Take flight from stress, not with it

Snowstorms in the East.

Long lines.

Tighter security.

A terrorist threat index that morphs into a scarier color. The prospect of war.

And you have plans to fly.

“After the code orange went into effect, I felt the tension [at airports] rise,” Tom Parsons says of the switch to a “high” level of terrorist threat. Parsons, the CEO and founder of www.bestfares.com, noticed the difference in early February, just a week after another trip.

Staying stress-free while traveling is probably impossible, but reducing and managing stress are not. We asked veteran travelers and well-known stress management experts for their tips. The suggestions ranged from common-sense to unique and even playful.

“If we focus on the here and now, it’s pretty scary,” says Mark D. Lerner, a psychologist and president of the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress, a Long Island, N.Y.-based organization that helps survivors of trauma. Although it’s important to pay attention to potential dangers, Lerner advises travelers to compartmentalize if they hope to reduce stress.

Once aloft, focus not on “what ifs” but on your destination, he says, especially if it’s a leisure trip. If the destination is beautiful, all the better, he says. Visualize the destination in detail -- the sand on the beach, the color of the water, the clear sky. “We know that thoughts affect how you feel,” he says.

Reducing stress while traveling “really goes back to basics,” says Dr. Herbert Benson, founding president of the Mind/Body Medical Institute and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. He suggests invoking the “relaxation response,” a meditation that’s also the title of his book, first published in 1975 and reissued in 2000. The exercise, involving focused breathing and quieting your thoughts, can be learned in a few minutes.

If you don’t do meditation regularly, start a day or two before the trip, Benson suggests. “While you’re sitting and waiting in an airport is a perfect time to do it,” he says. Spend “more than 10 minutes but less than 20” and you’ll reap the rewards, Benson says. During the exercise, “you’re in a different place but still aware of your surroundings.”

Changing your mind-set in other ways can help reduce stress too. Dan Woog, a Westport, Conn.-based author and a frequent lecturer on the college circuit, looks at travel from a different perspective.

“I always try to remember the joy of travel from when I was a child,” he says. “So I pretend to look at the world through the eyes of a child. That doesn’t mean asking the captain for a tour of the cockpit. But what I like to do is look around with a fresh eye -- to see the intriguing new parts of a very familiar airport, to listen to fellow travelers and try to imagine who they are, where they are going and why; and to never forget that hurtling through the air protected by only a bit of thin metal is truly a wondrous experience.

“All this doesn’t help all the time, but it sure beats ... moaning about things I can’t control anyway.”

Know your personal hassle and stress level, suggests Samuel Karson, a psychologist in Chevy Chase, Md., and a retired foreign service officer for the U.S. Department of State. “Some people can take anything,” he says. “Other people are programmed like Woody Allen; everything makes them nervous.”

If you’re more Woody than you’d care to admit, “try to make the trip as much fun as possible,” Karson says. “Listen to more music and less news.”

Johnny DiScala of Los Angeles, founder of travel site www.johnnyjet.com, looks at travel as a way to unwind. “But I’m not the norm,” he says. “The best way for people who get stressed out over traveling, and especially in these uncertain times, is to plan ahead and spend a little bit more cash,” he says.

“To really de-stress, depart and arrive at off-peak times and treat yourself to a nice hotel that has a comfortable bed and a spa,” he says. “Splurge on a massage and a nice dinner.”

Other travelers suggest trotting out your tried-and-true stress busters. For Angel Castellanos of San Dimas, who works at Distant Lands travel bookstore in Pasadena, it’s a good book about the destination.

On his recent flight to Europe, he read Bill Bryson’s “Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe,” in which the author retraces a trip he took 20 years ago. “It gives you a better attitude,” he says.

Kathleen Paralusz, an attorney who commutes from Los Angeles to San Francisco departing on Monday and returning late Thursday, always carries four essentials to help her relax: “Bottled water, a good book, earplugs and breath mints.”

Starr Levey, a travel consultant at Altour Classic Cruise and Travel in Woodland Hills, tries to pack the day before, take about half of what she thinks she needs and get a good night’s sleep. She continues the stress relief along the way. “I try not to take the elevator or moving stairs in airports,” she says. “I walk. On international flights, I do a lot of stretching. I will get up at least twice on international flights and go stretch.”

Paying attention to details can reduce stress, says David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Assn., a membership organization for airline passengers that focuses on safety and other issues. “Confirm all reservations, whether plane, hotel or car, even though you made them months ago,” he says. “When I check with the airline, ... I don’t just check on my flight [and whether it’s delayed or on time]. I have them check my records, the status of the flight and also make sure I am on the flight.

“It’s not enough to see if the flight is leaving on time. See if you are on the flight that is leaving on time.”

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The Healthy Traveler column appears twice a month. Kathleen Doheny can be reached at kathleendoheny@earthlink.net.