Traveling with Autism

Traveling with autism brings its challenges and can lead to exhaustion and stress, there is always an element of unknown with traveling that adds to any unease I feel. While anyone doing a 9 hour car journey would be tired at the end I feel it more so with a disrupted routine and being confined for so long. I try my best to get through it but it does affect my overall mood and anxiety, I try to mitigate these feelings with distraction and fidgets this helps too a degree but isn't a perfect solution.

Headphones are good a blocking out extra sounds and help with the sensory overload of noise but I usually use in ear headphones and find my ears get sore after a few hours of use and need to take a break. I have a few of my fidgets with me such as a weighted squishy frog and a few textured silicone unicorns, which and great as long as I can keep them out of my mouth. I also always make sure I have mobile data doing some social media scrolling is a helpful strategy to distracting myself from what is going on around me.

I have to say at the end of mny last long journey I wasn't feeling too terrible but did have a lot of anxiety I put this down to being in a familiar but strange place and it can take me a few days to get used to where I am again.

You might say why don't I fly and reduce the traveling time but I find that even more stressful, no only do I have a fear of flying, when I have flown in the past I need specifics to feel comfortable such as a specific seat I usually want to sit over the wing but not next to the emergency exit, in my head this is the strongest part of the the plane and I like to have the feeling that there is something underneath me. Baggage when flying is also a stressor for me I feel like I am not in control and like to have as few people touch my bag or bags as possible as I know how careful to be with them. Then there is the stress of just being with so many people in an airport I tend to avoid busy areas but this is not always possible then there is just the comfort aspect I feel more comfortable in my own space with my own humans (family).

Photo by Nils Nedel on Unsplash