It's not the flying that scares me, it's the "smacking into a mountain at 500mph"
I've always been a bit of a late developer. I was 11 (1991) when we first had a VCR (I was socially ostracised at school for being the only kid in the class not to own one). It wasn't until just after my 21st birthday that I got to take my first flight abroad.

I didn't start out with a simple internal flight to another Britsh city, or even a short haul flight to the continent - no I decided to travel around the world and my first flight was Heathrow to Los Angeles - a marathon 11 hour flight. All good so far. Had awesome time in LA, met Cypress Hill in a bar and had my photo took in George Michael toilet! Good times!

From LA I flew to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands - an 8 hour flight with Air New Zealand. When we arrived at Rarotonga after a boring flight, it was 3am, 21c and I could see the palm trees and hear the ocean. We were serenaded by a little man with a guitar and a girl gave me a flower whilst I was queuing to have my passport checked - certainly better than bloody US customs!!

We arrived at the hostel on Muri Lagoon at about 4am, and prompty went to bed; all uneventful except the shock of a large lizard in the toilets (bear in mind that Weymouth had been the most tropical destination in my life before!)

When we awoke and stumbled outside I couldn't believe where I was - tourquoise waters stretched out across the lagoon from the almost deserted white sands. Birds of paradise swooped over my head and palm trees swayed lazily; the occasional thud of a fresh coconut hitting the floor. The sort of place you only ever see on TV or in books. Paradise; and I was there. I had found my eutopia.

I met a few others from the hostel over a fresh fruit breakfast, including a bloke who lived not 5 minutes up the road from me!! The phrase "Small World" doesn't begin to cover it! and we sat and chatted in the warm sunshine. All stress and strain of my life had gone. I couldn't be happier.

Then the real world was brought back to me in a shocking manner...

A man, one of the islanders, can running up to us with a print out from the BBC Website; ears in his eyes. We crowded round this scrap of paper he had managed to get hold of. We read the headlines:

WORLD TRADE CENTRE HIT BY PLANES, HUNDREDS DEAD.

PENTAGON DESTROYED IN PLANE CRASH

You see I had flown on September 11th 2001. I had taken off from LA airport in the evening of the 10th but the time difference and the length of the flight meant the attack on the WTC had happened while we were in the air. All air traffic had been stopped but we were allowed to continue to our destination. I even have a passport stamp with "Sept 11th 2001" which I think is bloody rare considering only Air Force One were flying that day!

Whilst the man with the printout ran off to the next building, we crowded round the tiny TV in the hostel owner's shack watching BBC World Service - his wife and child watching us take the news in. Watching the reporters explain the horror that was unfolding in front of our very eyes, choking back the tears in some cases. The Austrian couple were in tears, the British were just silent. Absolute horror was going on and I am thousands of miles from home.

Then it struck me - nobody knows I'm here! They don't know my plane landed safely, or diverted or if I was still stuck in LA. I had to let people know I was ok. The only internet cafe in Muri was packed with travellers - flicking between the BBC site and emailing their loved ones. Once it was my turn on the terminal I let everyone know I was safe and carried on my travels as best as I could. Before I left for Fiji we attended a church service on the island where we prayed for the victims and the people still missing.

Although airports from then on were a nightmare - I had to explain my epilepsy tablets to the security at Fiji airport.

Once I reached Australia I had to take 2 flights. From Melbourne to Sydney where we were stuck in a holding pattern for 45 minutes, swooping over the sea in stormy weather while Quantas thought it would calm the passengers by playing the Titanic theme over the tannoy!! And from Sydney to Cairns, where on our descent into Cairns, the plane caught fire! Smoke billowing from one of the seals - the cabin crews' fixed grins were becoming more strained with beads of sweat appearing on their brows! Landed safely but my god I thought my number was up! Cheers Quantas!

Otherwise I fly pretty well - except when I was flying from Munich to Bristol in a tiny BA City Connect plane we were blown off course and the pilot had to do an emergency landing almost sideways!

Smell it I was sitting it!
( h3donist tryin' to play me out as if my name is Sega.., Fri 30 May 2008, 11:13, Reply)