On the subject of valium vs alcohol, years ago, I developed a bit of a fear of flying, odd because when I lived in DXB for a few years, we flew back & forth to the UK a lot plus a few long haul trips.

Anyway, we came into a little bit of money so decided we'd like to visit friends in Thailand and rather than not go, I went to visit my GP, who said he could give me valium, but if my problem was with actually boarding, then that wouldn't really help as once I'd taken it, I'd relax straight away and may look drugged as I'd board. His other advice was to visit the bar before boarding, have a couple of glasses of wine, then board, clearly then, I wouldn't be able to have the valium!

I took his advice, didn't fill the prescription for valium and had 2 or 3 large glasses of wine in the bar before boarding, had one or two on the flight, then fell asleep for approx 6 hours in an economy seat

I don't have a fear of flying anymore