Part one of this two part series Autism & Travel, a series about traveling as an Autistic Adult, will focus on what happens before you travel. Preparation, Planning and Safety. Part two will focus on the actual trip, Group Dynamics, Self-Regulation, and Unmasking.
There can be no underestimating the value of travel in shaping our minds and experiences. Just as young children benefit greatly from interacting with the world around them in the form of local shopping centers and schools, adults benefit from being taken out of their day-to-day local community and spending time in a much larger world.
Travelling gives you a unique opportunity to see the world around you from a different perspective, to experience different cultures, how different people live and communicate, what they eat, what they value and how they celebrate life. It also gives you an opportunity to delve into history and to understand your own place in the world.
Sure, the prospect of travel can be daunting at first but with the right preparation and the right company, most people can travel. Being autistic does not mean that you can’t travel. Autistic people can definitely travel. If your child is autistic, see my earlier post Travelling with Autistic Children and if you’re an autistic adult, then this post if for you.
Two Ways to Travel
There are essentially two ways to travel, you can travel by yourself (or with a partner or small group such as friends or family) or you can travel with a formal travel group. Each of these have their own advantages and disadvantages. Group travel is highly recommended for anyone planning to go overseas and cover a lot of ground while solo or partner travel is ideal for short hops or for vacations where you mostly stay in one place.
For example, if you were visiting Hawaii or London and you planned to mainly stay in one city, solo or partnered travel is ideal. Solo travel can also work well if you’re travelling within your own country, for example if you’re doing a mostly urban tour of a large country, like Australia or the United States and you’re a good driver.
If however, you were planning a trip to Europe where you might visit six different countries with different languages, customs, road rules and sometimes currencies, then group travel is a much better option. The same applies to places, such as Africa, where a lack of local knowledge could get you into a difficult situation.
The other thing about group travel is that you can usually embrace a larger agenda; you get to see more. Group travel could include, for example Cruising with Royal Caribbean, Princess, Holland America, Cunard or Carnival; or bus tours with companies like Trafalgar, Contiki, Explore or Costsavers. These tours do the hard work of getting you from one place to the next. They often, with the help of travel agents, will reduce the problems of visas and excursion tickets and they will also help you with meals. Group travel also offers the advantage of local guides and support that you can call on when you need them.
As a general rule, I recommend supported (group) travel whenever it is an option as this will usually allow you “down-days” where you don’t have to do anything and can just be transported along even if you’re not feeling the best.
There’s also no reason why you can’t take on a blend of group and individual travel. For example, you might take a cruise or bus tour from one place to another but you might do individual travel for a few days around both your starting point and your destination. Some travel options, such as Costsavers, allow you a lot of freedom to “do your own thing” at each stop along the way and can be the best of both worlds, especially if you want to meet up with local family or friends along the way.
Start Small to Build Confidence
This post aims to deal with large-scale travel, such as international travel or multi-week travel. After all, everyone should be able to manage a weekend getaway with little support.
That doesn’t mean that you should skip the small trips. It’s important to do a few local trips by yourself or with your travelling partner to make sure that you have the basics right.
Short trips will help you to improve your packing, your ability to deal with schedule changes, different foods, textures, temperatures and other things outside of your control.
As you improve on your short trips, your confidence will grow and you’ll develop a keen insight into what you need help with and what you can do entirely on your own. You might for example discover that some of your biggest triggers are traffic noise or perhaps not having your own pillow. You can’t entirely control these things but you can learn to take steps to reduce their impact on you.
Booking and Budgeting
While it may seem crazy to book things a year or more in advance, there are good reasons for doing this. Having your destinations set this far in advance will give you time to arrange your work holidays, sort out your passport and work out all of the extra things that you need, such as a sensory toolkit.
Everyone, regardless of whether they’re autistic or not, packs a sensory toolkit. The difference with autistic people is that their toolkits are more refined to their needs. Think carefully about your key sensory difficulties, for example, if noise and light cause you problems, ensure that you pack noise cancelling headphones and dark, high quality sunglasses to control visual overload. If you need your own pillow, blanket or even just a pillowcase, then pack one - just be aware that you’ll have to take it everywhere with you. If you need chewing or stim tools such as fidget toys, then take them with you too. Just remember that some items, particularly liquid comfort items or toys resembling weapons (even harmless ones), need to be packed in your main luggage rather than carry-on, to avoid being confiscated by security. Since your bags will be X-rayed, ensure all contents are compliant with regulations at both your departure and arrival destinations.
You’ll need to ensure that your passport has enough extra time on it during the trip, that your visas (for entry into other countries) are prepared, that your flights and accommodation line up appropriately and that your payment methods are ready for any unusual currencies.
There is a long list of paperwork and payments that need to be completed prior to your trip and sometimes they need to be done in a precise order (often passport first). Some of these processes don’t leave much room for error and can’t be rushed. For example, if you renew your passport but discover an issue with the renewal, you’ll need sufficient time to get it sorted before you leave. Preparing this far in advance will also give you opportunities to talk to people who have already done the trip to learn what you need to know about your destination and to budget for any additional expenses.
You’ll find that there are many different planning options out there but one of the easiest and simplest is Google Gemini. You can ask Gemini to put together a list of everything you need to consider for a trip and you can fill in the details as you go. Gemini will often suggest good alternatives and things that you may not have considered.
If you have food or texture difficulties, you might also want to research the foods that will be available at your destination. To be fair, one of the best things about travelling is the opportunity to try different foods but it needs to be comfortable and it might take a few days before you find local foods that work well for you. You might consider packing some familiar non-perishable foods, such as protein bars or tea bags specific to your country in your carry-on luggage - but make sure that you don’t pack anything that airport security will need to remove.
Safety and Legal
When planning your trip, you need to prioritize safety and legal concerns. This means that you have to ensure that you are not doing anything risky. You will need to talk to your bank about how to ensure that your credit cards work in the places that you are going to and also ensure that you have a plan in case of theft or fraud. If you come from a country that doesn’t have tipping, you may need to brush up on what that means.
You’ll also need to take out travel insurance and you’ll need to read the areas that are not covered very carefully. It’s common for sporting or driving options, such as skiing, scooter and e-bike use and bungee jumping to be excluded.
If you are taking medication, bring copies of prescriptions and a letter from your doctor. If you have a formal diagnosis, bring a copy of that too. It might be needed to get you out of a tight spot. If you struggle with autism-specific conditions, such as OCD, meltdowns or sensory issues, then print out some cards, in multiple languages that can be used to help other people understand what might be going on. Keep these with you at all times because you never know when you might need them. You could also have them stored in apps or files on your phone.
Your documentation will be critical while you are away. You should either take backup copies or even better, store a copy “in the cloud” that you can access in case your originals get lost. It goes without saying that you also need to be able to access that cloud, so ensure that you know the password and consider sharing access with a trusted person, such as a family member (in case your phone is lost too and you cannot use multi-factor authentication).
Brush up on local laws too. Some places you visit will have very different laws to where you live. For example, Indonesia has laws that prevent unmarried couples from staying together in hotels as well as stiff penalties for drug use, social behavior and dress codes. You might not agree with these laws but you do need to obey them if you plan to have an enjoyable holiday.
Navigating Gateway, Airports and Security
Airports are one of the most stressful places on earth, particularly for autistic people. There are people rushing by in all directions, there is a lot of sensory overload and there is a lot of manual handling that takes place. It can quickly become overwhelming but it’s also one of the most dangerous places to have a meltdown. Airport meltdowns can land people in jail.
You need to be very wary of what you say, do and wear in an airport. While you may have t-shirts with funny slogans on them, these might not be accepted in some airports. Similarly, talking about “bad taste topics” such as bombs can get you thrown off a flight or even detained.
There may be some cases where airport staff give you instructions or need to pat you down. In some cultures, this is rougher than others. One thing is common though, if you react badly to airport staff, they will concentrate their efforts on you. It’s best to let them get on with their job without argument.
One of the best ways to deal with airport security is to ensure that you carry a pre-prepared script through the airport and that it is in easy reach. Ideally the script should say, in your language and in the local language, something like; "I am autistic, and I may need a minute to process instructions. I will comply fully". This will alert security to be tolerant of any delays in your response without creating conflict.
You will also need to pay particular attention to airport signage as this will clue you in to things that you need to know. For example, some signage will make it clear when you have to have your passport handy (have it with you at all times in the airport - never in your luggage) and some signs will remind you about restrictions, for example, there are points where liquids are not allowed. Paying attention to the signage will reduce the chances that airport security will get involved in your trip.
The Journey has begun
At this point, you have negotiated the most complex part of autistic travel; the preparation. You have built your safety net, managed the complex logistics, planned for sensory defense, and prepared your self-advocacy tools. The anxiety of the unknown is largely defused when you know that your documentation is backed up, your sensory needs are met, and you have a plan for unexpected change.
The detailed planning you have just completed is now an extra layer of “travel insurance” and you have traded pre-trip stress for on-trip confidence. Now that you are through the gateways and on your plane, the real journey can begin.
In my next post, I will cover Group Dynamics, Self-Regulation, and Unmasking while you are exploring the world.
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