Jenny was one of my valued clients. Because I was going on holidays I called Jenny to let her know so she was well informed in case of an emergency and knew exactly who to contact in my absence.
“Where are you going, Rajiv?” Jenny asked upon my informing.
“I am off to Europe, Jenny” I said enthusiastically.
“I could never fly to Europe” Jenny said in a disgruntled tone.
“I know it’s a long flight Jenny, but what can you do? I said in a more convincing voice.
“Oh no, no, no… it’s not about the distance, I would not fly even inter-state here in Australia. I am too scared to fly in an aeroplane.” Jenny opened up.
You see, as much traveling is a pleasure for most of us, it can be a fearful experience for many. A conversation with Jenny made me think about fear of flying – Hodofobia.
But before we look into Hodofobia what is fear in general?
Fear is just an emotion created by our mind, an impulse transmitted to our brain by the conscious mind. Fear is always about the future. Human mind has a tremendous power called “imagination” using which we can either create positive vibrations or negative ones. Worrying about future events is another form of fear, most of which never materialise. It is entirely upon us whether we want to imagine bright colourful future events or ugly nightmares. World famous author Robin Sharma says, “Fear is nothing more than a monster that you have created, a negative of consciousness. Fear is a conditioned response. However, people grow the most when they enter the zone of the unknown.” This is so true.
So, what do most people fear about when it comes to travel? There can be more but following are the common ones.
Fear of traveling in an aeroplane, cruise or boat
Fear about personal safety and security, and safety of valuables
Fear of traveling to new places
Fear for personal safety and security, and fear about safety of valuables are physical and tangible (so to say) but fears of traveling in an aeroplane or traveling to new places are purely associated with our mind.
I remember, two years ago when my wife and I traveled to Europe we carried our passports and other valuables on us all the time. Unfortunately, another family living on the upper floor in our hotel lost their valuables when they went out sight-seeing. When you are traveling to multiple countries you cannot afford to give any time for police investigations of such hotel thefts due to the constraint of time at each destination. If you are not 100% convinced about the safety of your valuables in a hotel, hang the “Do not disturb” sign outside the room door. This gives an impression that someone is in the room and can help avoiding such thefts.