straight-and-level would be a nice
I think this is one of the most difficult parts of flying - what seems so simple, is actually an acquired skill.
I won't use the word stress. Stress to me is something like finding out one of your degree module results, and realising you've missed the target by 5% - then worrying what to do next.
I've always said this kind of thing throughout my whole diary:
"It was a good scary feeling"
"I was nervous but in an excited way"
....etc
It's hard to explain, but if I was worried before I went flying, I wouldn't do it (OK I would start to worry when things go wrong). With me, the QXC wasn't a worry (OK weeks before the flight, I would nit-pick about things and worry about things going wrong) but it was more like a massive up-hill
climb (not struggle) and I thought that if other people have done it, then I can do it too - I just looked ahead and then worried when the wheels left the ground
Nerves are always of the plenty when I go flying, before, during and even when I am driving home - but this I think is where the feeling, also known as "buzz" comes from, like that one we all get every time we fly
Safe flying all
