Tuesday, June 9, 2009

You Couldn't Pay Me to Board An Air France Flight

I have a pretty big fear of flying. I'll avoid it at all costs if I can. In college, when our team would have to fly for games in other states my coaches would have to drug me so that I slept the entire flight. It was terrible. I haven't been on a plane since 2002 and would rather spend days driving to a destination than to fly.

Needless to say, the recent Air France crash has only solidified this fear (irrational as it may be) and I have seen and read the search updates. Last night I had a very upsetting dream that my husband, the kids and I were on an Air France flight that crashed in middle of the ocean. We survived, but were in middle of the ocean with no land in sight. I was holding both kids and frantically trying to keep them above water. My husband, who in real life is not that great of a swimmer, was struggling just to keep himself afloat. In this dream, I knew that death and the death of my children was inevitable. I kept going under and as I got weaker I couldn't hold the kids above my head to keep them from going under. I was mercifully woken up from this dream when my husband left for work this morning. I told him about it and semi-jokingly said, "Nobody we know better step foot on an Air France flight."

I have these weird premonitions sometimes where dreams or feelings come true or a fairly close variation comes to fruition. It's unnerving but I have also avoided some close calls by following these "feelings."

My father is traveling to Paris. I knew it was coming up, but was unaware that the trip was today. Apparently, he left DC and flew into New York on American Airlines. There his flight was cancelled due to weather. In order to get him to his destination they put him on an Air France flight. He called my mother from the airport to let her know his itinerary had changed. She mentioned it to me when I was talking to her later.

I'm sure this dream, the flight change, and the crash are all mere coincidences, but it is a bit unnerving. I don't have a "feeling" that his flight is going to crash, but considering recent events I think I'd have been a little apprehensive about boarding a flight on the same type of jet that just killed over 200 people apparently due to equipment failure.

2 comments:

Joanne said...

I know, it is scary, especially with your dream last night. But we have to think positive and hope the airlines, or organizations, or companies, will move quickly to keep our best interest and safety paramount. Especially following incidents like the recent crash. It's definitely a nerve wracking world sometimes though, isnt' it?

jodifur said...

I'm the same way, terrified to fly. I do it, but I'm not happy about it.