Growing up I always dreamed about going to Europe. More specifically I wanted to go to Italy, Ireland, and France. Why those countries? Well, Italy and Ireland because that’s where my family is from. France is because I wanted to see the Eiffel Tower. The problem with going to these places meant flying over a large body of water, the Atlantic Ocean, which was a no for me. I was scared to fly over any large amounts of water, so Europe remained a dream.

Then I got married and my husband and I talked about traveling to Europe with those three countries specifically in mind. Again my biggest problem was flying over the Atlantic. I had such a fear of doing that, that I always told my husband “unless you can figure out a different way of getting there it isn’t happening”. I also told him taking a cruise ship to Europe wasn’t happening either. We talked and dreamed for years…

On our 22nd wedding anniversary, we took a weekend trip to New York City. While there we took a tour of the Concord. The Concord is a retired supersonic passenger jet that is at the Intrepid Air and Space Museum in downtown Manhattan. That was a rather small plane in a way. It would only hold so many people and there was only so much room in it. But while we were sitting on those plane seats, I was listening to the tour guide, looking out the window, and looking all around me. My husband took one look at me and said “You’re thinking about flying to Europe, aren’t you”? There was no denying that was on my mind. I started to think that maybe I could face my fear of flying over the Atlantic somehow with my husband’s help.

Just under a year after touring the Intrepid we started our traveling. One day my husband told me we were going to take a family trip to Ireland. I looked at him and laughed. I was like we don’t even have passports. Well, that little detail was taken care of and we started planning our first trip to Ireland. Now, I have to tell you I was so scared about flying over the Atlantic that my stomach started hurting. I mean, it was hurting so bad I almost had my husband take me to the ER, but he assured me it was stress from my fear of flying.

He was right. I remember that night when we all finally got on that plane and it started taking off for Ireland. I was SO scared! But, we made it safely and had an amazing time in Ireland. I faced that fear and since then we have actually flown back to Ireland a couple of times. We have now also been to Italy, France, Germany, Scotland, Wales, Switzerland, and even India! I can’t say that I’m over that fear per se, but I will tell you that I am willing to face it now because of all the amazing things and places I’ve been able to go to and do.

I think I owe a lot to that tour of the concord and sitting in that plane seat while I listened to the tour guide. It was kind of a push for me to tell myself that I can do it and oh, what a journey it’s been since!

Kathleen Smith is an indie author, blogger and she has her own podcast Kathleen’s Korner. You can read or listen about her life in Brooklyn and Upstate NY. You can also either read or listen to her personal story of how she and her husband kept their marriage together through 3 miscarriages in Miscarriages My Story