travel bugs
A weekly ode to the joys of moaning about your holidays. By
Recurring dreams about missing planes
I’ve never missed a plane. I’m one of those people who likes to get to airports ridiculously early and check in and go through Customs as soon as possible. I’m dreadful company if friends or family are dropping me at the airport then want to have a coffee or a bite to eat before waving me through. All that’s running through my head is, “what if the lines at the security screening are long and this meal causes me to miss the plane?” I become anxious and irrational and not particularly fun to be around.
It’s strange, because most people’s anxieties about planes are attached to the flying aspect. In that regard I count myself lucky: I have zero fear of flying and am almost always asleep before the plane even takes off. But the fear of missing the plane? That is so real that until the boarding call is made and I am safely walking down the air-bridge, I’m a bundle of nerves.
I don’t know whether it’s a chicken-and-egg situation, but for as long I can remember I’ve had recurring dreams about missing planes. As a child it was always the same insurmountable obstacle: there was a plane to catch and I’d need the toilet and therefore miss the plane. Sometimes I hadn’t even made it to the airport, other times I was at the terminal. And I never made it on board.
Luckily I never wet the bed either, though as I’ve gotten older the obstacles that stop me from catching the plane in my dreams have started to vary from merely being of the water closet variety. There will be taxis that don’t arrive, departure gates that can never be found, non-moving queues to scan bags: the specifics vary but the outcome remains the same: I don’t catch the plane.
Roughly every couple of months for the past 30-odd years I’ll have this dream. If that’s six times a year, then we’re talking 180-200 times in total that I’ve woken up gutted I’ve missed my flight! That’s a lot of planes taking off without me, not to mention a lot of frustrating WC experiences.
There’s research to suggest people who have this recurring dream are worried they’ve missed opportunities in their waking lives. Other theories focus on the idea that you’re sad about people you’ve lost or friendships that have gone awry. Oh no! What I want to know is whether the dream has caused the anxiety or if a non-aviation related anxiety has caused the dream. And just once I’d love to get on board and for the plane to take off!
Departure calls no-one can hear
With the sharing of my personal travel bugs, it’s always great to hear yours too. I had an email recently from a reader named Brian who said that his favourite travel bug is “airport speaker announcements — what the hell are they talking about?” As Brian goes on to say, “it might as well be in another language”.
Tim Roxborogh hosts Newstalk ZB’s Weekend Collective 3pm-6pm and blogs at RoxboroghReport.com