From fear of flying to 709 flights: How Dubai resident now clocks 140 trips a year

Dubai: When Lays Laraya was 14, flying became the thing she feared the most. Her family was travelling on a small aircraft that crashed. Everyone survived, but the trauma stayed. Turbulence triggered panic. Take-offs were unbearable. For years, flying meant sleeping pills and anxiety.

“It was far from being a pleasure,” she recalls. “It was actually torture.”

Today, that same girl has flown 709 times, clocked over 3.38 million kilometres, spent 4,538 hours in the air, and circled the Earth more than 84 times.

According to her FlightRadar log, Laraya has flown 709 total flights, 683 international journeys, 3.38 million kilometres, 4,538 hours in the air (189 days), and 84.6 trips around the Earth. In 2025, she took a whopping 140 flights.

Last year alone, she flew more than 400,000 miles, setting personal records for flights, distance and flight time. “Yes, it keeps getting worse,” she laughs. “Year on year, it’s always more.”

The transformation, she says, began with Dubai.

City of dreams

Laraya, originally from Brazil, moved to Dubai 15 years ago to work in hospitality. “This is the city I’ve lived in the longest in my life,” she says. “I love Dubai because it’s tolerant, modern, and if you work hard, you have an opportunity to grow.”

Dubai’s location also mattered. “It’s so central that we can be pretty much anywhere in the world in just a few hours,” said Laraya. The journey to Dubai was her first experience on a Middle Eastern airline – Emirates, and she expected to endure it with medication.

Instead, she forgot to take the pills.

“I walked into the aircraft, and I was impressed,” she says. “The stars in the ceiling, the warmth, the service. I was flying economy, and I remember thinking, ‘What is this?’”

For the first time since the crash, she slept peacefully on a flight. “I fell asleep naturally. That had never happened before.”

While it didn’t erase her fear overnight, it planted the seed.

Why the A380 changed everything

If one aircraft defines Laraya’s story, it is the Airbus A380.

“The real shift only happened after my first A380 flight,” she says. “If you look at my flight log after that, that’s when things went out of proportion.”

The super jumbo's quietness, stability and space transformed flying from something tolerable into something she actively sought out.

“That aircraft completely healed my fear of flying.”

So much so that she later set herself a goal to fly one million miles on the A380 alone – a milestone she completed in December, just days before the year ended.

Flying for milestones, not destinations

Unlike most travellers, Laraya doesn’t fly for holidays.

“I enjoy destinations, but I can’t do that every weekend,” she says. “But I can enjoy a flight every weekend.”

Many of her trips are same-day or weekend turnarounds. Some are booked just hours before departure.

“I’ve driven home after work at 7pm, gone on Google Flights, and booked something for that night.”

One Instagram joke became legendary. “When delivery stopped during a rainy day in Dubai, I joked: ‘What if we go to Japan for lunch?’” She did exactly that – flying overnight to Osaka, having lunch, and returning home before midnight.

How much did it cost her?

Laraya is clear-eyed about the financial reality. “If anyone tells you there’s a way of doing what I do without spending money, they’re probably trying to sell you something.”

She uses miles, staff travel benefits, flexible routing, and alternative departure points to manage costs – but doesn’t pretend it’s cheap.

“This is where I invest. This is what matters to me,” she explained.

Even during Covid, she kept flying.

In 2020, she logged 40 flights, including being on some of the earliest services when travel resumed. “I wanted to be part of the rebirth of aviation.”

One standout trip was Egypt. “You’d arrive at temples that normally have thousands of visitors, and they’d tell you: ‘You’re the fifth person today.’”

She knows it was a moment that won’t be repeated.

A380 parts, dresses, and a home ‘museum’

Laraya’s passion extends beyond flights.

At home, she keeps a personal A380 collection, including an aircraft window from a plane she once flew on for her birthday. “I actually sat in that window,” she says. “They removed the exact one.”

She also designs dresses to mark milestones – one printed with the airport codes she’s visited, another made from Polaroids she received on flights, worn to commemorate her two-million-mile journey.

“It’s about honouring memories,” she says.

Not for holidays

For Laraya, flying isn’t about status or destinations. It’s about freedom – and connection. “Flying makes me feel free,” she says. “But I also love the connections – with crew, with people, with the aviation community.”

She writes handwritten thank-you notes to cabin crew and brings small gifts on board.

“If anything resonates with people, I hope it’s this: find a passion. Because this is about sharing joy.” This year’s goal is quieter by her standards: a true round-the-world trip. “I actually hope I fly less,” she admits. “Last year was chaotic.”

But knowing Laraya, the skies will never be far away. “Just go,” she said, when asked for advice. “If it’s important to you, take action. You’ll sort the rest later.”