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Justin101
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31 Aug 2019, 5:35 am

Does anyone else diagnosed with AS like to travel? I've been to over 30 countries and, although initially it was difficult,now I find it enjoyable. A desire to see new places, to find belonging and acceptance, may drive this. Would be interesting to speak to other AS travellers!



Mountain Goat
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31 Aug 2019, 7:14 am

I have not been diagnosed, but I love travelling through the rural and semi rural parts of Wales. I do seem to be on edge if I travel outside of Wales into England, and I once ventured all the way to Scotland. But I found it wasn't until I returned back into Wales that I could relax.
Yes, I have been abroad to Caldey Island which is two miles off the coast of Wales and I didn't need a passport. And to travel the world and back? Ah. I do that in Wales! Haha!



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31 Aug 2019, 8:22 am

I'm an aspie and actually usually enjoyed travelling, but I've only been to 6 countries though.



darkwaver
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31 Aug 2019, 3:05 pm

I like to travel when I get the opportunity - haven't been to nearly as many countries as you, though. What kind of places do you like best?



Justin101
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01 Sep 2019, 6:55 am

Hi
So it's good to hear others can travel!
I tend to like exotic places, as different from the society I grew up in as possible! Within reason of course. Some countries have people that are more open and welcoming than others. Plus, the quirks of AS are written off as 'being a foreigner'. I want to see Japan and Korea. I have found East Asian people the easiest of all to get on with. And Scottish, for some reason!



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01 Sep 2019, 7:25 am

Hello, nice to meet you! :)
I like to travel. I enjoy seeing different scenery and cultures. I don't travel by myself, though. What's your favourite country so far?



Justin101
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01 Sep 2019, 8:13 am

Thanks :)
I travelled once with some people, for just a day, and actually that was one of the best days I can remember... So can see the appeal in travelling with company. However, because I find it hard to socialise, and rarely do, this isn't an option. When backpacking it kind of forced me to socialise, though nothing much came of it.

I don't know my favourite country. Parts of Australia (West coast and Tasmania) stand out, also Fiji and Thailand. What is your favourite country?



Sir Sensealot
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01 Sep 2019, 1:54 pm

I don't travel by myself either. There was a period in my life that I got a lot of opportunity to travel with family, friends and fellow students. Mostly through Europe but also through Canada. My favorite travel destination is Germany. I love the combination of historic towns and cities and the landscape with river valleys and rolling hills. Germany borders with my own country of the Netherlands, so maybe I get an opportunity to go there again in the future.



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02 Sep 2019, 1:05 pm

Justin, count me in as a traveller! Love it! I went to Iceland, Italy, Vienna, and Norway last year. I’m an Aussie who lives in England now. Funny, I’ve never been to Fiji, despite it being a favourite destination with Aussies.



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03 Sep 2019, 4:48 am

Justin101 wrote:
Thanks :)
I travelled once with some people, for just a day, and actually that was one of the best days I can remember... So can see the appeal in travelling with company. However, because I find it hard to socialise, and rarely do, this isn't an option. When backpacking it kind of forced me to socialise, though nothing much came of it.

I don't know my favourite country. Parts of Australia (West coast and Tasmania) stand out, also Fiji and Thailand. What is your favourite country?

I understand what you mean about socialising, I meant I've generally travelled with family.
What did you enjoy about those places? I've never been to Australia or Asia but I'd love to go to both of those places one day! I like the idea of Australia because I'd like to see the scenery and wildlife- the thought that Kangaroos wander around amazes me :lol:. And I'd like to go to Asia for the art and culture and general atmosphere if that makes sense.

I have two favourite countries so far- Norway (I went in winter and thought the scenery and whole atmosphere was lovely), and Italy (the history, the buildings were beautiful! And the food :chef:).



Sir Sensealot wrote:
I don't travel by myself either. There was a period in my life that I got a lot of opportunity to travel with family, friends and fellow students. Mostly through Europe but also through Canada. My favorite travel destination is Germany. I love the combination of historic towns and cities and the landscape with river valleys and rolling hills. Germany borders with my own country of the Netherlands, so maybe I get an opportunity to go there again in the future.


I'd love to see the Black Forest area of Germany! I went to Amsterdam a few years ago and thought it was brilliant (despite almost being run over by a bicycle :lol:).



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03 Sep 2019, 5:08 am

I nearly bouhht a passport once! I had in mind that I cojld try to visit another country like France. Somewhere that if I didn't like it, it would be easy to drive straight home again, and I could drive there from here... As then I would have the security of my car (I need something familiar I can relate to when all around has changed. If I travelled as a foot passenger and only had myself, I would be so vunerable I would panic and probably not know how to calm down. (Not sure how I would be if I had my own bicycle and twnt with me... But my car I would likely be better)).

Luckily, one can spend a lifetime just exploring Wales and still not see everything there is to see and I absolutely love to drive through most of Wales. :heart: :heart:



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03 Sep 2019, 5:31 am

Back in 2015, I took the first long trip by myself that I'd ever attempted. I went by bus from Tennessee to Indiana and from there by rail to Portland, Oregon. I had never been to a place that felt more like I belonged before or since. I am from New Orleans, but I left due to the opressive heat and bad conditions in the year following Katrina. After the storm, it had never felt quite like home again, and I was never well acquainted with many people (and do not get along well with most of my family). While I was in Portland, I was extremely well received and made friends very easily. I do not belong in the bible belt. Locals where I live now have made that clear since I got here. I am sometimes refused service and ridiculed in Tennessee and Georgia for being a man with long hair. Anyway, while in Oregon, I found many good opportunities and was making plans to relocate there when my appendix burst and I needed emergency surgery. That forced me back to the derp south again after a brief hospital stay, but I am going back to Oregon next year. My running joke is, I left my heart, and my appendix, in Oregon.


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03 Sep 2019, 6:54 am

DeepBlueSouth wrote:
Back in 2015, I took the first long trip by myself that I'd ever attempted. I went by bus from Tennessee to Indiana and from there by rail to Portland, Oregon. I had never been to a place that felt more like I belonged before or since. I am from New Orleans, but I left due to the opressive heat and bad conditions in the year following Katrina. After the storm, it had never felt quite like home again, and I was never well acquainted with many people (and do not get along well with most of my family). While I was in Portland, I was extremely well received and made friends very easily. I do not belong in the bible belt. Locals where I live now have made that clear since I got here. I am sometimes refused service and ridiculed in Tennessee and Georgia for being a man with long hair. Anyway, while in Oregon, I found many good opportunities and was making plans to relocate there when my appendix burst and I needed emergency surgery. That forced me back to the derp south again after a brief hospital stay, but I am going back to Oregon next year. My running joke is, I left my heart, and my appendix, in Oregon.


I have had a similar experience in location. I live in South West Wales. I used to travel with my parents in a van type 3 wheeled car (And a saloon version of the same car before that... The van was the same colour, make and model (We had a Reliant Regal Supervan 3) that they had on a TV program called "Only Fools and Horses" except we washed ours and had a pair of rectangular spotlights which my Grandad had given my Dad. And ours didn't have a roof rack. Also, the olny other difference was ours was more powerful and had a slightly different wheel arch design which was slightly modified to aid easy wheel removal?).. Anyway. We used to go up to Mid Wales about twice a year to visit my Grandparents, and we did any teips in and around West Wales in it too.

Then, when I took my driving test my Dad decided to take his (He had a motorbike licence so he was not allowed to drive a 4 wheel car. 3 wheelers were classed as trikes if they were kept under a certain weight... And fair play, Reliant cornered the market as having the best design. Fibreglass body... The worlds first aluminium engine in production (For weight saving purposes). In its day they werw something! And it is not true that they tipped at every corner. They were only prone to tipping at high speeds if the driver didn't know how to drive them and drove them as if they were 4 wheeled cars. I nearly tipped a van trying to take a corner at the same speeds I took the 3 wheeler....
Ooh. Back off the tangent... When my Dad took his test for a car, he just beat me to it. He bought a 4 wheel car and I passed my car test and had his 3 wheeler, which by then was an early model of the Reliant Robin which had the 750cc engine where the second year in production they bored them out to 850cc which would touch a top speed of a tad under 100mph. (Though at any speed over about 75 mph (The 750cc maxed out at 75 to 80... 100cc makes a big difference!) the gearing of the steering was not designed to cope with high speed, so one would be holding the steering wheel tight and moving it slight turns to keep the car on the road. Think of a rally quick rack and you get the idea. Ideal for around town, but they accelerated too fast in the lower speeds so controlling them... If your foot was just a tad too hwavy on the accelerator it would launch forward at such a rate your feet would come off the accelerator and the clutch and it would almost do a dead stop, by which time your feet would come back down on the accelerator and one would be kangarooing down the road! Not much accelerated like those did in a 0 to 20mph race!
Anyway. Where was I. Sorry. Over enthusiastic.
Well. I bought a van type 4 wheel car from a family friend, which was a windowed van based on the little Fiat 127's which I once went right up on 2 wheels trying to take a certain corner like I did with the 3 wheeler. If the second corner didn't turn the other way I would have tipped it. But this van decided one day to brake its main engine shaft. I thought it was piston rings as though it had only done 75000 miles, the piston rings were worn and chucked oil up into the airfilter and engine breather pipe, so the breather pipe went straight into a little bottle so oil didnt go everywhere!
So I was then without a car. I too a summer full time job as a postman in a nearby local village (Officially classed as a town) and after a month or two I bought another car. In those days all the youth was into their Fords. I was after a Ford to try and fit in. Volvos were seen as an elderly mans car. However, at my local secondhand car dealer was an absolutely immaculate Volvo 340. It was so immaculate I was looking i to saving a little extra to buy it. It was a 1400cc with a variomatic gearbox. While I was used to a manual, I didn't mind. The car was £1400. Cars were expensive secondhand in those days. Now I went to get an insurance quote and it was silly money. I went back to the dealer and said what had happened. I think the insurance was about £457 in those days? Anyway.
The dealer pointed to another Volvo that looked the same but was a bit tatty. It was a manual. Before I started to ask the details, he said "Take it for a spin". I did.

WOW, WOW, WOW! WHAT A CAR! WOW!

I came back after the testride absolutely gobsmacked. I did feel the front left suspension was a little too soft and told the dealer. I asked what size engine it was. It was a 2000cc engine. 2000cc in a small car. Ummm. The car was going for just £900. I really wanted the car, but my heart had sank when it came to thinking about the cost of insuring it! I left the dealer saying I will need to enquire to see if I can afford the insurance.
I rang up. Just £320. Huh? You sure? Yes the man said.
I went back down to the dealer and bought the car! And the dealer had the two front shock absorbers changed. What a car. I once had it spin its rear wheels from a standing start in 3rd gear!
Now this Volvo left most Fords standing. It also had a lovely tow hitch. Ir was a 3 door Volvo 360 GLT hatchback in silver. It had an aluminium driveshaft, Porsch designed lowered suspension, and Porsche designed Volvo overhead cam engine. The engine just fit under the engine bay at the front, and the 5 speed gearbox (Most cars were 4 speed in those days) was at the back of the car.
Now I changed jobs as the temporary job came to an end. I walked out of one job and straight into another. Even the lady at yhe jobcentre was surprized. I only just signed on, then stayed back for an interview, and signed off within just a little over an hour.
The new job... I was quickly promoted to be the head of a bicycle department. I had two weeks holiday a year. One week was to be taken in the summer. The first year I was at home for my summer holiday. I had phonecalls from work. "You have to come in. We have customers we can't cope with. I came in and worked the week. I then asked if I could have a week to compensate when the summer rush had gone quiet. No. "You had your holiday. We can't cover. Is not our fault you decided to work it".
So the next year.. Well. My car had a tow hitch. I thouhht "I know. I will buy a caravan". I saw a lovely old secondhand little Thompson caravan going for £200, and I bought it. Its still outside used as a garden shed! Is no longer roadworthy. Is a big of a state now.
Anyway. With this caravan and the next years summer holiday looming, the ONLY way I was going to get a break was to take the caravan somewhere too far to come back home with. No mobile phones in those days. Just pay phones.
So I got in the car with the caravan behind. The car was so powerful even when towing other cars struggled to keep up on hills. The car and caravan were perfect together!
I headed north as we live in South Wales. I didn't know where I would end up. I passed through Mid Wales. I did a tiny detour to see the little cottage where my Grandparents used to live. I needed to go further north to be out of reach of work, so I kept heading north. I eventually (After enjoying the wonderful scenery) thought "This is far enough" and I had reached a lovely little town called Porthmadog. I am in tears telling this. I found a campsite about a mile or two outside the town. I found I soon settled in. Everything was so nice. The shopkeepers were so welcoming. Their Welsh accents were different then in the south though. And I found, they were more natural to speak in Welsh but were by no means offended when I said I didn't speak Welsh. They were such lovely people.
Here in South Wales one can be quite an outcast if one lives in certain areas and does not speak Welsh... Oh. I tried... I tried hard in school to learn Welsh, but... With even English not exactly being up to standard, and I only really speak in English... Well. Porthmadog quickly became my second home.
The strange thing is that many who live down here say that one is not welcome if one tries to go up north unless one can speak North Wales Welsh. South Wales and North Wales use different Welsh. South Wales Welsh has changed more due to the history of the many different incomers during the huge industrial revolution as South Wales was once said to lead the world, as we had the industrial revolution starting almost 100 years before most of the UK caught up. North Wales Welsh was less effected so uses some older words. Therefore, when North and South Wales Welsh speakers meet, they often give up and speak English to communicate! Haha. I found it funny as my Dad could speak Welsh. I remember him turning to the guy in English and saying "Forget it. Lets speak English!"
But I find, that the people I have met have been such kind hearted people, and were so accomodating. And the whole area is absolutely stunning!
Every time I return there it feels like coming home! It is why I call it "My second home!"



Sir Sensealot
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04 Sep 2019, 11:12 am

Stardust_Dragonfly wrote:
I'd love to see the Black Forest area of Germany! I went to Amsterdam a few years ago and thought it was brilliant (despite almost being run over by a bicycle :lol:).
I've visited the Black Forest and I really enjoyed it. In the forest itself there are a lot of charming villages. We also visited some historic cities and castles just outside the forest.

I live fairly close to Amsterdam and I've been there quite a few times. I love all the historic buildings alongside the canals. I almost got run over by a street car once :roll: (it wasn't a real close call, but I got a bit of a scare when I heard the loud warning bell of the car).



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06 Sep 2019, 6:18 am

Sir Sensealot wrote:
Stardust_Dragonfly wrote:
I'd love to see the Black Forest area of Germany! I went to Amsterdam a few years ago and thought it was brilliant (despite almost being run over by a bicycle :lol:).
I've visited the Black Forest and I really enjoyed it. In the forest itself there are a lot of charming villages. We also visited some historic cities and castles just outside the forest.

I live fairly close to Amsterdam and I've been there quite a few times. I love all the historic buildings alongside the canals. I almost got run over by a street car once :roll: (it wasn't a real close call, but I got a bit of a scare when I heard the loud warning bell of the car).

The historic cities and castles are what I really want to see :)
I thought the buildings in Amsterdam were really interesting- but I only had limited time there. I want to go back and explore more one day. :D

I think it was probably more my fault than the Bicycle, I'm not the best with roads :lol: .



Sir Sensealot
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06 Sep 2019, 1:57 pm

Stardust_Dragonfly wrote:
The historic cities and castles are what I really want to see :)
I thought the buildings in Amsterdam were really interesting- but I only had limited time there. I want to go back and explore more one day. :D

I think it was probably more my fault than the Bicycle, I'm not the best with roads :lol: .
I'm sure you could easily spent a week in Amsterdam and still won't get bored. Especially if you also like fine art museums.

I'm not good with traffic myself. I never managed to get my driving license, though I tried really hard. Good thing a lot of European cities are easily accessible by train. Maybe in the future self driving cars will become common good and also affordable. Then I see myself making a road trip through parts of Europe, visiting beautiful towns and castles along the way 8)