EURO2008: Fear of flying

Fear of flying is a fear of being on a plane while in flight. It is also sometimes referred to as aerophobia, aviatophobia, aviophobia or pteromerhanophobia.

Do you know Dennis Bergkamp (Holland; Ajax, Inter Milan, Arsenal) is well known for having a disabling fear of flying, which developed after the Dutch squad were involved in an incident concerning their aircraft during the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States.The Dutch squad travelled together with a group of journalists, one of whom made remarks about the long waiting time, wondering if there was a bomb on the plane. This provoked a panic amongst passengers and in particular Bergkamp. This incident reminded Bergkamp of a plane crash which killed many Surinamese-Dutch players when they flew to Suriname.

Ever since, Bergkamp has had a dislike of flying. This gave rise to the nickname the non-Flying Dutchman, a variation on The Flying Dutchman. He was thus often unable to play for Arsenal outside of England. He would, if required, take a train or drive there himself. The tiring nature of such long journeys to Europe forced him to miss domestic matches around European away games. Bergkamp retired from international football after the 2000 European Football Championship.

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Portugal is flying high after two wins in EURO2008. Semalam baru lepas belasah Czech Republic 3-1 lepas diorang belasah Turki 2-0. At this moment, they look like one of the favorites to win EURO2008 besides Spain. Di samping Portugal dan Spain, satu lagi pasukan yang is flying high at this moment adalah Holland, dan kali ni Bergkamp dah takde, no more fear of flying. Sebaliknya, aku yang fear of the high-flying team. Sebab pagi esok, pasukan favorite aku akan jumpa Holland in a do-or-die battle for Les Bleus.

Bonne chance Les Bleus!

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Ok. Cerita tentang flying flying ni, dulu, dulu-dulu waktu aku ter, diulangi tertengok drama-drama melayu. Kagum sungguh bila aku tertengok betapa hebatnya ahli-ahli korporat ni. Naik kapalterbang, pergi meeting ala-ala meeting Lembaga Pengarah tapi tak challenging langsung dan presenter macam baca sebutir-sebutir kat presentation pun Chairman boleh approve resolution tu. Then lepas meeting, naik kapalterbang, sampai rumah. Senang sungguh pergi balik meeting naik kapalterbang. Kalau domestik ok lagi, kalau pergi luar negara, memang aku kagum dalam tak percaya pun ada.

Tapi bila aku dah dewasa, aku dapat rasa semua tu. Pergi balik meeting naik kapalterbang, dalam dan luar negara. Semata-mata pergi meeting je. Jalan-jalan kat bandar pun tak sempat. Shopping pun kat duty free je.

Tapi, ada tapinya lagi...

Takdelah aku sesenang tu pergi balik meeting naik kapalterbang! Aku kena buat request paper, isi borang itu ini, mintak sign sana sini, memujuk rayu dan 'merasuah' dengan cokelat duty free kepada orang yang nak buat flight booking. Aduuuhhhhhh...

Dan paling bestnya pagi semalam, flight aku jam 7.35 pagi dari KLIA. Jam 5 pagi, setiap jam loceng yang ada fungsi alarm kat dalam rumah ni berbunyi sahut-menyahut. Kalau alarm kereta aku tu boleh disetkan alarm pun, aku setkan sekali. Habis aku kunci semua jam supaya bunyi jam 5 pagi, supaya aku tak kesiangan. Sudahnya, off alarm yang sini, yang sana bunyi, yang sana berhenti, dalam bilik pulak bunyi. Masuk dalam bilik air, bunyi pulak yang dekat luar tu lagi sebab aku tekan snooze tadi. Dah siap-siap nak keluar rumah, bunyi pulak lagi satu jam. Laaa... dah jam 6.15 pagi baru bunyi? Jam tu lewat sejam rupanya....

Takdelah sesenang yang aku tertengok dalam drama-drama melayu. Takde pun diorang kena kunci jam loceng sebab nak bangun pagi kejar flight gi meeting?!

Dan aku takde fear of flying. Aku hanya fear of flying kalau dapat duduk sebelah seat perempuan gemuk dan masam! Harus aku tarik dan pakai corong oksigen tu setiap masa.