Getting Started

For years I have threatened to start blogging but somehow never got around to it....however, the day has arrived.

There are a million things one could blog about and there are a ton of blogs already out there, written by amazing parents of children with autism, children on all levels of the spectrum. What I haven't seen much of is blogs about traveling with children who have autism. That may be because traveling with a child, or children with autism, can be a daunting experience and can test the strength of even the most determined of parents.

I, however, was born to be a gypsy. Wanderlust is in my DNA and it is impossible for me to stay in one place without getting antsy. Travel calms my brain and allows me to put life into perspective. It seems my daughter inherited this quality...my son, not so much, but we started traveling with the kids long before we knew they were autistic. In some ways that was a saving grace, in other ways, it didn't help at all.

My kids are now 23 and 25 years old, but because of their profound autism, they behave in the 2-12 range. If you read my blog, and I hope you do, you should know that I am not a unicorn and rainbows mom. This means you may not always like what I have to say about autism. To be clear, I loathe autism. Christians often say 'Love the sinner, hate the sin'. That's how I feel about autism. I love my kids, but I really hate they got saddled with autism. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

Because I'm writing this blog 25 years after we started traveling with our kids, I will go back and forth between then and now. I will tell you the things I've learned about traveling with autistic children, and for those of you who haven't stepped onto an airplane since your child was diagnosed, maybe this blog will encourage you to go see the world through the eyes of a child with autism.