Well, if there was ever a doubt in my mind; it has been laid to rest. There is absolutely, positively, no way that The Boy would ever be able to tolerate flying. I mean even if we were able to get him through the trauma of an airport, surrounded by hundreds of people all bustling to somewhere in a hurry – there would be the safety check to deal with. Taking off the shoes would be no big deal, I mean it’s keeping them on him in the first place that is our typical problem. But to have him stand in a machine, holding his arm up for 3 seconds? Ummm nope. Or allowing someone to pat him down? Yeah, right.
But even if by some miracle we were able to get through all of that; the onslaught of sensory input involved in moving a plane and getting it into the air would be too much for the poor kid to bear. The high-pitched whir as we were taxing to the runway seemed to last for-EVER. I was extremely thankful when that part of my pre-flight journey had ended.
Then there is the full body experience of actually getting the plane off the ground. I was sitting in my chair, all nice and buckled in. I sat waiting for takeoff and relaxing the best I could with all the noise going on. By keeping my eyes closed, I became more aware of all the sensations involved – the pressure on my body as we accelerated in order to get the plane into the air. The subtle movement of the plane, up and down as well as left and right. Nothing overly noticeable to me under normal circumstances, but this time I was focusing on the sensory input. 
My sensitivity to sensory stimuli has increased over the years and I won’t lie, the beginning of the flight was uncomfortable. Even now, as I write this, the noise of the aircraft seems almost deafening to me. I can’t wait to douse myself in Stress Away, exit the plane and find a quiet place to decompress for a little while.
Although, I will say that the sunrise I experienced while flying was pretty amazing.
