Do you like everything cut and dried?

Spindriftcoastal. Sounds perfect!

For me any travelling - even a day out - means careful preparation for medical supplied.
Firstly, I have an ileostomy and ALWAYS ensure that I have in my normal handbag, two complete changes - should it become necessary. Yesterday (for example), just a coach outing to a theatre to a town - I treated myself to a very lovely berry milk-shake - and then did need a full change in the nearby accessible loo.

For overnight stays, have to take with my CPAP machine and extension lead in case where I am staying does not have electrical point next to the bed. Also really need to have with me for that bed a 'slope' to allow me to sleep with my head raised (my bed at home is adjustable).

Also need night=time items for my hands to help prevent calpal tunnel - along with the many pills, etc.

As I need to travel in an electric wheelchair, this means there is very little room for clothes, so - also need to try to make arrangements to have help with some sort of suitcase.

Trains are wonderful - their Passenger Assistance people are great, have found that not all taxis are wheelchair compliant - and some taxi firms do not have facilities for booking such a taxi in advance - which can be a cause for worry.

I am insistent that I should be as independent as anyone else, but do find going away needs a great deal of forward planning .

TerriBull

These days I tend to over think going away trips, imagining varying scenarios, I'm doing it already with a prospective journey down to Devon in the summer, wondering if petrol will be rationed and how that could affect travel.

I wasn't always like this, I can remember taking our children away when they were babies down to France via ferry, and the shuttle once the channel tunnel had come into existence. Then motoring way down south, sometimes into Italy with all the paraphernalia required and not really worrying too much about overnight stops on the way, although I did usually pre book those.

Lately, I also hate hanging around at airports, in spite of having done lots of long hauls in the past. I love it when get there, wherever that maybe, it's the getting there I hate.

This is true for me also, I put it down to getting older 😬

Cossy

Wyllow3

I try not to take the kitchen sink when I go away but it's a struggle.

Just in case? Like me!

I'm actually managing to pack without taking the kitchen sink for a 2 night away break coming up. I did it by planning exactly what to wear down to socks.(Having checked weather and temperature)
However, as it's by car, I can sling some stuff in the boot, so it's cheating a bit.

We've done quite a few "big trips" moving between hotels and countries. I research, plan and fret for months before but as soon as we leave home to go to the airport, I just go with the flow, que sera, sera.

Greciangirl 1919 !!!!!!! What’s your secret????

It’s so tiring travelling. Do others feel the same.?

You need a holiday to get over it!

1919 long haul Greciangirl? You did well!😁

You can.plan.enough especially if you have walking and mobility issues. If going abroad do some research on health care and local hospitals. Also get the best health. Insurance and pay the excess waiver.

I always discount the day of travel and the day travelling back home. It's lovely while you're at your destination so probably worth two horrible days at airports

I’m just about to go of on holiday to Spain.
I haven’t been abroad since 1919. And even then I didn’t enjoy long haul travel.

This time: although a relatively short trip, I’m not looking forward to the hassle of Ryanair luggage allowance etc.

Also, I like to know what weather will be like etc.
I’m a terrible stressor. I won’t be allowed as much luggage as I would like which could be a problem.
I always seem to think the worst will happen.
I suppose I’m not used to getting outside my comfort zone and fear I have become lazy.

It’s so tiring travelling. Do others feel the same.?

Wyllow3

I try not to take the kitchen sink when I go away but it's a struggle.

Just in case? Like me!

I’ve got so much worse since 1) hit 60 and 2) mobility and bowel health deteriorated

I like to plan as much as possible.

The only thing I need to make sure of when I go away is that I have all my medical supplies apart from that I'm not too bothered , If I'm cold I can either buy something warmer or borrow something. When I went on holiday after breaking my hip the car was chock full of my medical supplies, walker, wheelchair, crutches, bathroom seat for the shower as well as the medication I needed, but I completely forgot my coat. The weather turned on the first day to beautifully warm and sunny for the duration of the holiday.

When I took my 16 year old daughter to Turkey for 2 weeks I allowed her to pack her own case. she took 42 different tops but forgot any skirts, trouser or shorts, luckily mine fit her.

Oh I totally agree I have to have everything tied down to the minor details that’s why I’m always the one doing the arranging and everyone is happy for me to do it as they know every detail will be covered.

I try not to take the kitchen sink when I go away but it's a struggle.

It’s a constant source of friction between Mr P and myself.
My daughter often in its us for dinner/ bbq etc.
this could be one/two weeks away.
The first question out of MrPs mouth: what time?
Does it matter, it’s a week away 🤷‍♀️
It’s not as if this is the only thing on his social/ work calendar.
Me, I just go with the flow.

To those who may be interested, I needn’t have worried. My daughter made sure I was alright. Although it was cold in the chalet, once we opened the blinds, the sun streamed in. We had a lovely afternoon out visiting gardens. We popped in and put the heater in before going out to eat and it was lovely and warm when I got back, though very cold this morning when I woke early. I made a cup of tea, refilled my hot water bottle and went back to bed until the place warmed up.
I’m now in a hotel in the city. The only thing worrying me is whether I have the stamina for all the sightseeing I want to do!

I used to organise and research all our family holidays . I loved searching for a bargain. In the last few years I have gone away with a group of ladies. One of them loves organising our trips and I am really enjoying the lack of responsibility. I just ask when and where we are going

Ok so I am staying one night by myself in a chalet my DD looks after. We are travelling there in her car but she and her husband are staying elsewhere. It will be very cold. First opening after winter. Goodness knows how many £1 coins I will get through to heat the place. We are eating out together that evening and I am taking tea, milk and a porridge pot for breakfast next day plus fruit etc. Then I am travelling on by bus /train to a city, staying in a hotel for three nights. So keeping luggage to a minimum.

I was bursting and had to send dh straight out on a mission of mercy. Luckily there was a good old Co-op close by

I’m afraid I would have drip dried witzend

We used to travel a lot when we were younger but now well into retirement, we just can't be bothered with all the hassle. We live ten minutes walk away from one of the UK's leading top holiday beaches. We just book a balcony room over the sea front in one of the luxury hotels and enjoy a weekend there. Bus down the hill, diets catered for, lovely bars, spa, and health club. If we forget anything, we just pop home, but that hasn't happened yet. No flights, queueing, disappointing accommodation, difficult people. What are we like?!

Witzend

I do like to be prepared. We’re booked into a U.K. Airbnb in July, with dd1 and family, so as usual I will be making a massive list of what to take.
One essential item - since we once arrived at a holiday let with 2 loos but none at all - is loo paper! I was bursting and had to send dh straight out on a mission of mercy. Luckily there was a good old Co-op close by.

Didn’t you have the local newspaper to hand?😁

It depends on whose doing the planning and arranging. Mostly if I go away it is with family or close friends and I have every confidence in their ability to sort everything out. Anything particular to me I will organise for myself.

This is a constant source of friction between my eldest and myself. Perhaps not so much “friction”, as despair. Hardly a week passes without me blurting, “Just say what you mean, and mean what you say. Make it easy for me to understand, stop taking in riddles, stop being so vague”. She (probably) has ADHD and is the most chaotic, disorganised person I know, although a high achiever at work.

Last week I dropped her dog back, he’d been with me for an hour or so and I was passing anyway to go shopping. DGS appeared briefly and went back to whatever he’d been doing. We talked about the dog. DD said, “I might need some help with him on Thursday, I’ve got a work dinner”. I said that was fine.

Wednesday evening she whatsapped a message that she’d drop the dog at my house at 07.45, DGS would finish school at 16.30 so I’d need to be parked there by 16.25, and her Waitrose delivery would arrive at 17.00, with supper for DGS and me.

So what I thought was having the dog for the evening turned into all day, then driving 10 miles to meet DGS and take him and the dog back to DD’s for the evening.

It was fine, but it was not what I expected. I absolutely need clear and specific directions and go into a tailspin with her vague hints.

When I worked briefly at Waitrose, if I was seeing her later in the day I’d occasionally ask if she’d like me to pick anything up, could she message me her shopping list. I meant her precise list. She’d say yes, could I please get a nice red and something for Sunday? Ok darling, WHICH red? I don’t drink and I’ve no idea what she’d like. WHAT food for Sunday? A roasting joint, or a bird? Vegetables? Or did she want a Charlie Bigham’s fish pie? Or lasagne? Salmon?

Or she’d message to say she’d forgotten salad. I’d ask what she meant: lettuce, tomato and cucumber? Iceberg or romaine? A bag of leaves? With watercress? Peppers? Cherry tomatoes or big ones? Or pasta salad? Grains? Dressing or mayonnaise, what’s in her fridge?

And she’d explode with frustration, saying why can’t I use my imagination?

Because I don’t have any, I suppose.

We are both neuro-diverse, in very different ways, and we haven’t really understood each other since she was two.