The real takeaway from this is about controlling sensory inputs. My wife is "neuro-spicy" and we have to consider those things when we go adventuring. What we've found best is to make sure there's always enough "controlled" things each day. Going to a museum, walking around a city, or going for a hike are great, but unpredictable. One or two each day are fine, but too many can cause burnout. Earplugs, books, snacks & water can help a lot with this stuff. Planning ahead is very important.<p>As an example, she absolutely hates airports but doesn't mind flying. The noises, announcements, people moving around, never knowing if your gate will change, all of it is awful to her. I don't mind the airport but once the plane is in the air watching the time tick down is torture to me. Everybody's a little different.<p>The "spoon theory" [1] can help things make sense, and it's a great start, but it's a bit more nuanced than that. It's more about controlling exposure to "unexpected" stimulus.<p>[1] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoon_theory" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoon_theory</a>
The biggest things for me were:<p>1) Realizing that I was autistic<p>2) Developing better awareness for when I was in a taxing environment and better verbalizing my needs. People are usually happy to accommodate if you can communicate before you get irritable from putting up with that noisy restaurant.<p>3) Active noise-cancelling headphones (Bose QuietComfort)
Travel is really hard for me; very anxious. Trains tend to be better, especially business class.<p>checklists and lots of planning doesn't ever make it that much better.<p>My 1 kind of dream is that I get pilots license and fly myself wherever I want to go.
This should read “autism CAN make travel a challenge”. Mine doesn’t, travel isn’t hard for me, frankly I see a lot of people getting more stressed and anxious about travel then I do. the blanket statements people make about these things like autism, adhd, etc are just getting tired and frankly need to stop.