• About Me
  • OTHER WORK

One Foot Out the Door

~ Adventure at Home and Away

One Foot Out the Door

Tag Archives: travel dangers

Facing Fears

08 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by lexklein in Costa Rica, Mexico, Nepal, New Zealand, Peru, Travel - General, United States

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Conquering fear, Lukla, travel dangers, world's most dangerous airport

I am not a total chicken, but I don’t consider myself the bravest person around either. (Some people in my family might, possibly, even argue I’m a bit of a worrier, maybe.) Travel has presented me with some good challenges, and there have definitely been times I was not at all sure I was up for them. The existence of this post means I have somehow survived all these real and perceived dangers, but the memory of a few of them can still make my hair stand on end years later.

When it comes to nerves on the road, it doesn’t have to be bungee jumping or whitewater rafting to produce a good adrenaline rush sometimes; believe me, I’ve frozen up before my share of foreign subway ticket machines while my train is leaving the station, and it can be daunting just trying to get directions or pump gas in a country where I can’t even read the alphabet!

But danger to life and limb is a different story. The first time I remember really feeling physically shaky was on a zip line in Costa Rica. The zipping itself was a blast, and standing on the platforms between zips was manageable, but there were three platforms from which we had to rappel instead of glide. The idea of that backward step D-O-W-N (that’s 140 feet down!) and the initial drop freaked me out; I was not at all sure using my hand as a brake was really going to slow me down and I pictured quite a splat at the bottom when it didn’t work. It did.

Tight spots and closed-in spaces are another great fear inducer for me. I once got talked into going down into some cenotes in the Yucatan peninsula and swimming down an underground river; to this day, the thought of being in that watery underground cavern makes me shiver. Likewise, crawling through stone tunnels – twice – in Peru made my blood pound as I tried to inch forward, feeling both my back and stomach scraping rock and knowing all too well that I could never turn around if I had to. Just the thought of being closed in gives me nightmares, and being in these claustrophobic situations in real life made me feel sick. I was sure I would be the first person to become paralyzed or trapped inside all those dark tunnels. I wasn’t.

Nepal & Abu Dhabi 2012 187Scary vehicle stories abound in my travels and many others’. From the bouncing, out-of-control rickshaw in Lhasa traffic, to the bus careening around mountain curves in the Balkans, to the Athenian driver who … well, ALL the Athenian drivers … , traveling under someone else’s control can be quite frightening. By far the greatest example of transportation trepidation was a flight from Kathmandu into Lukla, Nepal – the gateway to the hiking trail to Everest.

Nepal & Abu Dhabi 2012 206In the weeks before traveling, I watched way too many Youtube videos of this harrowing flight and by the time I boarded the aging, cramped prop plane, I was terrified out of my mind. For once, everyone on board shared my nervousness and a few morbid jokes took the edge off for the first few minutes. Both take-off and the flight into the Himalaya were smooth enough, but the landing was a big gulp. Trying to hit a 1700-foot long, 65-foot wide runway that starts at the edge of a cliff and slants uphill toward a mountain face at the other end, the pilot deliberately cuts the engine just before touchdown (stall alarm screaming) and slams on the brakes to mercifully end the flight. Before the trip, I had recurring visions of dying on this landing just as a planeload of passengers had a few weeks before. Luckily, I didn’t.

Zion and Bryce 2012 096Heights and narrow ledges are another test of my mental strength. I know I am sure-footed and rarely worry that I will misstep, so my fear here is not always a physical one. No, I’m afraid that others will slip and either bump me or make me watch their own flailing deathfalls. On a narrow trail in New Zealand’s Dart River area, with a huge ravine on one side, I was petrified watching my son walk in (what I perceived to be) a careless way through the woods. I kept picturing him tripping and falling off but, of course, he didn’t. At Angel’s Landing in Zion National Park, I did question my own footwork and had the additional fear that one of the heavy chains I was grasping to stay on the ledges might suddenly pull out of the rock. Somehow, it stayed intact this one more time!

If I had to pick my poison? Well, I think I’d take heights and rickety ledges and scary vehicles over anything cramped or subterranean. An avid spelunker or diver I will never be. I’d rather fall off a cliff than get stuck deep in the sea or an extended passageway underground. Just reading articles – heck, just typing these words – about cavers trapped in rain-filled tunnels or deep-sea divers whose ropes get tangled on coral makes me sweat and breathe faster.

Fording fast rivers in Chile. Exiting a chaotic airport in the middle of the night in Kathmandu. Eating a singed guinea pig in Peru. They’ve all required a gut check of some kind or another, but I’ve made it through all of them and learned a little about needless worrying, maybe. “Always do what you are afraid to do,” said Ralph Waldo Emerson. I’m trying to take him up on that challenge as often as possible.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...
Follow One Foot Out the Door on WordPress.com


I’m a restless, world-wandering, language-loving, book-devouring traveler trying to straddle the threshold between a traditional, stable family life and a free-spirited, irresistible urge to roam. I’m sure I won’t have a travel story every time I add to this blog, but I’ve got a lot! I’m a pretty happy camper (literally), but there is some angst as well as excitement in always having one foot out the door. Come along for the trip as I take the second step …

WHERE I’M GOING

ARIZONA/COLORADO – Winter 2019

SOUTHEAST ASIA – February 2020

Follow me on Instagram, too!

Little did I suspect that this summer’s warm-up hike on Bald Mountain in Sun Valley would become next summer’s main event! @jesseitzler @colinobrady @marchodulich #29029everesting #idaho #sunvalley #hiking #oopsididitagain #onlyplaceilookgoodinred
49/50! Happy to finally visit beautiful Idaho and to be back out west seeing another state on foot. #idaho #visitall50states #hiking #getoutside #sunvalley
There’s so much beauty in Bhutan, and the people are no small part of that. One of my favorites agreed to a quick snap at the doorway to the temple he guards. #sweetestmanever #bhutan #thimphu #temples #buddhist #hiking
Good news, bad news: our small trekking group was crushed to find our high-altitude trek in the Haa Valley totally cancelled due to snow and ice. 😢 The consolation prize was a few days in the verdant and lovely Punakha Valley, where we managed one full day of hiking above the valley before we were stymied by rain there as well. #punakha #bhutan #weatherwoes #hiking #trekking
Not only vacationing tourists visit the Tiger’s Nest. Here, a monk from eastern Bhutan pays his respects (iPhone in hand!). #taktsang #tigersnest #bhutan #monastery #monk #hiking
Although our major trek is yet to come - into the snowy and remote Haa Valley - today’s hike up to the Tiger’s Nest near Paro is the main reason I wanted to come to Bhutan. It did not disappoint! The photos I’d seen are not a cliche, I know now; no matter how many you’ve seen, including this “standard” shot, it’s hard to imagine actually being here and walking (bootless) into this temple and monastery after the tough climb up. Thrill of a lifetime for me. #taktsang #tigersnest #monastery #bhutan #hiking #buddhism #dreamcometrue

Recent Posts

  • Battling a Mountain
  • Two Fleet Feet Out the Door
  • A Little More Bhutan
  • The Weather and I: Bhutan Edition
  • Aloha, Unknown Beauty!

WHERE I’VE BEEN

  • Argentina (9)
  • Australia (2)
  • Austria (4)
  • Belgium (1)
  • Bhutan (2)
  • Bosnia & Herzegovina (4)
  • Canada (1)
  • Chile (6)
  • China (7)
  • Colombia (3)
  • Costa Rica (3)
  • Croatia (6)
  • Cuba (3)
  • Czech Republic (1)
  • Ecuador (2)
  • England (1)
  • Estonia (3)
  • Finland (2)
  • France (8)
  • Germany (3)
  • Ghana (5)
  • Greece (9)
  • Himalayas (11)
  • Hungary (1)
  • Iceland (8)
  • Ireland (4)
  • Israel (4)
  • Italy (6)
  • Jordan (4)
  • Madagascar (2)
  • Mexico (6)
  • Mind Travels (6)
  • Mongolia (9)
  • Montenegro (1)
  • Nepal (13)
  • Netherlands (1)
  • New Zealand (3)
  • Nicaragua (1)
  • NORTH AMERICA (1)
  • Norway (1)
  • Peru (8)
  • Photos, Just Photos from All Over (21)
  • Poland (4)
  • Russia (3)
  • Slovakia (5)
  • Slovenia (7)
  • South Africa (2)
  • South Korea (1)
  • Spain (2)
  • Switzerland (1)
  • Tanzania (6)
  • Tibet (18)
  • Travel – General (117)
  • Turkey (6)
  • UAE (1)
  • United States (34)

Archives

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel
%d bloggers like this: