Panic. Not before your flight, not during it, and definitely not after. You and me, we\u2019re going to get through this together.<\/p>\n Plan ahead. Check your luggage restrictions (weight limits and any rules about carry-on items such as liquids) and pack for success. Prepare your most airport-security-friendly outfit (slip-on shoes, no belt, no metal jewellery or hairpins) and pack carry-on electronics, aerosols, and liquids so they can easily be removed and checked. Find out what time you\u2019re supposed to arrive at the airport, then give yourself an extra hour.<\/p>\n Basically, make your trip to, and run through, the airport as smooth and stress-free as possible. Anxiety has a nasty way of building on top of itself, so the last thing you need is a random traffic jam or extra-long security line adding to your stress.<\/p>\n Watch Alive<\/em> on the flight, or Air Crash Investigation<\/em> the week before. Why would you do that?!<\/p>\n Check out this time-lapse video<\/a>\u00a0showing the average number of major flights that zip around the world every day. Or this one one of just Australia<\/a>. More than 100,000 flights carrying more than 8 million people take off every day, and almost all of them will be safe, uneventful, and (probably) boring. I\u2019m sure plenty of clever clogs have already told you that \u201cflying is the safest way to travel\u201d and I hate to be one more. But the numbers don\u2019t lie, and a handy visual can really help you get your head around them.<\/p>\n Listen to other passengers. Don\u2019t listen to them in general (eavesdropping is creepy), and definitely don\u2019t listen to their commentary on plane noises, turbulence, or last-minute maintenance. They\u2019re not aeronautical engineers, they\u2019re just some guy who\u2019s probably going to lean his chair all the way back the second you take off (jerk).<\/p>\n Watch the flight attendants. They fly every day<\/strong> \u2013 thousands of flights, millions of kilometres. And they do it in style \u2013 fresh-pressed uniforms, perfect hair, no mid-flight morning breath. They\u2019ve seen it all before and your flight is just another day in their sky-high office. They know what\u2019s up and if they\u2019re not worrying, why should you?<\/p>\n By the way, those awesome flight attendants are there to help. Chat to one before take-off, when they\u2019re checking seat belts or handing out those random wash cloths (seriously, what\u2019s the point of those things?). If they know you\u2019re nervous, they\u2019ll stop by occasionally to see how you\u2019re going.<\/p>\n Worry about turbulence or weird plane noises (regardless of whether or not the jerk in front of you is keeping his mechanical opinions to himself).<\/p>\n Bring noise-cancelling headphones to block out both plane sounds *and* obnoxious passengers. And book a seat towards the front of the plane or over the wing, where you\u2019ll feel less turbulence.<\/p>\n I\u2019m sure those same clever clogs from before have also told you how turbulence is normal and completely safe. It actually feels much worse than it is \u2013 even the worst \u201cdrops\u201d are usually less than 15m, which is nothing when there\u2019s more than 11km between you and the ground. But it still sucks. So bag that wing seat and don\u2019t look back \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n Drink the service trolley dry. I know, it\u2019s tempting \u2013 a little drink (or five) can take the edge off a stressful day, so why not a stressful flight? But alcohol irritates your digestive system, which isn\u2019t a brilliant idea when you\u2019ve already got butterflies in your tummy. Do you want to puke in an airplane toilet?<\/p>\n No. You don\u2019t.<\/p>\n Drink lots of water. It won\u2019t do anything about your nerves directly, but it\u2019ll help stave off travel dehydration (caused by the super-dry air pumped into airplane cabins), which means you\u2019ll feel better after your flight. And the more positive flying experiences you have, the less the idea of flying will freak you out.<\/p>\n Rely solely on in-flight and electronic entertainment. You\u2019re not allowed to use them during take-off and landing, and you don\u2019t want to be caught out if your batteries die or your seat-back monitor is faulty.<\/p>\n Bring a bunch of fun distractions. I\u2019m a fan of the good ol\u2019 book \u2013 hours of undisturbed, guilt-free reading time is one of the few things about flying I do<\/strong> look forward to. But trashy magazines, travel-size board games, puzzle books, sketchpads, and colouring books (adults\u2019 or kids\u2019) are all good too. Anything to keep your mind busy and make the hours, *ahem*,\u00a0fly<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n Forget to breathe. Ever. It\u2019s kind of important.<\/p>\n Download a relaxation or mindfulness app, like Relax Lite (for iOS<\/a>\u00a0or Android<\/a>)\u00a0or Breathe2Relax (also for iOS<\/a>\u00a0or Android<\/a>). While not for everyone, breathing exercises can be incredibly helpful in managing anxiety (hey, they\u2019re a distraction if nothing else). But breathing exercises \u2013 like all forms of exercise \u2013 take some practice to get right. Try to make them part of your daily routine in the weeks leading up to your flight.<\/p>\n Be hard on yourself. Even with all the tips and tricks in the world, flying jitters are common. You\u2019re not\u00a0alone.<\/p>\n Treat yourself to ice-cream or any other in-flight goodies on offer. Hey, you\u2019re confronting your fear (flying) to do something awesome (travel). You\u2019ve earned it.<\/p>\n Bring some of your own snacks too, just in case. \u2018Cause a tough cookie like you deserves actual cookies\u2026 and chips\u2026 and lollies\u2026 and whatever else is going.<\/p>\n Lots of people get nervous about flying and, to me, it kind of makes sense. You\u2019re defying gravity in a giant metal tube \u2013 what\u2019s right about that? But if your flight jitters are keeping you up at night, making you feel sick, or even stopping you from travelling, you might need more than an app and an ice-cream. Chat to your doctor or check out Qantas\u2019s very own Fearless Flyers<\/a>\u00a0course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I work for a travel company, my family live interstate, and I\u2019m on a mission to visit every country in the world. So you\u2019d think I\u2019d be a pretty good flyer, right? Yeah\u2026 no. I hate it; it freaks me out. But after years of flying, I\u2019ve finally figured out some solid Dos and Don\u2019ts …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":4427,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[760,80],"tags":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wotif.com\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4419"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wotif.com\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wotif.com\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wotif.com\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wotif.com\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4419"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.wotif.com\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4429,"href":"https:\/\/www.wotif.com\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4419\/revisions\/4429"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wotif.com\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wotif.com\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wotif.com\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wotif.com\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/images.trvl-media.com\/media\/content\/expaus\/wotif\/ads\/2017\/wotif-insider\/flying\/anz_16321_600px_1.jpg\")
Do\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Don\u2019t\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Do\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Don\u2019t\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Do\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Don\u2019t\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Do\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/images.trvl-media.com\/media\/content\/expaus\/wotif\/ads\/2017\/wotif-insider\/flying\/anz_16321_600px_2.jpg\")
Don\u2019t\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Do\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/images.trvl-media.com\/media\/content\/expaus\/wotif\/ads\/2017\/wotif-insider\/flying\/anz_16321_600px_3.jpg\")
Don\u2019t\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Do\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Don\u2019t\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Do\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Don\u2019t\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Do\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/images.trvl-media.com\/media\/content\/expaus\/wotif\/ads\/2017\/wotif-insider\/flying\/anz_16321_600px_4.jpg\")
Need more help?<\/strong><\/h3>\n