Yes, this autistic can travel with (a lot of) preparation: My personal travel challenges and experiences

Originally published on Medium

I write a bit about my travel experiences, and this helped me connect with other autistic travelers online who share their experiences too.

And this week, I was quoted in a New York Times article on neurodivergent travel.

I’m still processing this…

…it’s gonna take a while to process this.

Moving on.

I wrote almost a full essay to answer the reporter’s questions and was going to leave them sitting in Google Docs. But then, Rose Ernst, also quoted in the article, had the great idea to share her answers on her Substack.

I’m stealing the idea like an artist and sharing my answers here.

From your experience, what have you found to be some of the challenges for neurodivergent or autistic travelers? Which aspects of travel create the most difficulty? (Overcrowded airports? Plane noises during flights? Staying in unfamiliar hotel rooms? Etc..) Any specific examples from your own experiences where you faced challenges? How did you overcome them?

Getting used to a new place can be hard. I find that it takes me 3 days to feel settled. What helps is building my needs into the schedule instead of forcing myself to be comfortable. The first few days in a new place are focused on acclimating and finding places we like, such as a nice coffee shop or a park. Then those places become the new go-to places to visit. In Da Nang, Vietnam, one coffee shop was my favorite and then another 2 were my backups if I wanted to be closer to home.

I try to have the same daily routine. What works so far is having a routine that’s the same no matter where I am and then allowing for the specific elements to vary. For example, I drink hot water with lemon and honey every morning. Sometimes the lemon is swapped for lime or another citrus fruit I found in the grocery store or apple cider vinegar. It works because I know what to expect each day. This also works for food. I have a basic dish I can cook no matter where I am. Most places have onions, leafy greens, and rice that I can use to make a basic stir fry (my current favorite food).

Travel days — being in transit from one place to another — can be stressful because there’s so many details to track. My solution? Travel days have only one goal: arrive at the next location. Anything else is a bonus. I also treat myself on travel days with my favorite activity: reading. I read ebooks in the airport, on the plane, the bus, etc. Sometimes I watch videos in my excessively long Watch Later list on YouTube.

What, in your experience, does the travel industry do well to assist or accommodate you?

Do travel influencers count as the travel industry? Because they help me a LOT. I like to know from A to B to C all the way to Z what to expect to get me from one location to another. YouTube and social media has been incredibly helpful in talking about the small details. For example, my husband and I went to Bangkok, Thailand last year and watched a ton of videos on how to get from the airport to the sky train. There was one video that filmed the trip from landing at the airport, walking down the pathway and to the first train stop, all the way to the final stop. I want that level of detail when researching my plans.

What could the travel industry do better?

Airports do not have enough signs. I want more signs when navigating the airport so I know I’m going the right way.

One airport, I think it was Boston, had excellent signage. Everytime I felt unsure about where I was going, I would spot a sign pointing me in the right direction. Not all airports are like this.

Signs would be helpful when going through security, too. Not all airports have the same rules for security. Sometimes you have to take out your laptop. Sometimes you don’t. Sometimes you take out the tablet, sometimes you don’t. It’s not consistent, and that is stressful. So I usually just err on the side of taking out all electronics. But it’d be easier if there was a sign with pictures as a reminder. Don’t assume everyone remembers what to do.

You seem to be empowered by traveling! What have the benefits been and what is your message for other autistic people who may not have spent as much time traveling, but who want to?

I’m not a full-time traveler and have done a few house-sits domestically. Internationally, I’ve been to Portugal, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Ecuador, the ABC islands and domestically I’ve traveled to about 7 states.

When you travel, you realize “normal” is relative. It depends where you are and who you’re around. You can be normal in one place and totally weird in another. For example, I love to eat rice and sit on the floor and not wear shoes indoors. In the United States, that might be different or weird. But when I was in Bangkok, that wasn’t at all unusual. It was everyday life. Riding public transport in some places might be viewed as strange or shady but in others, it’s a way of life. Travel reminds me that normalcy is not fixed.

What made you personally decide to start traveling? What were you doing before that?

I’ve just always wanted to travel. As a kid, I read blogs online of people who traveled to other countries. I read and paid attention to how they prepared for travel. And when travel YouTube became a thing, I watched videos and absorbed their tips and challenges. I guess I’ve been preparing for years! So when I finally started traveling, I had an idea of what to expect.