Family Vacation to the World of Supermoms and Masochists

If you read my newsletter, you know that in August we took our first family vacation. Now that school has started and hurricane Hermine has put a bit of a fall chill in the air, summer and our family vacation seem far behind. Hard to believe that just a few short weeks ago I was poolside with a drink in my hand, without wifi or other daily distractions. I realize I keep saying “family vacation” but I need to point out that this term is a total oxymoron. I believe that we had as good a time as possible. But let’s face it – if it was indeed a “real” vacation my family would not have been there…

So now that everything is back to “normal” and I sorted through the literally 6000+ emails that were awaiting me when I returned (the downside of no wifi) I’m ready to reflect on our road trip adventure. My plan was to “set the bar low and go with the flow.” This turned out to be the right plan, with the exception of planning for the special diet… and administering all the meds and supplements… and possible potty accidents… oh, okay – autism makes being completely laid-back impossible. But, I did the best I could. I just had to occasionally remind everyone else to do the same…

Autism, Disney, and 2000 miles on I-95

That’s right – we took our family circus on the road. We packed up the minivan, drove 1000 miles to visit my aunt (the one who gave me the waffle iron) in Florida, went to Disney for a few day, then back to my aunt’s and her glorious salt-water pool, and then drove back home. This was our first real family vacation. I was too exhausted and burnt out to do the super vacation planning thing. So, I figured I would just learn as I go. And learn I did. Here are few of the many lessons:

When you are traveling with kids, you need to read the GPS in dog years

What I mean by that is that if your GPS tells you it will take 7 hours, you need to figure 49. Okay, it’s not that bad but kids make everything take a lot longer. Their constant need to eat and pee (never at the same time!) meant that what we thought was a 15 hour drive took more like 22 or so hours. We had planned on driving over two days so it didn’t change our destination time that much. We just weren’t counting on spending about 12 hours a day in the car.

Electronics are your BFF

We try to limit the use of electronics in our home. But when you are in the car for 15 (or 22) hours all bets are off. I owe my friend Lori a huge amount of thanks for giving me a duffel bag filled with DVD players, DVDs, and various electronic games. This was our saving grace through most of the drive. But, if I hear Barney sing ‘Apples and Bananas’ one more time I might rip my own ears off.

You can burn out your USB chargers…

…by charging them in the car too long. Maybe this is common knowledge. But I had no idea (until we burnt out 2 phones chargers and an iPad charger). We still had our overnight hotel time to charge everything. (FYI – it’s always good to bring electronics in from the car anyway. Apparently, thieves target cars in motels off the interstate, where people might not be at their final destination and therefore sill have things left in the car.) But, I would have charged up all the portable chargers had I known I shouldn’t keep everything plugged in the car that long.

Special diets are expensive

Okay, that’s a big DUH that we all knew. But, a long drive makes this even more obvious. I know that fast food isn’t good for anyone. But I was just thinking about how much time and money could have been saved if we could have made a few drive-through runs. Of course, it’s not like you can pull up to the window and ask to see the gluten-free dairy-free soy-free corn-free dye-and-artificial-flavor-free sugar-free organic menu. While we were able to bring most of the snack items and drinks we needed in the travel bags and cooler, most actual meals required a sit-down restaurant. And if we are already sitting in a restaurant, Mommy might as well have a margarita…

Disney is great for special diets

I don’t want to write too much about Disney because pretty much everyone in the world knows more about it than I (so I don’t have much to offer there). I mean, it took me about 2 days to really understand how to use the FastPass together with the Disability Access Service. And every Disney blog everywhere says that they are great with special diets, so I already knew this.

But, even I was surprised by just how great. As in, they don’t just give you a list of what you can and can’t have. Instead, the chef will come out and point out everything at the buffet that is okay for your kid and help you make a plate as you go through the line. And the chef will cook a special off-menu meal for your child. Sometimes, the chef will not only check that the meal doesn’t contain any allergens, but also that the animal he is cooking didn’t eat any allergens. Anyway, I was really impressed with how helpful they were with that. It goes without saying that this is more expensive (which I already mentioned) and requires advanced planning. So, no grabbing a snack off the churro cart or walking into a restaurant without a reservation. There are fruit whips though! So, that’s something…

Children do not understand the concept of time

Like, at all. Of course they asked if we were almost there before we even left the state. They also asked after about 6 hours if we were close to their grandparents’ house, which is only about an hour and a half away. They thought maybe they saw us pass it (?). And they obviously learned from a TV show they shouldn’t have been allowed to watch that parents really hate (and by really hate I mean they should do it as long as possible) when kids just keep saying, “Are we there yet?”

My family really needed this “vacation”

Regardless of the expense, the meltdowns, the hassle, and all the freakin’ Barney music, this trip was the best thing we could have done. We all needed a break. Christopher needed a break from therapies and being cooped up in the house over the summer. My other kids needed a break from being trapped in a world controlled by autism, and to have a kid experience that was both different and normal. My husband needed a break from being a caregiver who gets pulled in so many directions while trying to work and keep our house running. And I needed a break from my daily stressors and the million things I try to do at once. We needed time as a family. And we needed to just park our asses by the pool and not worry about the real world.

And then we packed up the car and drove 1000 miles for 2 days right back into it. Until next year! Maybe…