I’m in a long-distance relationship with someone from the USA. We actually had a civil marriage in New York in August , but my wife can’t come to the UK until she gets her spouse visa, which could take until next spring because of the migrant crisis (we also would like a religious ceremony in the UK once the visa comes). So I’ve been to the US twice this year and am going a third time this week.
I don’t like travelling much. I think lots of people find it stressful and doubly so for those who are autistic. I don’t usually have meltdowns, but I struggle to hear over the noise at the airport and to work out what I’m supposed to do and where I’m supposed to go. I can get a bit confused because of sensory overload and too many people and stand there wondering what to do until a staff member asks if I’m OK. I hate going through security in particular, as it makes me very stressed and I probably look suspicious as a result (at any rate, they always seem to pull me over for closer inspection), which just makes it worse. I hate immigration at the other end, too, particularly as I sometimes get migraines on flights and am not in a good state when I land. After my last trip, I got a sunflower invisible disabilities lanyard which I hope will at least stop staff thinking I’m an idiot or being deliberately obtuse, at least at the UK end of the trip. I did try to enquire about what other help was available at the airport, but there didn’t seem to be very much except for people with much more significant difficulties than I experience.
I’ve wasted a couple of hours today first trying to get my NHS vaccination data onto my computer to send to the airline (I am not good at doing stuff with my phone or getting it to talk to my computer), then panicking because my vaccination certificate was rejected, I think because, although I’m double vaxxed and double boosted, my last booster was less than fourteen days ago. So now I’ve gone into a negative thought spiral of thinking that the staff at the airport won’t believe me that I’m fully vaccinated and will only look at the most recent certificate and because of my autistic communication difficulties, I won’t be able to tell them that I’m fully vaccinated.
Does anyone have any airport tips? Or airport anxiety?
