Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi
I am the mother of a young man wild mild autism and a language disorder. He is 22 years old, and has recently got a full time job which he is really enjoying! (I am very proud of him :))
He has told me he woud like to go on holiday. He doesn't really have friends he can go with and I can understand that he would rather not go with his mother! So he would be going alone.
Does anyone have any recommendations of companies/organisations that offer supported holidays that he could go on? He would prefer physical doing-things type holidays with people his own age or near.
Any help gratefuly welcomed. Especially if you have personal experience of these holidays.
Thank you very much.
Hi, The only holidays I really enjoyed were hiking trips! Now that I can't hike anymore due to injury, I don't go anywhere anymore. Hiking trips gave me a lot of security as they have an in built routine and I absolutely loved the hiking itself. Life is really simple on a hiking trip. For my first trip I went on this organised group trip with a guide in Corsica- that meant that all the accommodation, food and route were sorted in advance and an experienced guide was there too. It wasn't that expensive either considering everything was included. The downside of course is that in that case you will be with a group of people you don't know, but I had a really good experience. After that first trip, I started organising my own hiking trips- I love the planning of the trip almost as much as the trip itself- I went with a close friend the first time. It was quite hard to find a good hiking partner, but I ended up finding someone from university for the subsequent trips. Then on my last trip, I unexpectedly ended up on my own after 4 days and I decided to continue on my own. Best choice ever and it has given me a lot of confidence- I would now happily go on my own again (it was a route where there were other people so I did feel safe)- I am not the most social person on the planet but I have found it really easy to connect to fellow hikers in mountain huts and even when I was on my own, I teamed up with someone else for a day here or there.
The company I went with on that first trip was Corsica Adventure: https://www.corsica-aventure.com/en It was quite a long time ago (in 2016) though. I am sure there are lots more similar companies that offer outdoor trips in different areas. For me this was a really good start and this first guided trip then gave me the confidence that I had the knowledge and skills to organise my own trips in future.
Also I am a huge fan of Corsica- it is one of my favourite place ever- though that is just personal preference.
Also, since I was going on my own, I contacted the company in advance and they were able to help me be matched up in a group which included other younger people.