We faced our HOLIDAY HORRORS

Meet the women who beat their travel phobias - and had the best time ever!

We all feel afraid at times - it's what helps to protect us from harm in the face of danger. But how would you cope if a fear got out of control, becoming a phobia and threatening to rule your life?

'You can confront your phobia and attempt to overcome it. Or you can try to ignore it - which is what most people tend to do,' says mindset coach Alison Blackler (2-minds.co.uk). However, shutting a fear out of your life is never easy. Because of the way the mind is wired, you don't have to be physically exposed to something to be affected by it. Just thinking about it can trigger feelings of anxiety and panic.

Some phobias have their roots in something really obvious - like a turbulent plane flight. 'While many have no obvious cause,' adds Alison. 'But what ultimately matters is not how your phobia started - but how you can stop it from ruling your life.'

Here, four women explain how regaining control helped breathe new life into their summer holidays.

'Just the thought of flying used to panic me'

Leigh-anne Cruickshank, 47, from Luton, is finally back in the air

'I used to fly on holiday, no problem. But becoming a mum 26 years ago changed me. Worries about safety and security morphed into anxiety about all sorts of things. I could see the danger in the smallest thing. The fear of what could happen would build up so much that the most obvious way to assuage it was to avoid doing that thing altogether.

My oldest child, Aston, was four years old when we took our last family holiday to Spain. After that, I became so terrified of flying that I could barely believe I'd ever done it without fear.