I went on 7 overnight trips this past summer! Three of them were with my kids and three of them were a week-long or more. I did get burnt out near the end of the summer, but I never could have even considered doing so much travel just five years ago. And I know that many autistic adults have a lot of anxiety about travel because it can lead to overwhelm, meltdowns, and burnout.
I’ve figured out so many tips and tricks that have made travel more manageable for me as an autistic adult, especially as a single parent! So I want to share 4 autism-friendly travel tips with you so that seeing the world can be a more enjoyable part of your life.
Coddle your sensory system. Prioritize your sensory needs during travel even more than when at home. Make sure you have all the tools and techniques ready for more regulation, because your system will need so much more of it when faced with so many new experiences at once. This may involve buying travel versions of any essential tools.
Plan, plan, plan! Even if you are not normally much of a planner, the more you can have details about where you are going, the less your brain will feel overwhelmed by new information and decisions when you are there. For example, find restaurants in advance (even in the airport) and choose your meals from the online menus before you even leave home.
Visualize. Another way to experience less newness when you travel is to find photos or videos online of the places you’re going. This helped me immensely when taking my kids to Disneyland earlier this year! You can take it a step further and actively visualize your actions in those places to prime your brain (just don’t get too detailed or your brain might be dysregulated when reality is inevitably different from your expectations).
Get your travel partners on board. Be upfront with anyone you travel with about your sensory, planning, and visualizing needs. The more they know, the more they can support you, even if they’re kids!
If you’d like to do more travel without going into overwhelm, this can be a focus of our coaching time together. We can work on what areas are most challenging for you and develop solutions together. One of the first areas I focus on with any client is meeting their sensory needs anyways!
In the meantime, let me know if you want more detail about any of these autism-friendly travel tips in a future blog post. Hasta luego and à bientôt!
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