HWD - I never said I wasn't sh!tting myself! They said, you can do it, we believe that you can do it, if we didn't we'd not be LENDING you our aeroplane. Now get and go before we change our minds!
Oh I was nervous and both Swazi radar and RSA radar (Lowveld) asked me for estimates to positions that weren't on my chart and I probably made a Horlicks of the RT, but at the end of the day I got myself and the 172 to a different country and swapped my sister for a puppy, all without GPS. An exchange I'll never regret!
It all boils down to good decision making skills, being instilled early in training, I guess.