What would you do?
We were all ready, all packed, all there.
As soon as my son got in the hall to go to the plane he started to freak out, crying, scared of heights.
He has flown 13 jet trips, we figured it out. His last was to the Bahamas in November, and Vegas the April previous. He’ll hold our hands on the ride up, get nervous if he thinks I am tilting the plane down in the back when I take him to the bathroom, but this was a shock.
What do you do.
Honestly, one of my thoughts was, he was in touch with something greater than us, and he had an instinct that we should not fly. When the universe sends a message, it helps to be open, it helps to listen to the message.
Jet Blue was very nice, someone booked us on the next flight and we tried to work through my son’s issues. We watched planes take off and land, we talked, he met boys his age with electronics just like him on the next flight, we thought this time we could do it.
He would not walk onto the plane, even with the pilot offering to let him steer! OK, just sit in the cockpit. My son requested the plane fly lower, we told him the pilot said yes, he said he was afraid of heights. Where did this come from? Needless to say, we could not get on the second flight and began to cancel all our Disney plans, which also meant me losing a lot of money. You can only imagine my head space right now.
So here’s the thing. Our luggage went to Orlando. They do not remove luggage on domestic flights when the passengers do not fly. Great, that’s not very comforting. Anyway, both dads had put their keys in the luggage as we were not going to need them n Disney. So guess who could not get into their home? We stayed in the airport till 630 pm, from 8 am, waiting for our luggage to do the return trip to JFK.
What a miserable and exhausting day. I will never attempt Disney again, ever. We were only going because it is supposed to be a quiet week and we were only to miss 1 day of school. That may never happen again, and I don’t care. I am not training down to Orlando from NY, and I am not driving. The kid is out of luck. Let him try to talk me into Hershey Park. I don’t need no stale chocolate!
Now, I try to be spiritual. That means I am aware of the concept thet everything happens for a reason. Of course I would like my Higher Power to email me the reason, but that is unlikely, he seems to be on another email server. In the meantime, I have to accept what happened and figure out how to move forward, vacations will have to be much closer to home for this time period.
What would you have done?
Update: The next day we went to the Bronx Zoo. We went on the Bengali Express monorail. Before it took off my son again got scared and we had to get off. From there we went to a camel ride, sure he would be nervous of that, and that was fine. We are very confused and only want to take care of our sun, so forget climbing up the outside of the Empire State Building!
That really stinks! So sorry!
I read this entire post out loud to my husband as it struck such a chord with me. I am PERTRIFIED to fly! I have flown more times than I can count and went to Africa three times, but getting on the plan is still a huge thing for me. May I make a suggestion? Dramamine makes a children’s dose. Chose the drowsy and be done! so sorry that you had to suffer this experience.
So sorry. Not sure what I would have done, but you are certainly a great guy – and so, and your son is very much loved – and after all, that’s all that matters.
Oh dear. 🙁 I am sad that this happened. Disappointed, of course, that you lost money (REAL bummer!!!) and also really sad about your son’s fear of heights. I know how terrifying such a phobia can be for folks. Awww, it was just an unfortunate situation overall.
I just happened upon your site from Hip2Save. Your name caught my eye. I absolutely believe in looking for the spiritual answer. Just imagine what peril your son could have saved you from. Both serious and hilarious. Yes, you lost some money, but you could have lost much more. The glass is always half full. Someone could have broken his leg, and you might have ended up in the ER paying all kinds of co-pays. Maybe even had to stay longer and racked up extra hotel bills, meals, extra underwear. The list goes on! Focusing on the bright side is so much easier. Glad to meet your blog self!
I honestly don’t know. Mostly because I’m usually the one who thinks that we’re all going to die and my kids are like “YAY! TURBULENCE! BUMPY RIDE!”
I think you have to trust your instincts and there’s not one answer for all families.
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