If you follow our social media pages you will know we took a family holiday to Lanzarote early November. Charlie was fortunate enough to go to the canary Islands with his dad and his family back in 2017. Charlie went to Tenerife with them and I wasn’t there, so I am not aware of how Charlie reacted on that holiday. So this was exciting for me.

Charlie last went abroad in 2017, that was the last time we went on a plane together or a family holiday, me, Charlie and his siblings. If i’m honest it was a bit of a nightmare! We knew Charlie was neurodiverse at that point but we didn't know how to support him or the challenges he faced being neurodiverse. So holidays were tricky as I had absolutely no awareness of the importance of routine and stability. And up until I had Charlie I was a very carefree and spontaneous traveller and mother (that is no more).

Anyway, so after a break of going abroad which was helped by the fact we got dogs and the dreaded coronavirus, we decided on Lanzarote for our 2022 family holiday.

We went through some challenges getting there. First of all, we postponed the holiday for 6 months due to a family wedding and not having the funds. So we were due to fly out and a week before i’m told ryanair cancelled our flights!! What a drama. Another £800 on flights and a lot of stress later and we were sorted! Lessons well and truly learnt there.

Lanzarote was a big deal. So to make it work for Charlie we needed a lot of prep. We needed to make sure Charlie was fully prepared, and that was super important for me. So we drove to the airport, and watched the plane. We did some flight simulation work on YouTube, we downloaded flight scanner on my phone and watched a lot of planes come over our house, anywhere really! If we saw one we just logged in on the app and checked out where it was headed. We went for a buffet style breakfast and dinner. This was to prepare Charlie for the all inclusive meals we were going to have.

We watched YouTube videos of the resort, and I showed him pictures on my phone, so he knew what it looked like and the size of it. I showed him pictures of the apartments and he chose himself where he was going to sleep. I involved him in choosing his luggage bag. It had been so long since we went, he needed a luggage bag. He chose his clothes, and swimming shorts. He was fully involved in packing his suitcase. We looked at ways we could travel to the airport and chose which way we were going to go. I did my best to prepare him and involve him so that the process would be as simple as possible. We also had a countdown on my phone. Charlie was very excited.

All the preparation in the world can't change the future though or indeed stop sensory overload and overwhelm. And Charlie wouldn't be Charlie if that wasn't part of his life. So we did the best we could and couldn't of done any more to prepare him for the holiday. This blog is quite a read so part 2 will be on the actual holiday.

Georgina x