Flying overseas for the first time was, in theory, daunting and scary, but in reality, it was one of the easiest flights and airport experiences I’ve ever had. As a person who is just a girl with severe anxiety, this part of studying abroad was the scariest. I have a severe fear of the ocean (thalassophobia), and flying above a large body of water almost sends me into a panic. But to study abroad, you have to fly over an ocean. While I was extremely nervous, the nerves didn’t last long because I actually had a very relaxing experience.
One of my favorite things about the Detroit airport is that it’s one of the simplest airports I’ve ever flown out of. So I was glad to fly out of an airport I was familiar with and comfortable being in, which is one thing that helped soothe my nerves. I got there three hours early, knew what to expect going through security, how to get to my gate, and I even knew the food options. The part I was most nervous about was my passport because I hadn’t yet experienced using it in an airport. Luckily, it was very easy; all they did was scan it, and I was set. I didn’t even need it when boarding the plane, since now they use facial recognition.
The time of year, day of the week, and time of day for my flight were other crucial factors in having a non-stressful airport experience. I had an overnight flight on Wednesday night, so there was nobody in the airport. The airport was basically a ghost town, which meant no lines, and that soothed my anxiety a lot. Being nice also goes a long way — I checked in at a private Delta station in the airport, simply because I nicely asked for the directions for the international flight check-in, so I didn’t even have to wait in a check-in line. It was fantastic.
The flight itself, being eight hours long, was another thing I worried about, but I took lots of precautions to prepare myself, and I’m glad I did. The first thing I did was upgrade myself to comfort class, which isn’t really a huge difference, but because I’ve had two knee surgeries, I wanted the little bit of extra leg room. Next, I made sure I picked an aisle seat that was in a row of two, not four. There were three main reasons for this. One, easy access to the bathroom. Two, I’m not a people person, especially on planes, so I’d rather have one neighbor instead of multiple. And three, I knew my thalassophobia wouldn’t do well sitting in a window seat. I’d be way too tempted to look out of it, and then I’d freak out because it was so dark and I knew we were over the ocean. That would have just been a mental disaster waiting to happen.
Another thing that I did to make myself more comfortable on an overnight flight; enforce sleep. I knew in reality that I wouldn’t get much good, deep sleep, but I could at least try to get some rest. I brought an eye mask, a neck pillow, and a blanket was provided (along with a pillow, which I knew beforehand, so I didn’t bring one in order to lighten my own load). I allowed myself to watch a few episodes of The Office while I ate my meal and got situated, but ultimately I slept the entire flight with the exception of waking up for breakfast and landing. Many people have issues with sleeping on an airplane, but luckily, I’ve never been one of those people. I wanted to make sure I slept, so I could stay up all day to prevent a heavy dose of jet lag.
Going through a foreign airport was the scariest part for me, but it turned out to be even easier than my home airport. The directions were extremely clear, and we went straight through border control because again, nobody was at the airport at eight in the morning. Machines scanned our passports and faces (sadly, no more stamps), and then we were on our way out. That was it. It quite literally took about 10 minutes to walk off the plane and over to where our taxi picked us up, and that’s including going through border control. I highly recommend the London Heathrow airport, but I don’t know what it’s like when it’s busy, so maybe don’t take that recommendation too seriously. I just had an extremely convenient flight time.
Overall, my first time flying overseas was the absolute best experience I could have asked for. It was smooth sailing and seamless. No luggage was lost, no panic attacks were had, and no flights were missed. The airport gods were extremely nice to me. All of this is to say, airport experiences are different for everyone, especially flying overseas. Do your research (particularly with visas!) and figure out what works best for you. I’m not an expert flyer, but after this experience, I think I’d like to consider myself one.