Traveling with ADHD - how to travel calmly without calamity
Give yourself this quiz:
Have you ever gotten off a plane and left something behind in the overhead compartment or seatback?
In a city with more than one airport, have you ever booked a flight at one airport but showed up at another airport by accident?
Have you ever lost your passport while traveling?
Have you ever walked through security, looked at your phone or the monitor for your gate and within 2 minutes, forgotten the gate number?
Have you ever had to go to the front desk of a hotel to get a new plastic card made because you left yours in your room? Has that ever happened twice on one trip? Three times? Four times or more?
Have you ever underestimated the time to see sights or to travel between one sight and another and the place that you really wanted to visit was closed when you got there?
Have you ever lost your phone while traveling?
Are you more prone to fight with your partner, friend, or other companions while traveling?
If something doesn’t work out while traveling, (like the restaurant you really wanted to go to is closed), are you able to easily change course and go to plan B?
Do you have a hard time making decisions while traveling, for example, if you get to a town late at night, do you have a hard time choosing a place to eat even if you are hungry?
Structure is one of the best medicines for ADHD and when you travel, you are out of routine; you lose your structure. Everybody is more prone to challenges while traveling but if you scored 5 or more on the quiz, you may be “traveling with ADHD.” Here are a few tips to keep your ADHD symptoms under control while traveling:
1. Losing and finding things - You need to be even more aware than usual of your belongings when you are traveling. If you struggle with losing things in general, traveling will exacerbate this challenge. Try these ideas to minimize the items you lose:
Travel with a backpack or fanny pack, something that you can keep attached to your body, with all your important belongings.
Leave an extra credit card in your room when you go out in case you lose your wallet.
Before you leave a hotel room, do a “last check” to make sure nothing has been left behind. In particular, make sure you have your phone charger.
Remember to check the seatback and overhead compartment when getting off a plane.
If you keep your wallet or phone in your pockets, make sure you are wearing clothes with deep pockets so they don’t fall out.
If you are tired from traveling, you are more likely to lose things. Ask your travel companion to remind you to do your checks (in the hotel room or on the plane).
If you do lose something, even your phone, or wallet, or passport, try to stay calm. Plenty of people have lost their phones, wallets, purses, or passports while traveling and lived another day.
Look with your mind not your body. Retrace your day and where you would have left behind the item. A lost item is usually within shouting distance of where you thought it would be.
If these items are really gone, then replace them. Passports can be reissued quickly. Credit cards can be canceled and replaced. You can get a new phone.
2. Being careful with the big things - Things are going to go wrong when you travel. Try to minimize the # of big things that go wrong:
Double check the airport you are flying into and out of.
Make sure you are getting your times right.
Make sure you know the correct day to meet up with a friend.
Take precautions so none of your belongings get stolen.
3. Getting along with your travel companions - You might remind your spouse, partner, friend, children, or other travel companion that travel takes you out of your routines and please be patient if anything goes wrong. Traveling together can be intense and can exacerbate existing underlying friction. Work hard to be empathetic to your travel companions and ask them for the same for you.
4. Making plans - People have different travel routines. Some people want to go on an organized tour or a cruise to minimize the number of things that go wrong. Others may want the freedom and spontaneity of waking up each morning and making a new plan. If you are the latter, then great but make sure that you careful about your planning:
Leave extra time - Make your plans and then leave an extra hour to get from place to place. In a new place, it is hard to figure out how bad traffic will be or how long it will take to get somewhere with public transportation.
Check opening and closing days and times - Make sure you look on the internet or ask somebody who knows this information; how disappointing it can be to get somewhere and find it is closed.
Don’t try to stuff too much into one day - It’s tempting to want to go to every museum, beach, shop or restaurant in one city, but realize that you and your travel companions will want some chill time and if you pack in too much you will wear yourself out and be more prone to ADHD-related errors.
5. Have fun - There is no doubt that travel is more difficult if you have ADHD. But when you leave your daily responsibilities behind, it is a great chance to relax and take a break from your usual challenges in life. Sometimes it is the ideal time to work on yourself; to practice your compensating mechanisms, to work on your emotional challenges, and to reflect on your life. Even if things go wrong, you will recover. Meeting new people, seeing different cultures, adventuring in beautiful natural areas are some of the great joys in life. So what if some things go wrong in your travels; keep your eye on the big picture and enjoy your travels!