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Travel anxiety when alone

Southern Discomfort

Southern Discomfort

Smarter than the Average Bear
V.I.P Member
Going places I'm not familiar with on my own is a real pain, it petrifies me. I get worried about going to the wrong place or getting lost in places I don't know. I ride a motorbike at the moment so sat navs aren't really a thing for them and it's not like I can easily get out a map either. As a result I don't go out often and the places I do go are quite limited and opt to shop online for things I need rather than brave the outside world. This sounds almost agoraphobic but I'm not exactly afraid to go outside either.

I've read that travelling can be an issue for people on the autistic spectrum but nothing's ever gone into much detail.

Does anyone else find going places by yourself to be incredibly stressful too?
 
Southern Discomfort said:
Going places I'm not familiar with on my own is a real pain, it petrifies me. I get worried about going to the wrong place or getting lost in places I don't know. I ride a motorbike at the moment so sat navs aren't really a thing for them and it's not like I can easily get out a map either. As a result I don't go out often and the places I do go are quite limited and opt to shop online for things I need rather than brave the outside world. This sounds almost agoraphobic but I'm not exactly afraid to go outside either.

I've read that travelling can be an issue for people on the autistic spectrum but nothing's ever gone into much detail.

Does anyone else find going places by yourself to be incredibly stressful too?
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I only have this problem when I need to bring a large vehicle like a tractor trailer or bus into tight areas like a city or another heavily congested area. I love the open highway and I have an acute sense of direction.

The only time when travel is a real issue for me is when I have to fly or take a Greyhound bus. I'm terribly claustrophobic so flying in coach is exhausting and anxiety-producing. As long as I don't have anyone sitting next to me, Greyhound is fine.
 
I have this a lot. I know my sense of direction isn't the best, so I am always worried to get lost on my way to a new place.
When I have to go to a new place, I do a lot of research first, i.e. looking at maps on the internet and making notes or drawing a small map for myself to have something I can look at. I also write names of streets I have to pass down etc. This helps me to be less afraid of going to a new place.
Southern Discomfort said:
This sounds almost agoraphobic but I'm not exactly afraid to go outside either.
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It isn't the part of going outside for me either.
I am happy when I can be outside on the ways I am already familiar with and know where I have to go.
It's just the problem with going to places I don't already know and where I have to find the way first. If it's a new way I have to go more than once (like a new way to school when I went to a new one and had to go there every day), it tends to get better after a while because I see the streets and everything on the way frequently and get used to it.
 
I have extreme social anxiety, to the extent that I cannot cope with the idea of scrutiny. I HATE being out on my own. It takes a lot of mental preparation to just go down the road.

I go into surreal mode when cars pass me and so glad when it is sunny, so that I can wear my sunglasses, which makes me feel a little bit hidden from any probing eyes.

I am hoping to get a car soon, that does not need a licence and I know that will give me the boost to do things on my own.

It is an terrible afflication and I would love to not suffer from it.
 
Every year the company I once worked for would send me clear across the country to attend school. The kind where if you don't pass, there was an unwritten law that you were supposed to resign. (Two people were have known to have died from the stress.)

I had to share a hotel room with another member of the company I didn't know, and be expected to successfully socially interact with all the important corporate personalities of the home office. Right up to the president and CEO on occasion. I can still recall awkward things that happened 25 years ago that were like yesterday. Things I'd just prefer not to have remembered at all. If there was ever an "Aspie Hell", this was it for me. :eek:

But then each time when I'd go back to work I was rewarded with about two weeks of files all over my cubicle. No one ever picked up the slack in my absence. :rolleyes:

Could I have gotten out of this ordeal? I tried...whereupon the branch manager "made an offer I could not refuse". :(
 
Judge said:
Every year the company I once worked for would send me clear across the country to attend school. The kind where if you don't pass, there was an unwritten law that you were supposed to resign. (Two people were have known to have died from the stress.)

I had to share a hotel room with another member of the company I didn't know, and be expected to successfully socially interact with all the important corporate personalities of the home office. Right up to the president and CEO on occasion. I can still recall awkward things that happened 25 years ago that were like yesterday. Things I'd just prefer not to have remembered at all. If there was ever an "Aspie Hell", this was it for me. :eek:

But then each time when I'd go back to work I was rewarded with about two weeks of files all over my cubicle. No one ever picked up the slack in my absence. :rolleyes:

Could I have gotten out of this ordeal? I tried...whereupon the branch manager "made an offer I could not refuse". :(
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The level of social interaction would've been a hell for me as well. I'm sorry you had to go through this. The company was too bloody cheap to give you your own room? I would've flat out refused, consequences notwithstanding. You're a stronger man than I.
 
wanderer03 said:
The level of social interaction would've been a hell for me as well. I'm sorry you had to go through this. The company was too bloody cheap to give you your own room? I would've flat out refused, consequences notwithstanding. You're a stronger man than I.
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Well...after so many years it all caught up with me and I eventually quit. Couldn't take it anymore, and the job became more marketing oriented...requiring constant trips into the field to meet with insurance agents. Not my forte.

I left without another job lined up. I was done. :eek:
 
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Judge said:
Well...after so many years it all caught up with me and I eventually quit. Couldn't take it anymore, and the job became more marketing oriented...requiring constant trips into the field to meet with insurance agents. Not my forte.
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Totally understandable!!
 
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