Today I’m grateful for a safe bus ride.

11.22.2022

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Those who have traveled with me know that I don’t love to fly. It makes me nervous. I love to travel and I love to visit people, so I do it anyway. In fact, I typically fly several times a year. I just make myself push through the fear. But I really don’t like the whole flying experience.

I just can’t wrap my mind around how this huge metal tube weighing hundreds of thousands of pounds flies through the air from one city to the next. I’m sure there’s a perfectly good scientific explanation for how it all works – something to do with pressure or forces or aerodynamics, maybe? I truly don’t know. And I don’t have the slightest interest in learning more about it. I just chalk it up as an unexplainable phenomenon that magically delivers people and their suitcases from one location to another.

To help myself manage my flying anxiety, I do everything I can to convince myself that I’m on a bus instead of an airplane. Now, of course I know I’m actually on a plane. And of course I know that I’m suspended in the middle of the sky thousands and thousands of feet above land. But I pretend nonetheless.

I like to sit by the window, not so that I can look out (cuz, ummm, hello … seeing clouds below me would ruin the whole bus thing) but so I can be the one in charge of the window shade. I keep that bad boy closed. I also like the window seat so I don’t have to get up and let anyone out to go to the bathroom. Actually, once I’m in my seat I avoid any and all movement from said seat. I put on my headphones and check out from reality. I don’t like to talk to people (even people I’m traveling with). I don’t like to look around. I don’t like to read or do crossword puzzles. I like to sleep, watch a movie or listen to music. That’s it. I get in my zone. I tell myself I’m on a bus. And then several hours later I relax when the “bus” pulls into the “bus terminal.”

I know it’s weird. It’s okay. It works for me.

Here are a few highlights of today’s “bus ride” to Iowa …

1. We left on time and arrived on time. I always appreciate that.

2. The woman sitting next to me also put on her headphones and zoned out. I’m usually a pretty friendly person, but when I’m on a bus I don’t have small talk in me.

3. No bumps. Not a single bit of turbulence. Thank goodness!!

4. I had some initial difficulty connecting my tablet to the free wifi to watch a movie or a show. While this was a bit frustrating, it also killed about 15 minutes for me. Anything that helps pass the time is a good thing.

5. Old episodes of Glee to watch as the bus coasted down the street. I watched the series pilot and the 3 episodes that followed. Season 1 was most definitely the best season of the show. It was fun to rewatch.

Once when I told a friend about how I take an imaginary bus instead of airplanes, she told me that statistically speaking road vehicles were much more dangerous and deadly than airplanes. That’s probably true. But in my mind a bus ride still feels safer than an airplane ride. It’s at least something I can understand.

So, even if it’s weird, I’m thankful for my nice safe little “bus rides.” And, I’m thankful that today’s ride took me from Phoenix to Des Moines in just under 3 hours with no turbulence, no delays, and no problems.