By Ian MacKenzie. Courtesy of Brave New Traveler.

A few weeks ago, my wife and I boarded the plane at Vancouver International Airport, on our way to Costa Rica. I was flipping through the in-flight magazine, she was watching other passengers mill about, until everyone was in their seats.

The flight attendants closed the doors, checked all overhead compartments, and our plane geared up to pull out of the gate. We made it about 10 feet before the electrical system died.

Yes, died.

The plane hushed and came to a stop. The passengers glanced at each other with obvious surprise. A moment later the captain’s voice crackled over the intercom:

“Uh, yes, it seems our electrical system has conked out on us. But don’t worry folks, this is actually our secondary system, which we only use to taxi in and out of the gate. We don’t use this system in-flight. We’ll just restart the engine and be on our way.”

My wife reached over and clamped her hand around mine. Needless to say, our comfort towards flying did not increase.

Runaway Anxiety

I used to be okay with flying. There was a bit of nausea during takeoff and landing, but otherwise, I never quite let the cold, clammy fingernails of terror trickle down my spine.

But the incident above was not the only one during our trip. All four of our flights experienced complications: from the air-conditioning malfunctioning, to electrical storms, to closed airports, to emergency diversions for refueling.

Could it be we just have bad luck? Not so, I realized, considering Rolf Pott’s described a similar situation in a recent World Hum post:

We started flying in circles. Then the pilot kept coming back on saying, “Another 20 minutes.” Then he said we were running out of fuel so we were going to have to land in Baltimore. In this day and age, when you get these cryptic messages from your pilot, you get a little nervous. We were coming in for a landing in Baltimore and were about 10 feet off the ground when we pulled up again. That was a little freaky.

And consider this sobering statistic reported by Chris Elliot:

Buried in the latest government figures about the airline industry is one number that is bound to fill every air traveler with dread: Complaints are up an eye-popping 77 percent from a year ago.

“In April, the Department received 1,246 complaints from consumers about airline service, up 76.7 percent from the 705 complaints received in April 2006,” it says. “But 4.9 percent fewer than the 1,310 filed in March 2007.”

Flying really has gotten worse…

Read the entire post at Brave New Traveler

By Ian MacKenzie of Brave New Traveler

You’ve just arrived in a new town, beach, or city after a grueling number of hours on a bus or airplane. You dump your bags at your hostel, still sweaty with the heat and exertion.

What’s the first thing you do? Check the internet. Okay what’s the second thing you do?

Head to the beach, park, or just about anywhere with the room to stretch out your aching muscles and ease your turbulent worries.

Recently, while in Nosara, Costa Rica on my honeymoon, my wife and I stayed at the amazing Harmony Hotel, which also happened to have The Healing Centre next door – a place of relaxation, yoga, and massages.

There we met yoga instructor Josie Bennett, who was kind enough to come up with this short stretching routine that you can learn and practice just about anywhere. Enjoy!

Simple Beach Yoga with Jose Bennett

1. Deep Breath

First take a deep breath. Relax your shoulders and give a big sigh. Try to relax your whole body.

2.Torso Twist

Place your feet about hip distance apart, with a slight bend in your knees. Keep your hips square. Begin moving your upper body side to side with your arms stretched out. Make sure your head moves in synch with your torso.

3. Shoulder Roll

Roll your shoulders slowly forward, keeping your arms straight. After a few repetitions, roll your shoulders back. Then move each one at a time, alternating each shoulder, forward and back.

Read the complete post at Brave New Traveler