Is it difficult for an aspie to go abroad alone?

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Depends on the aspie I guess. As a teenager I often travelled alone to other cities to photograph graffiti. Also went by plane to another country alone once as a teenager. My sister was waiting there for me, but I basically went on solo trips through the city daily, before meeting her at her work place.

Today I couldn't do that anymore though. It would be too stressful.

Maybe watch some solo travel vloggers on youtube and monitor your own brains reaction to it. Like SabbaticalTommy or Harald Baldr. They almost always travel alone. While I like watching what they do, my brain would explode if I were in their situation.

I think familiarity is relevant for me...that is familiarity with traveling.

I used to travel frequently for work, and some for my own reasons. At first it seemed strange. But the more I did it the more I became used to it and it ceased to seem odd. I knew what to do.

Now, however, I don't travel as much and I suspect a trip would seem a bit strange, again.

Almost all of my travel was in the U.S., however. If each trip had been to a different culture, where they spoke different languages, then travel might've been less easy for me.

That brings up something I forgot to mention in my first post actually - I had an auditing job in my late 20's (2006 onward) where state to state travel was an integral part of what we did. Even my first week I flew out to Chicago because we had a university we were reviewing books for. Ultimately we, as auditors with this company, went out to eat lunch and dinner together and stayed at the same hotels, carpooled to and from the audit sites, but our flights and flight times were individual as well as our preparations.

That probably had me at least comfortable enough with airports, luggage, hotels, etc. that this particular part of traveling solo was already resolved for me.

Then I think if the foreign travel becomes common for you, then two things might become true:
- You'll get used to it.
- You'll make a lot of people jealous.

If I do so well that in my 60's I'm taking selfies in an expensive white suite, white hat, white hair, white beard, horn-rimmed glasses (looking like a skinny Colonel Sanders does a Dos Equis commercial or an globe-trotting James Randi or random people asking me for Connor McGregor's autograph), having breakfast on some dining terrace in Cincque Terre overlooking the Ligurian with an expensive maduro cigar and I talk about my daily routine - I think *that* would make people jealous.

Last edited by techstepgenr8tion on 17 Dec 2022, 6:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Not in the slightest.

Geography mistake immortalized!

Maybe it would make people jealous if I had binoculars so good that I could see the Tyrrhenian from Cincque Terre.

I don't think I'll come up with the strength to go abroad on my own.

However, I do have a maternal aunt and uncle who live in Tennessee who I've been wanting to meet
in-person for the past few years; just want to know if Amtrak or Greyhound is the better option.

What an inspiring story. You surely are one of the courageous ones jimmy m.

I'm guessing Greyhound is cheaper. Amtrak would cost more, likely be more pleasant (especially if you get a room!), but has limited coverage of Kentucky.

I managed a few trips on my own. No trouble. I wasn't even bored as I love talking to strangers. It's amazing what kind of people you can meet when you travel. Haven't tried a country that doesn't speak one of my languages yet.

I probably would not want to go alone.

But I have never been in a position to afford traveling to another country, so haven't given it that much thought.

People who speak English have an advantage for traveling even in non-English speaking countries. I am sure people from more diverse countries know this even better than I do.

it is cool that you like to talk to strangers. It probably helps that you are female. I imagine people would argue that you stand a better chance of being sexually assaulted or petty theft as a female.

But, I think in general the average male will assault the average male more often than a female. And women in general are non confrontational. People instinctually know that.

Plus, when men talk to women they assume they are trying to come on to them …. or the women don’t talk to strange men because they have possessive men in their lives or are on guard to protect their children.

Also, some people know when they are at risk of being taken advantage of and avoid that. It is complicated and convoluted IMHO but not too mysterious.

Greyhound is NEVER the better option - its not even worth the savings over the cost of a train trip.

In my case, no.

Traveling or living abroad may be confusing and disorienting, but I'm confused and disoriented in my own country. At least I have an excuse abroad.

I have traveled alone to many countries. I did not always fit in or understand the customs or social norms, but this time people thought it was because I was foreign. It felt like a new and different way of masking.