Aloha Friday: Flying Fears

I’ve written about my fear of flying before.  When the airplane I’m riding in takes off or lands, I get very nervous.  Just writing and thinking about it is causing my hands to shake a bit.

I try to fill my mind with statistics which prove that air travel is safe.  I tell myself that the number of accidents involving fatalities in the past 5 years is only a handful compared to the tons of flights that take off and land uneventfully day after day after day.  Still, the Hollywood image runs through my mind of a plane coming in for a landing when something goes horribly wrong.  (Perhaps Hollywood Airlines should get some better planes because a plane in a film or TV show almost invariable encounters problems along the trip.)  The fear remains with me no matter how unreasonable I tell myself it is.

Still, I’m going to have to endure this if I want to go to Disney World.  I could do this with no problem, but this year there’s an additional fear: Airport Security.  I’m all for security on airplanes, but I’ll admit I’m afraid of the enhanced security procedures that I’ve heard are in place.  From Rapiscan scanners (seriously, could they have come up with a worse name for it?!!) that effectively display a nude image of you while exposing you to radiation to TSA personnel who must pat you down in areas that only my doctor and wife ever touch.

And it isn’t mainly me I’m afraid about.  Were it just me, I’d steel myself for it and get through it.  It’s my kids I’m worried about.  Will they ask JSL to step into the scanner by himself?  Will they want to pat down NHL such that our Stranger Danger lessons get triggered?  The boys are excited about the Disney World trip and I’d hate for an airport security nightmare to mar the experience.

My Aloha Friday question for today is: Have you travelled with kids recently via airplane?  How was your airport security experience?  If not, do you have any fears about your kids handling airport security?


Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the McLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha Friday by Kailani at An Island Life

Aloha #78

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