of old was so much better…

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  17. I don’t travel if I can help it. Both feet planted firmly on the ground, that’s my motto. So, like you, I’ve been known to long for those future days when all I’d need to say is, “Beam me up, Scotty.” But, come to think of it, I’d probably worry about something going wrong with that, too.

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  19. The older I get the more agoraphobic I become. It is awful, I have put red flags on all the places I wanted to see. I don’t like being this way. But, the reference in this blog is being late. I hate being late. One could always count on me to be on time. But, I live with someone who is perpetually late. And the big rub is….he always tries to blame it on me!!!!!

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    • Of course it’s your fault! 🙂 I gave up flagging things. I’ve seen a lot and I’m happy with that. Maybe New Orleans again. I was there and would love to visit with my husband for the food and the architecture.

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  20. Oh, the old ads for flying airlines like Pan Am with stewardesses in neat suits and hats – when people dressed just to go meet/pick up someone at the airport.
    I hate airports now – too complex, too crowded, too rude and too many chances for something to go wrong.

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    • Free drinks, free food (ok so it wasn’t great but it was there), bigger seats, underbooked flights (where you could sleep peacefully across seats). The good old days. Last time I flew, I was frisked. Seriously! Do I look like a terrorist? They patted down my stomach and I was neurotic the whole weekend. Does my stomach look like there’s an AK47 tucked in there?

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  21. LOL, for me it’s always been the lateness anxiety. I’m always the early one or on time. If the clock is ticking and it’s 9:58 for a 10:00 appointment and I’m still on the bus…..I feel like barfing. Bizzare. Gawd help if my friends aren’t on time for lunch! And the person you are meeting doesn’t even notice you’re on time! Great post. 🙂

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    • I have early friends and late friends. It’s one of the first things I notice about a person. If I’m pulling in at 9:58 for a 10 a.m. apt, I start hustling but I always have to wait anyway. When it’s something I can’t control like an airplane, I get nuts. My old hair stylist always ran late. She chatted up a storm with every customer so if you were later in the day expect a half hour wait. The only impact was to my schedule. Perhaps the level of barfiness depends on the impact.

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    • I can barely remember that. The only bad thing then was the smoking. Even if you were in non-smoking, it would waif down to you. Smokes makes me really barfy. Sat next to a cigar once and almost tossed my cookies on him. Had to change seats. It was a charter flight so they allowed cigars.

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    • Usually we fly out of our local airport which is easy to maneuver but it almost always means a layover. That’s when it gets tricky. My husband doesn’t like to fly late in the day because the chance of being late and missing the connecting flight is greater. We could travel to one of the major airports near us but it’s a two hour drive.

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    • I haven’t had a full panic attack so you have my sympathy there. One time I got very faint and had to engage the staff because I was afraid of passing out. That was a bad trip. Never knew exactly why that happened.

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