← Navigating Adult ADHD
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You are listening to the Navigating Adult ADHD podcast with your ADHD coach and expert, Zena. Hello, my friend. Welcome back to Navigating Adult adhd. Today feels so fitting to be talking about traveling and going to warmer places, especially because as I record this for you, it is late in May and and it's cold. At least here in New Zealand right now it has gotten really chilly. So I am wrapped up in my fluffy electric blanket on full. It's cranked right up as I record this for you. But not only that, I am actually on the countdown to go on a holiday, to go on a trip away. I am heading away with my partner to Sri Lanka and Singapore and celebrating turning the big four zero, which I'm actually really excited about. People keep saying to me, oh my God, you're going to be 40. Like, how do you feel about that? And I'm like, I feel really good. Bring it on. I've heard great things about the 40s. So many people have said the 40s are like the best years of your life. So I'm like, let's go. So I thought as I was preparing for this trip and I've been thinking a lot about travel lately, why not do an episode on ADHD friendly travel hacks to make your next trip and your life way easier. Not only do I love to travel, but I was also a travel agent in a past life. I think it was roughly 6ish years I spent working in the travel industry. Actually, it was probably longer than that because I did do it part time when I started my coaching business. So probably even longer, like 8ish years roughly of working in the travel industry. So I've had a lot of experience in this field. And as we know, traveling with ADHD is an experience. Let's just say that there's the dopamine and the novelty and the adventure. Like, I know for me personally, it's one of my favorite ways to get dopamine is through travel and having those new experiences and, you know, exploring new places and seeing new things and trying new foods and like, love that. Like, sometimes our brain's like, we are thriving. That is for sure me when I'm traveling. But then there is the flip side of traveling. There is the planning, the packing, the timelines, the documents, the decisions, navigating the airports and all of the sensory things that comes with that. And suddenly your brain's like stuff that I just want to lie down. I can very much relate to that as well. So today I wanted us to talk about how to travel with ADHD and how to make that easier. And I'm going to share with you nine hacks or tips, nine things that I recommend because traveling doesn't have to feel really chaotic, really overwhelming. And I appreciate that often it can become a very overwhelming thing for those of us with adhd. Okay, so as we know, there is a bit of a pre travel roller coaster, right? There can be a real weird mix of emotions. And I say this as I am three days out from getting on their plane to fly off to Sri Lanka. So there's a lot of excitement, right? There's plenty of excitement. The countdown's on. And you know, I'm like, oh my gosh, like looking at all of these travel videos. I keep scrolling on TikTok, looking at all of these Sri Lanka videos, like people with elephants and people on the beach and drinking cocktails and all of this, right? And I'm like, oh my God, so excited. But then you've also got like the last minute panic. So this morning we were sitting at the cafe, my partner and I, and I was like, oh my God, you need to charge the cameras, you need to pump up the car tires, you need to, you know, here's all of the things you need to do. And then I'm looking at my list, I'm like, oh my God, there's so many things I need to get done, right? Like there's all these different tabs open in your brain trying to organize all of these things before you go. And somehow I literally watched this. This is hilarious. I watched a TikTok video the other day of a woman who was like getting picked up at 4am to catch her flight with her friends and she was still awake at midnight finishing up her work cleaning her house. She's like, oh, I've got plenty of time to pack. Like, took a two hour nap and then woke up with 30 minutes to spare, started packing. I was like, oh my God, I'm getting anxious just looking at you. But somehow that can become our reality. You know, you're packing at 11:30pm at night, like, oh my God, why, why is it that I've got no undies clean to pack and you're, you're kind of panicking and also sometimes we become, we think we're going to become this totally different person when we travel. My God, I've done this so many times. I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm finally going to wear this, this outfit I've never worn. I'm finally going to wear It I'm going to become a completely different person overseas who's super sophisticated and wears this outfit. How many pairs of shoes should I bring? Should I bring six? Omg. So all of that to say ADHD can really show up when it comes to traveling decision fatigue. You know what flight should I book is? Am I going to have enough time to get from the airport to the train station to catch this train or should I book the later one? Right. Decision fatigue is real procrastination, overwhelm, forgetting the tiny bit crucial details like your passport. Okay? So of course ADHD can show up in so many ways when it comes to travel. So let's talk about how you can set yourself up for a great trip. Make things easier, my friend. So I'm going to go through these nine things with you. Number one, check your medication and if the country will allow you to take it in. Okay. This is huge. Not all countries are chill about you taking your ADHD medication in as I have discovered. Singapore. We're going to Sri Lanka via Singapore and we're coming back to Singapore to spend a few days there. I was doing a bit of research on this. I think I was actually at the time using chat GPT to help me with this. I said, you know, what are the rules and regulations around my ADHD medication? And I stipulated which one I take and they were very clear that I had to actually apply for a pre travel authority to be allowed to take it into the country. Okay. So I had to go to this website, it was totally free, but I went to this website. They ask that you do it at least two weeks before you travel. You need to have a doctor's letter stating what the medication is, what your dosages, why you have it, all of this, right? They outline all of this on the website and then you need to submit that. I also submitted like a photo of my medication, what it looks like with my prescribed label on it and then you get a confirmation or potentially a decline. But I got a confirmation back to say I was allowed to take my medication in and they said I should print the confirmation email that I got. So I printed that. I printed out the doctor's letter that I had as well so that I don't have any issues taking my meds into this country. So again, number one, check your medication because some countries are very strict, Japan is one of them. You can literally get arrested for having stimulant medication in Japan. So you definitely don't want to stuff this one up. Let's just say that all Right. So check the country rules. Always get a letter, like a travel letter from your doctor that stipulates this medication is prescribed to you, this is the dosage, etc. So that you have that even if you don't have to get a specific authorization from that country. Okay? Keep your medication in its original packaging. This is really important. Don't go putting it in little baggies. It's not a good look, my friend. It's not a good look. Keep it in the original packaging with your prescribed label, like the sticky label on it, so that it's got your name, etc. On it. Okay? All of that matters. We don't want to get that wrong. So that's number one, checking your medication and if you are allowed to take it into that country or if you need to get like an authority from that country. Okay? Number two, get support. Now, as I have said, I used to be a travel agent in a past life. So I know firsthand the benefits of having travel agents agents. I have had people who have ended up stranded overseas because an airline went bust or, you know, they missed because their flight was delayed, they missed starting their tour or what have you. And that's where a travel agent comes in to like help you navigate all of that and fix all of that so you're not having to try and wing it yourself, which can be super stressful. Right? Like there's so many benefits to having a travel agent, but even if you don't have one, if you're not using a travel agent, totally cool. You don't have to trust me, you don't need to use a travel agent. But when you've got a more complex trip, definitely recommend that. Right? Especially if you've got like multiple flights and trains and like lots of things going. So if you're flying to Europe and you're doing this big sort of two month trip around Europe, definitely worth it. All right? However, even if you're not doing that, I highly recommend that you get somebody else to run their eyes over your travel arrangements. So that could just be a few friend or, you know, a colleague or something like that. Get somebody else who's got a good eye for detail to run their eyes over your travel arrangements and just make sure that everything lines up and everything makes sense. Okay? Really good example I like to use here is with Rarotonga. So when you travel from New Zealand to Rarotonga, you cross the international date timeline. So what that means is say you left on a Saturday, you arrive in Rarotonga on a Friday. It's like you go back in time. So what that means is you have to book your hotel to check in on the Friday. Even though you left New Zealand on Saturday, you need to book your hotel to check in on Friday. So this can get really confusing. I've seen so many people make this mistake. So again, this is where having that second pair of eyes or using a travel agent or sort of a travel service is so helpful because they are responsible for these sorts of things. Okay. And if you're having somebody like a friend check your documents, having a good eye for detail, they might help you pick this up. Be like, oh, why is it you're leaving Saturday but you check in Friday? And you'll be like, oh, well, that's actually because I crossed the international date timeline and they're like, oh, okay, right. So that would make sense then that you're checking out a day earlier and you'd be like, yeah, okay. So again, like I said, number two here is getting support whether you use a travel agent, which, trust me, like, is so helpful in certain situations, or you just simply have somebody run their eyes over it just to help you, give you peace of mind and make sure that all of your details line up and you haven't missed anything. Okay? This is just helping to lighten your mental load and reduce your stress. Okay. Because you don't want to like arrive in Rarotonga and be in paradise but have nowhere to sleep. All right, number three, my friend. Oh, and I totally forgot to mention this. I've got a one page, like a four PDF cheat sheet. All right? I don't expect you to remember all of this. Hi, we have adhd. Our working memory does not remember all of the things. So you can get a free cheat sheet for this episode. Like you just pop your email in and it'll come to you. All you need to do is head to navigating adultadhd.com cheatsheet. That's it. Okay. I will put that link in the show notes for you and I will, if I remember, I'll remind you again later on. But you can grab like a literal one page PDF with all of these nine things so that you don't have to remember them. Okay? All right, got you covered. Got you covered. I was like, for this one, I was like, this would be very helpful to be able to like print it out or look at it on your phone. So I got you. Number three is to print and screenshot everything. Okay? All of your travel documentation. Because hello, low. Having adhd, having a Low phone battery, no WI fi, time pressure, that is chaos. And some places that you travel to, America is a great example. Traveling from New Zealand to America, they will ask to see your onward travel details. Or, you know, they may ask to see a flight of you leaving the country because you're only allowed to stay X number of time, right? So it is really important that you have your flights, screenshot, copies of that on your phone. You have your accommodation details, you've got your travel insurance details, screenshots of all of that so that you can easily access it on your phone, but also print everything. It is so helpful to have printed copies and then I just throw them out as I go. So once we've left Singapore, I'll throw out like all of our Singapore accommodation details or anything else that we'd already pre booked for Singapore. I'll just throw it out as we go. But it's so helpful to have those printed copies, trust me. You know, when you go to a travel agent and they will print you out and give you like a travel wallet or a ticket wallet, you just want to create that same thing for yourself just to make your life way easier. Okay? So again, screenshots of everything so that you're not having to try and connect to WI fi to get your emails and find it, what have you. No screenshots of everything and printed copies. Trust me, it's like your backup brain. You will thank me later. Number four, this is something I live by when I travel and I find this so helpful, is if you forget it, you can buy it. Okay? This one really takes the pressure off because you do not need to have some perfect fucking packing list, all right? You need your passport and your medication and I recommend you pack those two things first. You pack your passport and your ADHD meds first, okay? Then if you don't have enough pairs of undies, if you forget your togs. I've got to remember when I say togs, it's such a, like Kiwi thing, a New Zealand thing. I had a friend from Austin, Texas from, from the States come over and stay with me once. And I was like, I'll grab your togs. And he's like, what is a tog? I was like, it's your, like your swimsuit. A tog. I was like, no, togs. He's like, plural. I was like, yeah. He's like, what does that mean? I was like, it means swimwear. He's like, you're weird. So if you don't know what togs mean, it means Swimwear, Okay. So if you forget your swimwear, you're going to be able to buy it. Okay. I have bought, you know, toothpaste when I've run out overseas, deodorant when I've run out overseas. I have bought T shirts when I've run out, undies when I couldn't clean them. You can buy it when you are traveling. Okay? So I say that not so that you don't pack anything or by all means go for it. If you're wanting a new wardrobe, go for it, but because you don't need the perfect packing list and you don't really need to stress too much about packing the right things. That being said, I always recommend packing for the. Not for your idyllic self, but for who you are. I have been that person to pack. Oh my God, I'm going to become a different person. I'm finally going to wear that dress with the tags on. No. I have learned that when I travel, I want my favorite black jumpsuit, I want my favorite pair of like leggings, I want my comfy stuff, the stuff I wear every day and a couple of nice items that I might wear out, but things that I already wear. Okay, but again, number four is if you forget it, you can buy it. The most important thing is your passport and your medication. Okay. Number five. This is something I actually got from doing some research for this episode. I looked at what people online talk about when it comes to ADHD in travel and I got this really cool idea which I had already kind of built into this trip and that is empty the day before. And I think this is totally gold. I appreciate won't always work, but empty the day before, no plans, no last minute errands, no. I'm just going to quickly do this one thing. Having an empty day the day before. So you're not catching up with friends. You're not, you know, cleaning your whole house to get ready for your house sitter or whatever. It's an empty day so that you can pack, you can remember things, you can regulate your nervous system, you can get ready for things, you know, the trip in an enjoyable, slow paced way. Because often when we leave everything to the last minute, we try and cram a lot in. That is so disreg. Disregulating. I don't say often, I say always. That is dysregulating to be rushing like that. So if we can have that empty day before, that helps us to start the trip in a more regulated, calm, enjoyable state. And that energy follows you Right the way through. Okay. So that is such a great piece of advice to have that empty day before. Absolutely gold. Number six is to build a dopamine and regulation kit. So I think of this as like my survival pack. This is the things that support you and your brain during travel. I'm talking noise canceling headphones or earplugs or both. Okay. My partner, he always packs the big noise canceling headphones. I always do earplugs and an eye mask, especially if you are on a long haul flight. So we have got two overnight flights. So eye mask and a neck pillow. Like a decent neck pillow. Like a memory foam one. Not one with those tiny little round beady ball things in it. Those things are fucking useless, let's be honest. Okay. A good neck pillow, all right, Is worth the investment. An eye mask, right? These are things that help me to stay regulated. Snacks, snacks, snacks. That one speaks for itself. A power bank and charges. Now these, when I talk about this dopamine and regulation kit I'm talking about, put this in your carry on bag, take it with you on the plane. Okay? So you've got a power bank in case your phone starts to go flat, but you've also got the charging cord as well. Okay. Fidget and sensory toys. Anything that helps you if it's like a fidget ring, if it's a stress ball, anything that helps you to give you that outlet. Especially if you're like standing in queues. You know, sometimes you're at an airport and they're like, put your phones away, you're not allowed your phones out and you're waiting in a customs line or what have you. Having something like that just to help you regulate, calm down, give you that outlet for, for needing to move your body again. This is a dopamine and regulation kit. So think about the things that help you to regulate. Think about, you know, things that help give you a little bit of dopamine or stimulation when you need it. And again, 100% recommend some noise canceling headphones or earplugs. If you think about like going through an airport, the sensory experience of that can be very overwhelming for some of us. The noise, the lights, the, you know, the security, like a lot going on, heaps of people, loudspeaker alerts, all sorts of things. What helps you to navigate that, what helps you to feel calmer or soothe you when you're in that sort of environment. Make sure you pack those things. Okay? Number seven is to pre download everything. Okay. WI fi is unreliable and adhd boredom is kind of guaranteed when we're traveling, whether it be you get on a plane and there's no seatback entertainment. So for example, we fly Auckland to Singapore and we have seatback entertainment, what have you. But then from Singapore onto Sri Lanka, I have no idea if we're going to have a seat back screen and we're talking just under a four hour flight there. So what have I done? I have downloaded, I've got Spotify playlists downloaded. I have got podcast episodes downloaded ready to go. I have got Netflix TV shows downloaded ready to go. I even have games on my phone ready to play so that I don't have to count and feel every single second and every single minute sitting there being super bored. Okay, if you're somebody who loves to read, I can't do that on a plane. Makes me feel sick. But if you're somebody who loves to read, maybe you download some audiobooks. Well, not necessarily audiobooks, sorry, download the book. Physical books. What do we call that? What do we call that? Like on your Kindle, you know what I mean? You know what I'm saying? I'll take a physical book. Right, but again, pre download things because the WI fi on the planes is not guaranteed and it's also pretty, it will not let you play video files. So again, pre download the things, my friend. Number eight is get a Sunflower lanyard. I'm a big fan of this. This is such a hidden gem. So the Sunflower lanyard is something that has been started by a company. Is it a company? I don't know if that's what we call it, but a place called the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower, I think that's what it's called. Gosh, I think I'm really butchering this. But the whole point is that wearing the Sunflower lanyard and I know you can get them free from Auckland airport, from many other places, you could literally order yourself a Sunflower lanyard from Temu. Okay? But what this does is it lets airport staff and you know, sometimes it's not just the airport staff, but also I remember when we were in Gold coast with the kids, with the boys. One of our boys has Williams syndrome and he had a sunflower lanyard on. And they said to us, hey, go to guest services and you actually get fast passes so that we don't have to wait in queues. And we got a bunch of other things. He was able to get a wheelchair when he got tired for like half a day. So having this, it is becoming more and more recognized around the world. And it just lets people know. And yes, admittedly not everybody's aware of this yet, but those who do know, it lets the staff know. It lets the people around you know that you do have a hidden disability or you have some hidden challenges and you may need some extra time or some extra support. They might also be able to point you towards any quiet rooms. I know Gold Coast Airport has a quiet room and some other airports around the world. So it helps people to know that you might need, you know, some patience, some support, some guidance. Especially if you are sensitive to noise, to crowds, to lighting. If the sensory overload is a lot for you when you are traveling, getting a Sunflower lanyard is so, so worth it. I will drop the link to the website with more information about this in the show notes because it's. Yeah, I highly recommend checking out this whole initiative. It is incredible, right? It's just kind of like having this quiet little signal that says, hey, my brain works differently. You know, please be patient with me. Might need a little extra support. Okay, so that's the Sunflower lanyard. Number eight. Number nine, my friends, is. I've learned this sht the hard way too. I gotta tell you. Dress for comfort, okay? Don't. Don't dress just to like look pretty. I mean, yeah, I'm all for that. Like, you want to look cute, whatever, but dress for comfort. Being on a plane is not very comfortable sitting in that seat. I mean, unless you're in business. I mean, then by all means, dress however you want, okay? But dressing for comfort is so important when you are traveling, all right? Not your idyllic self. Dress for comfort. So I'm thinking for this flight, for example, I'm gonna have my like my little activewear shorts. So like little like bike short type things under my track pants. I've got like a quite a dressy nice pair of like red track pants, like with stripes down the side. They look quite cute with like a jacket or a blazer. But I'm probably going to have a hoodie on, let's be honest. Okay. Think layers, comfy, easy, soft fabrics, whatever feels good to you. You don't want to be wearing something you haven't worn before or something like really stiff and uncomfortable that is going to dysregulate you. Oh my gosh, please don't do that to yourself. Now in saying that, I have traveled for work a few times and been told that I had to dress work appropriate and ugh, that sucked. So what I would do is I would wear the comfy clothes underneath, the air quotes work appropriate stuff so that I still felt the comfort. Even with the like stiffer chiffon type polyester fabrics, whatever the hell over top. That was my little cheat sheet there. All right, so number nine, dress for comfort. So travel, like, travel can be overstimulating even when it is fun, right? Even when it's something you've been looking forward to. You might notice that there is a little bit of increased irritability or you might shut down or there might be some overwhelm or decision fatigue, right? That is normal when we travel. Having adhd. Okay? And if your brain says to you, why am I like this? I'm literally in paradise. Like, why do I feel this way? Nothing is wrong, okay? Your nervous system is just maxed out. Your ADHD brain is just maxed out, okay? So remember to have the downtime. Sometimes we are really active relaxers and we want to, like, pack in every minute. Make sure we have some quiet time in there, some rest time, okay? Do not over schedule every second. You don't want to have a holiday from your holiday. Been there, done that too many times to count. Do not recommend right now. Again, these nine tips that I have just given you and all of the things I recommend packing in your dopamine and regulation kit. You can grab the download for that totally free from navigating adultadhd.com cheatsheet okay? I'll pop that link in the show notes so that you can get that. If you are traveling, traveling with adhd, it's not about being perfectly organized. It's just simply about reducing the friction supporting your brain, expecting there to be some dysregulation, a little bit of chaos, and having your own back when that happens, okay? Because it will, right? And you can handle it. You've done it before. You'll do it again. All right? My friend, if you have ever forgotten something really important, if you have, you know, cried at an airport, packed way too much, or almost missed a flight, oh, my God. That happened to me in Panama. Panama City. Oh, my God. I was running at the airport crying, get to the gate. And they're like, oh, yeah, your flight's delayed. I thought I'd missed it, like, properly. It was meant to be, like, taking off the moment we landed. We were delayed and I totally thought we'd missed it. And they're like, oh, yeah, yeah, no, no, this one's delayed. And everyone is just staring at me because I'm like, in hysterics. Yeah. So if you've ever done that, my friend. You're in good company. All right. But travel with adhd, I promise it doesn't have to be super stressful. With the right supports in place, it can actually be super joyful. Awesome, amazing experience. And we can get so much dopamine, so much joy from travel. All right, so if you are traveling, safe travel, my friends. Huge, huge love to you. When this is when you listen to this. Actually, I will be back from the trip, so perhaps I will send out an email with some photos. We shall see. All right. Huge love. Take care of. I'll speak to you soon. Hey, friend, if you want some more help navigating and thriving with ADHD and some help applying everything that you're learning here on the podcast, then head over to our website, navigating adultadhd.com.