Altitude Anxieties: My First Flight Saga

There was a time when plane crashes happened often. At that time, I longed to become a pilot as a kid but changed my mind because, clearly, I didn't want to die in a plane crash. I had never been on a plane, however, but I developed a phobia for flying planes.

Fast forward to some years after the development of fear for heights, and I was able to fly in a plane to Ghana with my family. From the moment we started packing to travel until I boarded the plane, my insides were not at ease. I might have even shared my "last prayer." Imagine that I could have been petrified when the plane began to take off and we were in the air.

Boarding the plane was way more of a process than I could have imagined. All we ever did to use public transport vehicles like cabs only required that we carried the right price, and then we were good to go and at our destinations in no time. The "getting on flight" was an entirely different and unusual experience for me.

From one checkpoint to another and from one room to another, we kept progressing like that until, finally, we were in a tunnel that led straight into the plane from the airport building.

No one told me about being on the plane for the first time, but the experience I had for the next hour after the plane took off made me wonder if that was what people always went through to travel by air.

The takeoff experience was rough. The turbulence I felt when the tyres were lifting off the ground as the plane continued moving had my entire system feeling funny. That didn't last long, until we started flying normally. The thing, however, was that my ears started feeling funny. The higher we were in altitude, the more "blocked" they felt. It was a really uncomfortable feeling.

A flight attendant approached us at some point and asked each one of us what we'd like to have to drink. They had juice and warm tea available. I felt that the warmth of the tea could help clear up my ears, so I went for that. Meanwhile, I couldn't help being ravished by the sight from down below: the ground. The lights from everywhere at night were such a pretty sight.

When the flight attendant arrived with my warm tea, I didn't hesitate to take mine and begin drinking it. The first drink I had caused me to spill tea on myself and the plane floor. It wasn't warm tea at all. It felt like it was 99 degrees Celsius. And then, considering that it was so hot, it didn't feel so nice on me.

Shortly afterwards, the plane was going to land. The pilot advised that anything liquid be covered and that we should all take safe positions. I complied, but boy, was it a little challenging to keep my cup of tea steady.

I eventually finished the cup of tea. It was much less hot then, and then it helped me open up my ears as we landed.

Getting off the plane wasn't as elaborate as getting on it. We simply stepped down a movable staircase and went to where we would get our cargo. And it was pretty much about my first experience being on a plane.

I haven't been to a place since then, so I pretty much remember much of the first and last time that I did. Now, I do want to board a plane again. I'm not sure what the experience really feels like anymore, so maybe I would jump at the opportunity if I did find any.