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Where should you take your vacation?

Where should you take your vacation?

Posted by Alan Day Planning your vacation

The more things there are to do at a destination, the better. Right? No. Not always. But sometimes.

As a very general rule, the more things that there are to do at the destination, the more crowded that place tends to be. Think New York City, Los Angeles or Orlando. The less crowded the place, the less there is to do. Think Mojave Desert. You’ll probably need to find some sort of “trade off”, depending upon your child’s tolerance of crowds.

Start with your child’s specific interests. Repetitive behaviors are a central part of autism and this can lead to very specialized interests. A special needs vacation works so much better when you can include something that your special needs child really loves. If your child’s specific interests can be pursued while you are on vacation, it will help them deal with other changes that might, otherwise, be more challenging.

For instance, if your child is fascinated by insects, you could look for Insect Museums and select a destination based upon the results of that search.

Even so, try to keep your search as wide as possible at the beginning. In our insect example, you might find that there aren’t many such specialty museums. On the other hand, there is a good choice of places with a local zoo. Does that zoo have an insect house? If so, it can go on your short-list.

But sometimes? There are some valid reasons to look at destinations with lots of things to do:

Hopefully your child has more than just one interest, even if one is predominant and anything else is somewhat secondary. If this is the case, can you accommodate more than the one interest?

It may also be helpful if you can “discover” a new, added, interest with your child. The more options that there are at your destination, the greater the chance of finding something.

While you are taking your special needs child into account, you still want everybody else to have a good time. Just imagine if our “insect” example was actually narrower and amounts to just ladybugs. Mom, dad and siblings might be tested by an all-ladybug vacation.

This last point is even more valid if you have taken our advice from “Who is coming with you?” in a prior post. Friends and relatives might be even less enthralled by ladybugs or, even, insects.

An apology. Apologies to the National Park Service for hinting that there is nothing to do in that Park. There are potentially things that you could do, just many fewer of them than you’ll find in Manhattan!

BTW this is a spider in the Mojave >

Our next post: Where should you take your vacation – other factors to consider?

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About Alan Day

Alan Day – Co-Founder of Autism Double-Checked is an accomplished travel agent who began his career with Liberty Travel in 1999, then on moving to Connecticut in 2005, he formed his own agency. Alan’s son has Autism Spectrum Disorder: When considering the impact that his son’s Autism had on their own family vacations, Alan decided to refocus his agency and specialize in providing assistance and support for families impacted by Autism. For this purpose, he founded ASD Vacations to exclusively as a serve such families. In addition to assisting individual families, Alan produced a unique program called ‘Magic for Autism’ that enables groups of families to travel together with support for flights and at the destination. Alan also wrote a ‘Guide to Flying with Autism Spectrum Disorder’ and the Autism Passport as a means of communication between parents and destination resorts. Alan also writes a regular blog with tips and resources for families traveling with Autism.

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Founder Alan Day, and his partners have more than 100 years of collective experience in the travel industry. They also have special needs children and understand first-hand what precautions are necessary to create a safe and enjoyable space for individuals with ASD while away from home.

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