Yep, that's me! Sounds like fun right? It's all good. When I was on the plane I was thinking I had to do this post for people like me. Here it is.
The only way I could see my daughter who moved several states away was by getting on a plane to see her. Something I never really wanted to do because of my anxiety, fear of heights, and motion sickness issues. But when your child is so far away, a mama will do just about anything. So that’s what I did. My husband was kind enough to get us tickets to go visit her. In all honesty I do not like flying; I would do it again in a heartbeat to see my kiddo (and possible travel more). Below are a few tips that may be helpful for you. Some ideas I got from friends, others I learned along the way. You can find other great tips online on what to take with you and such but these are specific to anxiety and motion sickness while flying and what helped me personally.
Small Purse - After getting through security switch a few things into your small purse so you can put your carry-on above you and hold your essentials in your lap. Here is a list of items that were helpful for me.
1. Charging cord for electronics
2. Sunglasses
3. Lip gloss
4. Dramamine - I cannot stress this enough!
5. Snacks you have brought from home if needed.
6. Gum - my ears popped a lot more when I didn’t chew gum.
7. Large titan scarf - great for using as a blanket or pillow.
8. Any pills or medication you need while on the flight.
9. Phone/tablet
Other Tips:
1. Take dramamine and don’t wait till the last minute to take it. For me it took 1 hour for it to fully kick in. It didn’t put me to sleep but I would be a bit out of it which was great for my anxiety. It only lasted 3 1/2 hours for me. Sadly it wore off during take-off for a connecting flight. I about crawled into my husbands seat next to me. It was not good.
2. When the plane starts up, it’s loud and even louder in the air. The take-off is very fast like if you’re taking off fast in a car. The landing is very loud and slows down quickly. If you’re prepared realizing that its’ not too bad.
3. Turbulence is a thing. Just like if you were driving on a bumping road with potholes, it feels similar on the plane. No worries it’s totally normal.
4. For me even though I took dramamine, I would still get very dizzy and nauseous every time the plan would tilt. I found that during those times if I look out the window so my brain can register what’s going on I do much better.
5. Don’t eat anything greasy, spicy or have anything with carbonation if you normally get motion sickness. What helped me from the choices of on-flight food/drinks was the Delta cookies, orange juice and water.
6. Take time to look out the window. It’s a great time to contemplate just how small we are and how big the world is. It really is amazing and it makes me wonder how astronauts feel. Our world is just so beautiful! And also realizing that while I’m so small God loves even me! I also remember at one point when we flew above the clouds thinking, “we are above the clouds! I always wondered what it looked like above the clouds. This is crazy!”
7. This was my hubby’s tip and it was fantastic! Download some shows or movies from Netflix that you’ve been wanting to see. It helps keep you focused on something else in order to distract yourself. I used my fold out tray/table to put my iPad on. The case I have makes it easy for it to stand up on it's own.
8. I took my noise canceling headphones to use on the plane to just keep on my ears or to listen to the show I was watching. I LOVE them! Another wonderful gift my husband gave me a couple years ago.
9. Take someone with you that will hold your hand if it’s possible. Just having someone physically there could be SO helpful!
10. Since we have only a 2 hour time difference I stayed on my time while we were away. It may not seem like a tip that would fall under anxiety/motion sickness but it all ties together. If you have not gotten enough sleep, your symptoms could be exasperated. I do think this helped tremendously.
That's all I can remember for now. I hope this will be helpful for someone. Until next time :)
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