To date, since we realized that the Monster has Autism, our vacations have been more of the “stay-cation” variety, with us doing relative day-trips to cope with the behaviors we know are going to come out when we’re gone from the usual schedule for too long.  (The one dreadful trip to New Jersey comes to mind, where I didn’t sleep for most of the weekend because neither child wanted to sleep…)

The wife approached me this morning about my thoughts on driving to Florida for a vacation.

She’d been thinking about flying, as she mentioned to me last night, but the driving angle just seems to make more sense.  First, we could stop any time we needed to, and provide the kids with food/bathroom/etc.  Second, it eliminates all the concerns about what we can and can’t bring – everything could come with us.  And finally, there’s that horrible schedule and the airport that would likely throw the Monster off.

I’m really of two minds on the whole matter – I think that we do need to get back to something more like a ‘normal’ family, but I’m also trying to balance it with where I think the Monster is vis-a-vis spending three to four days in a car.  I know that other families with children with Autism do it on a regular basis – including a good number that I follow on Twitter – so I know it’s completely doable, but there’s that sense of trepidation about whether we’re ready to try this.

On the positive, we’ve never really had a problem with the Monster while doing things out and about in the past, and the activities we’re planning on doing are in his wheelhouse – we’re talking about Busch Gardens and Sea World, and perhaps a few more zoos and the like while we’re traveling and making the most of our memberships at various places.  Depending on how things are going, we’re planning on keeping things fairly fluid with our intentions for the trip.

We’ll see what comes of our thoughts on this, and I’ll let everyone in on it as we make decisions.

Just as a kind of forewarning – I have a bonspiel (curling tournament) this weekend, so depending on how my team does, I may not be posting on Sunday.