Jetlag

Although it's impossible to completely avoid jet-lag on long haul flights, there are a number of things you can do to decrease its effects.

• As soon as you get on the plane, set your watch to the time of the place you are going to land. This will start getting you used to the time change.
  
  
• Try to avoid alcohol on the flight, this will just make the jetlag worse. Drink plenty of water.
  
  
• When you arrive, eat what you would if you were at home. If you would be eating something light if you were at home, eat something light, even if it's dinner time at your destination.
  
  
• The same goes if it's nighttime back home, but daytime at your destination, try and stay in darkness, even if it just means wearing sunglasses.
  
  
• You will find the jetlag worse going from West to East than East to West.

   

Fear of Flying

Over long distances flying is the fastest, cheapest, and so they keep telling us, the safest way to travel. Safer than driving they say, yet it's unlikely you could ever be as nervous in a car as people who suffer from the fear of flying are when in a plane. Quite a large proportion of flyers are thought to be afraid of flying. This can be for a number of reasons, feeling claustrophobic, feeling of not being in control, a previous bad experience on a flight, or just from watching too many episodes of 'air crash investigation' on the discovery channel.

Unless you want to spend your whole life at home it's a good idea to deal with your fear of flying. There are numerous ways to do this.

• You could get some sedatives off your doctor, and knock yourself out for the duration of the flight. This probably couldn't be described this 'dealing with it but it helps some people. Probably not a good idea if you fly a lot for business as you will be out of it a lot of the time.
• Reading - There are numerous books available that deal specifically with the issue, helping to put you at ease and prepare you for your next flight.
• Hypnotherapy - Hypnotherapists can get to the core of the problem and instill in you the confidence to get back on a plane. You can also get hypnotherapy cds that you can listen to in your own time.
• Simulators - A more unorthodox way of over coming your fear is to take a flying lesson in a flight simulator. It can be a bit pricey but understanding how a plane works can help you realise just how safe planes are.

   

Some things to remember

Just remembering a few important things can help you relax on a plane. First of all, have faith in your pilots, they are trained professionals and don't want to die anymore than you do.

Turbulence is normal, and it's very rare that you would have a flight that didn't experience at least a little bit. Planes are designed to withstand even extreme cases of turbulence. Turbulence simply will not bring down a plane. You will most likely experience turbulence when you are ascending and again when decending as you are travelling through different air currents, especially when it's cloudy. Also going over mountains causes turbulence,but you can also get what is called Clear Air Turbulence when there is turbulence on the nicest clear day. Again its not unusual.

The engine of a plane is extremely unlikely to fail. It's just the ways it's designed. Simplicity is the key. It doesn't have much moving parts so it's a lot less likely to fail than a car for example. Large planes have up to four engines, and they can fly on just one, so engine failure is not a realistic possibility.

A lot of people don't enjoy taking off as they wonder how such a large piece of metal can get up in the air. It's simple aerodynamics, planes only need around 150mph to take off. A simple change in shape of the wings and the air is pushed down, lifting the plane off the ground. Sports cars have to be designed in such a way as to prevent them from actually taking off. It's perfectly normal for something to fly at those speeds.

A plane can be quite noisy, with the wings, the engine noise, and the hydraulics. These noises again are normal and nothing to worry about. Also, a plane changes direction by turning on its side so theres nothing unusual about suddenly finding yourself sitting at a steep angle.