How to deal with Turbulence!

Let’s talk about one of the most terrifying parts of air travel that no one ever warns you about. Sure, they mention lost luggage, delayed flights, and bad hotel rooms, but nobody really prepares you for the gut-churning experience of airplane turbulence. I mean, forget losing your passport or realizing you missed your flight (we've all been there, right?)—nothing compares to the moment when the plane feels like it’s about to plummet from the sky.

Now, I know turbulence is a normal part of flying, but this was next-level bad. The kind of turbulence where you don’t know if you're supposed to scream, pray, or try to act chill while your stomach is turning. I swear the wings of the plane were bending in ways I didn’t think wings could bend. Like, I was actively waiting for a warning to come over the speaker about how we were about to make an emergency landing in a cornfield or something.

Shoutout to my seat buddy, Rebeca (yes, with one "c"), who, instead of screaming or looking for the nearest exit, offered a sympathetic "we’re all in this together" smile. I guess when the whole plane’s on edge, you kinda bond over the shared trauma. We exchanged one of those glances—like, we know this might be it, but let’s just ride it out together (I held her hand the duration of the experience). It didn’t help that, just days before this flight, I saw a news story about an Air Canada plane catching fire.

The whole time, I just kept thinking, This is it. I’m going to die at 40,000 feet while trying to go to home. And honestly? The worst part was the not-knowing. Like, is the plane about to go all "Titanic" on us? Or are we gonna make it to the runway with nothing more than a bruised ego and the memory of the most terrifying turbulence in the history of flying?

So yeah, that was my flight. I’m still here, so clearly, I survived. But here’s the thing about turbulence: it doesn't matter how many flights you've taken or how many hours you’ve spent on TikTok watching "why turbulence isn't that bad" videos. When you're in the middle of it, you're just holding on for dear life, praying you’ll make it through and trying to pretend like you’re totally not freaking out.