Travel plans

Summer is here and that means my kids want to travel. Invariably the younger wants to go on a cruise and the older stubbornly and flatly refuses. They bicker, negotiate and in the end we neither stay put or go cruising.
My oldest simply cannot handle the idea of getting on a boat. It's funny, I have pictures of him in boats when he was really little, but ever since the age of about eight - he won't go near climbing into anything that floats.
As near as I can tell, it all started one summer when the boys attended a YMCA Summer Camp. Part of the activities was canoeing. I thought it sounded great. Granted, the lake they went canoeing on was about the size of a postage stamp and all of three feet deep, but they were meant to go. Apparently one of the 'teams' of kids capsized. My youngest says it was great fun. They all got wet and muddy and simply got up and walked out of the pond. My oldest had been scarred for life (both were spectators to the event). Ever since then, he refuses to go in any boat.

Flying is little better, but he understands that it's necessary if you want to travel whereas floating isn't. This summer's flight was a two-leg trip to the East Coast. The connecting airport had 'weather' - a worst case scenario for my son.
He's a bundle of irrational nerves on a good day. A Tornado Watch just sent him beyond his emotional edge.
The second half of the trip presented it's own issues like flying in the dark. Conditions that would normally excite the average traveller just add to his anxiety level. I feel bad for him.
Flight attendants certainly don't do a lot to help ease his mind. While I'm certain that there are plenty of older passengers who have flight anxiety. It's more socially acceptable for them to take a few pills or simply get drunk. My son refuses to take medication to help him cope. Instead, he chooses to immerse himself totally in the stressful environment that surrounds him - getting to know every nook and cranny until it's familiar. He's so brave!! Most of us would beg for a distraction, try to sleep, listen to loud music, try to read - anything to take our mind off it. Not my son. He faces whatever is stressing him out full on. It makes him uncomfortable to do this, but it's his way. He has to know what he's dealing with.
If the flight attendants only knew how strong he truly was maybe they wouldn't be quite so condescending and rude when he politely asks for the fourth or twentieth time. "How much longer will we be in the air?" or  "What is our altitude?" or "Do you know where we are on the flight path?"
What's wrong with these questions? Just because the plane is full of a bunch of brain-dead, obsequious passengers - he has to become one too?

I'd take a plane load of bravery in a crisis over a bunch of ignoramuses any day!