About to head off on holiday, help distract me please!

So I now have a replacement zoom lens as well as a replacement camera, and on the way back from picking it up I saw a bald eagle! I was so excited I didn't even think to get the camera before it went out of range 

I did however spot this little fella who then posed nicely for me, a spotted sandpiper:

I'm sorry about your camera bag. Bummer. 

When travelling a while ago my mum left all her shopping on the coach.

Take care, hope the weather is good for you.

I hope you enjoy yourself when you're away. Beforehand though try these to help distract yourself.

* Colouring books, listen to music, watch a movie, read a book, do photography, watch videos on YouTube.

That's what I do to help to distract myself. I hope this helps.

Ab&b fantastic: great place to shut down in, then. U go BeckyT!

So, in some ways the travel went well and in others, not so much.

We were delayed by two hours on the first flight which caused issues for me and him. My son coped well with the majority of it all, except for take offs and landings, in particular with the smaller plane on the second flight. One major meltdown from him getting onto the smaller plane due to seating issues.

In part due to the delays and trying to manage my son, I accidentally left my camera bag under a chair at Heathrow airport so I am now without a camera or lenses. I'm so annoyed at myself. It's been reported to lost and found but no news so far.

For me the flights were quite unpleasant but focusing on my son meant I couldn't meltdown myself. Today is going to be a shutdown day though, so I can try to rebalance myself.

On the upside the Airbnb is amazing so it'll be a comfortable place to do that.

 I know how difficult it is to travel while spectral. Happy to share.

Copy paste party! bon voyage!

Thank you for all of that, that's great and very thorough. I'll go through it again to properly process it all.

I travel a lot and it is hard if I don't have a step by step, follow the dots sort of approach.

Here are somethings I use to ground myself.

By car: license plates and on-ramp off-ramp (lucky, favorite, magic) numbers,

In the terminal: maps and routes (printed on paper to hold), arrive early to the departure gate -  get TSA if you can- ask for early boarding as soon as possible. Stay close by the boarding area.

Boarding: look up the stats on the plane, ask to meet the pilot (puts a face to the voice on takeoff and landing.).

!!Insist on early boarding! Be in the seats before the hoard descends with sunglasses and headphones already on and carry-ons tucked away.

Flying: Follow flight patterns as you go (if available). BRING music, crayons, pencils, scratch pads, jelly pens, soothing audio-book voices, stim toys, and fav snacks, etc. Have 2 very familiar items with you, they can have totemic meaning in a new place. I have a small beeny-baby monkey, for example, and a fav coffee thermos.

for jet lag: going west- rest, going east feast. this will cut down on that. Be sure to go to bed and arise at your regular clock-time, no matter what or where you are.

Once in a new location:  make some rituals to ground to, they can be new rituals or modified existing ones, like always eating at the same time of day.revisiting the same cafe.

Map out the whole trip on 3X5 cards and if one something happens to change things you can go to another card and reorder them accordingly, like if a museum is closed on the day you meant to go. Do another card that day and comeback to the museum card when it's open. Having the cards helps me see the whole trip in these details as a pile of individual events and I can relax, enjoy myself just focusing on the one card's activity without feeling FOMO.

I hope this is helpful for you, have fun! , U