Business trip anxiety

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Hi everyone

Do you get anxious when you have to travel for work, especially in places you never went before and using means of transport you’re not used to?

I started a new job last year. At one point I was told that I would need to travel alone to monitor experiments I am responsible of (I’m an engineer). It’s not time yet but it made me really anxious. It would have been necessary to go there by car for a few hours by motorway. I never drove on a motorway and the speed and concentration needed for that much time, and the fact that I didn’t know the place beforehand, amd my hate of driving, plus the need to stay for the night felt overwhelming. Like, a bit more and I think it would have started to become physical.

I nearly had to do it to take part to a meeting at a supplier’s premises with my team and theirs, a two-hour drive of the same kind, but this time I couldn’t escape because it was forbidden to be more than one person per car (covid rule). Thankfully it was just for the day. Even more thankfully, the rule was lifted like 2 days before the meeting and a colleague accepted me to be his passenger. It was a HUGE relief, even though it meant I had to wake up at 4 in the morning instead of 6 AM to get to his home by public transports. Public transports in my place no longer give me anxiety, unless it’s bus lines I never took.

LOL....I wish we could trade jobs.

I only take public transport to my job, since I live in New York, and there's very little parking there. I wish I could drive to work, though.

I also wish I could travel on the highway, and stay in hotels.

It's a good thing there are GPS's now. I would just rely on them, and make sure you stay in your lane on the motorway.

I find it easier to drive on a motorway than in a city----because there are no "intersections" in motorways.

It’s funny that we feel the exact opposite.

I prefer commuting using public transport, in my last job was 1½ hour away by car and twice as much by train, now it’s around the same duration but by train. Parking is a nightmare over there as well, it makes me anxious.

City roads and normal roads are better for me because there is only one line per direction, it’s easier because you can’t be blocked from switching to the right line before it’s too late. When it’s crowded, it can be tricky. Trucks are required to stay on the very right (unless they overtake) and they drive slower than cars (90 km/h vs 130 km/h) and no one respect the safety distance anyway, unless people like me who make a point in following the law.

GPSs are great, I use them when I need to walk to places I don’t know, they are a good relief. I never used it in my car yet, the meeting would have been the first time. Because I hate driving, I’m not going around to new places that need a car.

I dream of a job where you don’t have to travel.

This comes down to referencing. Being on the spectrum, we are referenced to people, settings, objects … our Sense of Self disintegrates with any alteratation to these, hence the anxiety that accelerates exponentially with change. I’ve found the only way round this is to push yourself through it, until you become familiar with any new routes(though this depends on the individual). We must “learn” new settings, people etc.

It’s not unusual for the very high IQ, high achieving among us, to only be able to “function” under familiar circumstances. You’re by no means alone, Michel.