Traveling has always been a passion of mine. Being a Military Brat, I’ve lived in more places than I can count and was traveling before the age of one! I’ve lived on the west coast of the United States and the east coast. I’ve traveled all over the US, Canada, and Europe. I was so lucky to have the opportunity to see so many places and experience so many different cultures growing up and I truly believe this has helped shape me into the person that I am today.

It should come as no surprise that when I landed my first big girl job that included traveling, I was ecstatic. Who wouldn’t want to have the opportunity to see new places on the company dime? I get to travel while getting paid to work, win-win! This all seemed great in theory, but I couldn’t shake this anxious feeling that was hovering over me about flying.

In 2017 my boyfriend and I took a trip to Atlanta in the Spring just to get out of Michigan for a weekend. The flight was only about 2 hours, but the seatbelt sign did not come off for the entire trip. I remember feeling a little anxious before the flight even took off because this was the first time I had traveled with my boyfriend, planned a trip completely on my own, paid for it on my own, and been away from home with a significant other. After the flight took off the pilot made an announcement that there would be no food and beverage service during the flight, no bathroom breaks, no nonsense. Hearing that over the speaker when you’re already nervous can send anyone into panic mode.

During the flight I tried to sleep or listen to music to distract myself from this overwhelming anxiety that I was feeling. Finally, the pilot announced that we were beginning our descent and I had never been more relieved. However, I have never experienced such a horrible and traumatizing landing. On the way down there were such extreme turbulence that basically everyone on the flight was either screaming, crying, or praying. There was a storm in Atlanta during our landing and it caused for a very chaotic end to our flight. The overhead bins were busting open and luggage was flying out, babies were crying, the woman behind me was speaking in tongues, my boyfriend was trying to shake emotion out of me, and I was sitting in my seat hugging my knees with my chin tucked to my chest trying to pull myself out of my panic attack.

I have never experienced anything more terrifying in my life. In that moment I really thought that I was going to be part of a plane crash. Once we finally landed it took me a while to shake the nerves off. I’d never been happier to have my feet on solid ground. The rest of my trip I could hardly enjoy myself because I was so worried about flying home, hoping that the trip back would be better than the trip there.

As I started to travel more, I noticed that the anxiety that I had from that trip started to carry over into all my other flights. Any time I would be on a flight that was longer than two hours I would have panic attacks and internal mental battles about whether I would be able to even get on the plane to get to where I needed to be. It was becoming problematic for me since a big part of my professional life involved traveling and a passion in my personal life involved traveling! It was this frustrating internal dilemma that would cause me weeks of stress before leaving on any trip.

At the end of 2019 I made it a goal of mine to find a healthy way to overcome my travel anxiety. I made it a point to come up with a solution before my first trip of the year which was at the end of January to Las Vegas. I did everything that I could leading up to my trip to put myself at ease, while on the actual flight, and afterwards. I am excited to share some healthy tips and pointers that helped me combat my flight anxiety!

No caffeine the day before, or the day of travel.

For me, I can always tell that my anxiety spikes when I have any caffeine. So as hard as it was I forced myself not to have any caffeine the day before my flight or the morning of my actual travel.

Drink Cup of Calm Tea.

The night before my flight and the morning before I left, I made sure to drink a glass of Cup of Calm medicinal tea. My mom swears by this stuff and I actually did notice a difference. It is medicinal, so the more you drink it the better it works!

Don’t wait until the last minute to pack.

A great way for me to make sure that I eliminated any extra stress was making sure that my checked bag and carryon were all packed a couple days before I left. There are always a couple miscellaneous things that I can’t pack until the morning of (contacts, daily medicine, wallet, etc) so I made sure to list everything before going to sleep so I could check all my last minute items off before leaving for the airport.

Bring a journal in your carry on bag.

As the doors on my flight closed I could feel my anxiety creeping in. I got my journal out and started writing down and labeling everything I was feeling. “You’re feeling anxious because you are not in control of this situation. But don’t worry, sometimes it’s okay to not be in control…I’m sure the pilot can get you to Las Vegas more safely than you could.” It seems a little silly literally having a conversation with yourself on paper but for me this helped more than any of the other tips.

Have a comforting scent handy.

I made sure to have a roller ball of lavender oil on my carry on so that I could take a deep breath of one of my favorite scents if I felt like I was slipping into a panic attack. Reassuring myself that all of my senses are working during anxious times is an extremely helpful grounding technique. You could also spray a significant others perfume/cologne on your sleeve to make you feel more at home. Using essential oil jewelry can be a good option too!

Talk to your doctor.

Before my trip I made sure to talk to my counselor about the anxiety I was having. She made sure to send me off with the techniques I mentioned above so that I had a successful travel experience. She was also able to prescribe me anti-anxiety medicine so that I had a calming booster in case I was feeling panicky!

Reward yourself with your favorite meal or treat after a successful flight.

I made sure to research specific meal/restaurants in Las Vegas to reward myself with once I landed. I would remind myself about the best Pad Thai in Las Vegas if I was getting antsy or nervous upon takeoff. It really helped to reward this victory for myself.

I am proud to say that I was able to travel without any panic attacks or overwhelming fear this trip. This might not seem like a big deal to some people, but for me, overcoming this obstacle was such a relief. I know I’m not the only person to suffer from flying fear so in writing this and being vulnerable about my traveling experiences over the last few years, I’m hoping that I can help someone overcome their fears.

Written by Alyson Markos