Mr. King

Having agreed to represent Bequia at a trade show in Berlin I prepared myself for departure.  I was extremely uneasy about leaving the Pizzeria during the busy season, even more uneasy about the anxiety attacks I had been experiencing!  The last time I had traveled abroad was still fresh in my memory, the trip to Canada had been horrendous and I wasn’t looking forward to the long flight to Germany.  I had hoped that the heart-pounding episodes would pass with time but I was still having to cope with them.  Son Mitchell and Mac had both pestered me into attending the trade show and I was NOT happy about it.

I would be traveling as a government appointee in my capacity as Chairman of the Bequia Tourist Committee.  Several hoteliers would be attending the trade show as well as staff from the Department of Tourism, and together we would man a booth in the Caribbean section of the ITB.  The ITB was (and probably still is) a huge tourism trade show, and countries from all over the world congregated to promote their countries, wooing travel agents as well as the public to travel to and experience their particular slice of paradise.

It was going to be a long trip.  I had to take the ferry to St. Vincent and make my way to Arnos Vale Airport.  There I would meet the delegation traveling from the mainland to Barbados via LIAT.  After several hours in Barbados we would board a BWIA plane to Frankfurt, then another plane from Frankfurt to Berlin.  Once in Berlin we would travel by bus to our hotel, giving us just enough time to eat breakfast and take a cab to the trade show center.  I mentally crossed my fingers as well as my toes as I boarded the ferry in Port Elizabeth, I did NOT want to disgrace myself by having heart-banging, gasping-for-breath anxiety attacks!

I got to the Arnos Vale Airport intact and met up with my fellow travelers.  Janet Woods (Director of the Tourism Department) was there with members of her staff, as well as several of the country’s hoteliers. Janet introduced me to Mr. King, an elderly man who owned a small hotel on Union Island.  Mr. King confessed that he had never been abroad, and looked rather shaken after his short flight from Union to the mainland.  Ah, a fellow nervous passenger, wonderful!

As we boarded the LIAT plane I took Mr. King’s hand to help him up the steps and discovered that it was icy cold, cold with fear!  I took a seat beside him, and during the half-hour flight to Barbados he shook like a leaf.  This was different from the anxiety I had been experiencing for a couple of years, the elderly man was scared stiff.  I wasn’t afraid of flying, but for some reason traveling in any moving vehicle or even swimming made me hyperventilate.  Poor Mr. King was trembling with fear, and he had a long day and night of traveling ahead of him.   I was so worried about Mr. King I never noticed that I myself was fine, just fine!

We had a long wait in Barbados, and Mr. King had a chance to calm down.  I discovered he was one of the “old school”, a real Caribbean gentleman, and enjoyed chatting with him in the VIP lounge at Grantley Adams.  When it was  time to board the BWIA jet Mr. King started to tremble again, and as I helped  him up the aircraft’s steps his hand was once again as cold as ice.  Taking the seat beside  him, I helped him with his seat-belt in preparation for departure.

Oh my!  If Mr. King thought the LIAT flights from Union Island and then Barbados had been bad he was in no way prepared for the different noises jet engines make.  Gripping me with his cold hands, he kept asking what the sounds were.  I explained as best I could about the landing gear and the flaps, and how we had to gain altitude before we leveled out. Finally I said, “Mr. King, it’s ok to be afraid, but you only have to be afraid for the first three minutes and the last three minutes of a flight, that’s the only time anything can go wrong. We have already passed the first three minutes so you don’t have to be scared again until it’s time to land”.

You know what?  I never had another anxiety attack again.  Did Mr. King’s fear erase mine?  I don’t know, but much to my family’s relief I was back to normal when I returned home . Mr. King had a dreadful trip to Germany but mine was fine, just fine!