About a week ago I flew on an airplane for the first time in my life. I cannot say that I looked forward to climbing into a metal tube and being flung across the country. In the end though, I think all went well.

I believe I was much more paranoid about the security check than actually flying. Which helped me forget about how nervous I was about flying. Luckily, it seems that all of the rumors I heard about the security check were just silly. The most important tip would be to read the TSA Guide for Travelers. Pay special attention to the identification, liquid, and prohibited items sections. You will have to take your shoes off during the check. You can always spot the seasoned travelers because they are the guys in suits with flip flops on. When passing through the metal detectors don't forget about belt buckles, gum wrappers, and keys. You may also be asked to remove your laptop from a bag if you are carrying one. One of the TSA and airline guidelines that saved me was keeping liquids in a 8x7.5 inch plastic zip top bag. My hairspray exploded due to poor packaging or the high altitude and I had sticky deodorant, toothpaste, and body spray containers the whole week. At least my clothing wasn't sticky. That brings me to another tip. Don't just look at the TSA guidelines, go to your airlines Web site as well. Most of the time the guidelines will match, but certain airlines could choose to be more strict about what you are actually allowed to bring onboard. One of the most misleading airline guidelines is carry-on sizes. While most airlines provide 22"x14"x9" as the required measurements this can be confusing. First of all, if you purchase a bag from the store that claims to follow these standards be aware that they generally push the limits. Smaller airplanes will not accommodate a bag at the same size as planes in the size range of a 737 and up. Also keep in mind that any bag that comes close to those dimensions in the store, once packed, will most likely exceed them. However, with the smaller planes you can generally do a gate check. I purchased an Embark Pilot Upright Bag for my trip and encountered no problems, except for a gate check on my flight from Columbus to Cleveland. The suitcase fit very well in the overheads for the larger airplanes.

Neither my departing flight nor my returning flights were non stop. However, the layovers were both very nice breaks. My departing flight from Cleveland to San Francisco lasted five hours, which was generally horrible. My return flight was split, one three hour and one two hour flight, which was much more bearable. Bringing a laptop with movies on it saves a lot of money as the airlines attempt to sell you television and movies. However, Delta provided a free movie in flight, which was nice. I believe I made it lucky with the people I sat next to on all of my flights. My first flight from Columbus to Cleveland I was able to sit alone. The first person I sat next to was a former stewardess that was returning home to Sausalito, California. Just knowing that she had flown countless times helped put me at ease. On my return flight I sat next to a couple, one of which had a fear of flying. His extreme terror of flying actually put me at ease. Thankfully, he had his fear under control and just closed his eyes and mumbled any time we hit turbulence. My final flight was very short and by then I was fairly comfortable with things. I sat next to another couple and chatted with the wife about the Amazon Kindle.

As far as overcoming my fear of flying, I would like to state once again, metal tube with rockets. Pretty much I think the only way to overcome fear of flying is to just say to yourself that you are risking your life and if you die, well, you die. Once you get past that, it is pretty fun. I found that having window seats helped. Being able to look out the window gave me a sense of control, no matter how absent any control actually was. I experienced a lot of turbulence on my flight from Columbus to Cleveland, mostly during the landing, which was all that much more terrifying. The worst by far though was the first return flight. It was a three hour flight and the turbulence was so bad that the stewardesses were not able to bring out food carts until the last hour of the flight. We were also told to stay in our seats if at all possible during this time. Of course, keeping in mind that this was the flight with the guy that had the fear of flying. I felt really bad for him.