I was 20 years old when I went on my first flight. It was a trip to Cancun with my girlfriend (now wife), who was a flight expert at this point, having been on a couple of flights with her family growing up. She had told me that she was a nervous flyer so I was somewhat prepared. I had no idea what I was in for.
Let the Chaos Begin
As we entered the plane, the chaos began. I looked at her with a big smile on my face, ready to fly for the first time, and ready to take our first long distance couples trip. She looked back at me with tears in her eyes. Apparently “nervous” was the wrong word. “Terrified” would’ve been more appropriate. She told me she needed the window seat to feel a little better. Fair enough. I noticed that she was looking out the window in pure fear, so I tried to close the window for her. That’s when she grabbed my hand and told me “don’t you dare”. When I tried to talk to her, it was clear she wasn’t in the mood. She kept her grip on my hand throughout the flight, which by the end of it felt like I had arm wrestled with a bear.
Time to Cry
Anyway, personally, my first flight was going fine. Until it wasn’t. Partway through, I ended up in more pain than I had ever experienced in my life. My head felt like it was about to explode. I had been told that the pressure might cause some pain, with the solution being to chew gum. I already had the gum in my mouth and started chewing with all out ferocity. It wasn’t working! My ears were throbbing. I truly wanted to cry. I looked around the plane to see how everyone else was handling this. Everyone looked completely normal! Was I on the plane with a bunch of tough guys or what?
The only other person who was in tears was my wife, but she had been crying this whole time. I eventually realized that other people didn’t feel what I did. Now when I told my story to my family, my dad and sister both mentioned that they do in fact feel the same way, as if life would be better in that moment if their heads were no longer attached to their bodies. Wouldn’t that have been nice to know pre-flight?
The End is Near…Or Not
Towards the end of this flight my wife and I were an absolute mess. My wife not only fears flying, her head becomes a mess as well. In fact, the trip was the last time she ever flew. She essentially has extreme vertigo, leaving her dizzy for weeks after. My problem wasn’t nearly as bad, but in the moment I felt close to death. I ended up losing my hearing by the time we landed with how congested my head ended up.
Once we had our feet on the ground in Mexico, the mission was nowhere near complete. It was late at night as we zombie-walked our way through the airport. Next up, we had to find our shuttle. Once we made it outside, we were approached by a Spanish fellow who asked us if our flight had been delayed. Why yes, good sir, it had. That’s when he told us the bad news- our shuttle had already left since we were late arriving. But he had a solution for us. His friend had a van and could take us to our hotel, for the small prize of $80.
Don’t Worry, We’re Not Alone!
Maybe this would seem sketchy to any normal person, but we were completely zonked from that flight. Here’s the other thing- they didn’t just recruit us. There were other people filing into this van. Perhaps our first clue that this wasn’t quite right was the fact that others going in as individuals were being charged $80 each while we were charged $80 as a couple.
Once we were all loaded into the big white van, off we went. About halfway through our journey, we pulled over to the side of the road. Someone then opened the van and asked that the one older lady get out. Since she was going another direction, she had to jump in another van. Totally normal stuff.
Some good news through all the shenanigans was when the van people gave us a card with their name and number on it. They told us to give this card to the front at the hotel where we would be reimbursed. Perfect!
Finally Some Good News…Or Not
Here’s the good news, we were in fact dropped off at our proper hotel. Here’s the bad news. This was a con job. When we went to the front the next day, they told us the card was fraudulent. I should’ve known, the name on the card was very generic, something like Pablo Sanchez.
On the way home, we took a taxi that cost us the equivalent of $2. The $80 price was clearly a bit steep. It could’ve been worse, though! We survived to tell the tale. I hope that lady who was removed from the van is okay.
