need a sequence of less-than-3-hour flights from Washington, D.C. (or points nearby) to Paris.

How about taking a cruise ship to Europe?

wow, my first reaction was: Brilliant! that's our answer! But, unfortunately, the trip needs to be less than 10 days. Thank you!

Ask your friends for the names of travel agents they would recommend. Then find one you feel comfortable with and let them do the looking. That's what they do best. Yes, it will probably cost some extra amount, but it might be money well spent. A good agent is worth their weight in gold, but beware of the bad ones. How do you tell the difference? Believe me you'll know. Just trust your instincts.

Another great idea. I've already put out some requests for recommendations. I'm going crazy looking through everything! Thanks so much.

Look at somewhere like Gander Newfoundland. It is fairly North and east maybe an option

Until they build a floating airport in the middle of the Atlantic, Boston-Reykjavik in 5 hours is the shortest time in the air. It would be slightly longer coming home due to prevailing winds.
And what if there is a flight delay and she has to spend an hour or more on the tarmac before take-off?

Sam makes a good point that you'll probably want to carefully consider: the same exact route, returning to the US, will almost always take longer than going to Europe--for the reason he gave.

Somewhere in the azores islands? I know they are approx. 4 hours from Boston, and from there another 2-3 to lisbon. Maybe there's another airport that is slightly closer than Boston?

I'm skeptical that it can be done - there's a whole ocean to cross - but I can't say with any certainty.

Even assuming nothing goes wrong with the flights and connections, you'll probably be spending 1.5-2 days each way in the limbo of airports and flights, leaving you only 6-7 days of time in Europe. Is it worth it to you?

The last time I was in Nova Scotia, there was a "Drive to France" campaign. You can drive to Sydney, NS, take the ferry to Port-aux-Basques or Argentia, NL, drive to Fortune, NL, and finally take a short ferry to St. Pierre et Miquelon, France. (I know, it's not quite Europe, but there are no flights involved, and you really are in France.)

More seriously, Montreal and Quebec City are as European as a lot of cities in Europe, and there are many old Spanish colonial cities in Central America that would be easily accessible by a series of short flights. These might be a way to test the waters for a more ambitious journey in the future.

A friend if mine underwent therapy to overcome her fear of flying and it worked like a charm. Other than that, your daughter may have to forego flights to Europe.

Hmmm? Is the 3-hour or less limit based on empirical evidence? And is that wheels up to wheels down? Or time in the plane? Those questions are relevant to the potential delays or longer flight times already mentioned.

Could the joy of being in Paris trump her fear? I know there is no logic with phobias, but if she ever wants to go anywhere, she will need to manage this some way.

If you do work it out, remember that the Eurostar between London and Paris is much better than flying.

And finally, even though it probably won't make any difference, Googling information on how much safer it is to fly than to use other forms of transportation could provide some facts and data to consider.

I am not a joyous flyer, even though our son is a pilot, but when we go anywhere far away, I want to be there as soon as possible, so flying I have to do.

What would give me the creeps is the thought of being in the middle an ocean on a cruise ship with 6000 of my closest friends.

Have you asked your doctor about anti-anxiety medication? I have a friend that takes a xanax before every flight to relax. that is the only time she uses it.

The direct flight from Dulles to Heathrow is only 7 - 8 hours. Personally, I would think that one 7 hour flight would be far less stressful than multiple shorter flights. You could then transfer to the train.

The flight from Dulles to Paris is only about 8 hours.

pd,

Using a flight from your home airport is obviously out of the question.....

http://www.travelmath.com/flying-time/from/Washington,+DC/to/Paris,+France

I doubt that you're going to find any flights of three hours or less to Paris. Using multiple uncoordinated flights will likely be more expensive than just booking a direct flight or a code share with one connection. It will also use precious travel time, which will be deducted from your sightseeing time in Paris.

If your daughter could tolerate slightly longer flights, one route that might work is.....

• Washington D.C. to Toronto (~1H:40M)
• Toronto to St. John's, NL (~3H:15M)
• St. John's, NL to Dublin (~4H:25M with a departure at 23:10 - those flights don't start until 1 May)
• Dublin to Paris (~1H:40M)

As those flights aren't linked, you'd probably have to transfer your checked baggage at each intermediate stop, which would be a real pain!

As suggested by others, the most logical options would seem to be.....

• travel by cruise ship
• arrange for therapy to help with the flight issue or use a mild pharmaceutical solution (keeping in mind that your daughter would still have to be in a reasonably alert condition in case of any emergencies).

Good luck!

One tweak on Ken's excellent suggested route. You could go to DC to Montreal and then Montreal to St Johns NL, which is a slightly shorter flight and results in you having only one trip that is longer than the stated 3 hour maximum.

I would schedule a layover on the Island of Xanax.

Thank you ALL so very much for your input. I like the idea of the short flights through Canada and Dublin.
We'll look into it. Also have a name of a travel agent that comes highly recommended. I'll be working on that angle as well.
Thank you again.

Hi pd, looks like you are getting some helpful responses. The idea of taking off and landing four times to get to Paris would be disturbing to me. I think it would be much less stressful for your daughter if you could minimize your total travel time. Rushing around several different airports and getting settled on four airplanes would make me ill and exhausted. Maybe you could time your flights so she could sleep on the plane and wake up refreshed in Paris. Good luck with your planning!

Ativan or Xanax has changed my life in regards to flying. It's the only time I take it and it makes it possible to fly without anxiety.

My brother has a fear of flying, but he says he would prefer a non-stop than 2 or more take off and landings. he says the take-off and landing are when he really freaks out. I'm sure you have already discussed that with her though. I agree a trip to Quebec and Montreal is a wonderful trip as well--and you can drive.

pd,

One point of clarification. The flight I mentioned from St. John's to Dublin was via WestJet and those don't start until 1 May, and don't operate every day, so you'd have to be flexible with your timing. Also, note that those flights use a newer generation 737 at the present time, so you'd be on a smaller aircraft (WJ has ordered some 757's, but they're not delivered yet AFAIK). On the aspect of long flights over water in a 737, one of the WJ Pilots reminded me that their Vancouver-Hawaii flights are over water for a longer time and those haven't been a problem.

For the flight from Dublin to Paris, I'd suggest avoiding RyanAir since their "Paris" airport is Beauvais, which is a considerable distance from Paris and will add to your "travel misery" in a jet lagged state. You could use Aer Lingus or others on that route.

An alternative for the last leg of the trip (assuming your daughter could tolerate a slightly longer flight time), would be to travel St. John's to London (~5H:10M) and then use one of the budgets such as EasyJet to travel from there to Paris (or you could stop in London for a day or two, and then travel via EuroStar which would avoid one flight altogether).