Joe Thompson, 11, from Britain has developed such an intense phobia of flying that it left him stranded in the UAE for six weeks. Thompson was set to relocate to the UK from the UAE with his family but his paralyzing fear left him unable to board the plane without panicking.
He said to CNN, "Everything just went horrible for me. I just went into body lock down. I kept on crying. I sat down and I couldn't move. I just couldn't do it."
Thompson had previously loved flying and cannot explain why the sudden panic attacks have occurred. It started on July 1 at Abu Dhabi airport as his family prepared to relocate from the UK from the United Arab Emirates.
Joe's father Tony Thompson, told CNN that he has no idea what caused the panic attack and that ""We didn't expect it at all and really still don't know what triggered it.
"My initial reaction was 'come on, just get on the plane, it'll be fine. But then I realized that no, it was far more serious than this."
Despite hypnotherapy, sedative injections at the airport medical center and psychiatric consults, nothing has seemed to help the problem.
The phobia has gotten so bad that they are having to find alternative routes of travel by land and sea that can take them across the Middle East while avoiding conflict areas. The father and son duo will be driving and sailing the whole way home and with the help of the Saudi Ambassador in London they have been granted visas to travel through Saudi Arabia. This way they can avoid potentially dangerous areas such as Syria and Baghdad.
The adventure of a lifetime will take them through Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Amman Jordan onwards to Haifa, Israel where they will board a ferry to Europe. The journey should take them approximately two weeks to cross the distance of about 3,500 miles from Abu Dhabi to London.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
