Facebook fan fights fear of open spaces by travelling globe to meet online friends
This time last year she made a new year’s resolution to overcome her agoraphobia by spending a year meeting in person her 325 Facebook friends. That meant taking 39 flights to 13 countries, including Ireland. She previously had an acute fear of flying.
Her trek took her to Canada, the Philippines, Germany, Italy, Dubai, India, and Ireland, among other places.
She went riding in a motorcycle sidecar, learned to sing opera and to mountain climb and even trained to be a bodyguard.
Most of her 292 virtual friends welcomed the idea of meeting in person, but some people were nervous and blocked or “unfriended her”. Presser says social networking helped her mask her agoraphobia. Her advice to people trying to overcome their fears: “Do one brave thing a day, and then run like hell.”
