Have passport (and understanding friends) will travel

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Visa of Understanding Required

Travel is exciting, and stressful (insert "Duh" here) says the queen of the obvious. It is even more stressful when you are on medications or have to have a regular sleep cycle. So many people have said, "Bah, you're on vacation. Go to bed late, get up early, sleep when you're dead!" But what if you have an illness that interferes with this "burn the candle at both ends" philosophy? Again, duh, take care of yourself, get sleep, eat healthy, chillax. People often forget that the most important part of taking care of yourself is to travel with people who are understanding of your condition. sounds simple, just tell people what your condition is and how it affects you and they will understand. Ha! Not likely, especially if your condition is one that is highly stigmatized.

What am I talking about? I mean, chronic pain, arthritis, seizure disorders, c'mon, everyone understands that the doctor's orders are important to alleviate or avoid physical pain or consqeunces brought on my travel. However, mental illness, even one controlled by medications is much harder to find compassion for. I don't know why, but for some reason people are much less understanding of how travel and stress effects illness which are controlled by medications.

I think that the hardest thing for travel companions is that these symptoms can sometimes come across as being rigid, crabby, tired or stubborn. On top of that not everyone with a mental illness is willing to announce it to all their companions or people they meet along the way. Stigma might not translate directly in every language, but what the word represents is felt in every culture.

That's why it is important to choose your traveling companions prudently. Otherwise, lack of undersanding meets symptomology and you have fireworks.

Also, there are some words that every one uses when they travel that, as I found out, don't really mean the same thing to everyone. For example, when I type the word leisurely what does that mean to you? On this trip to Ireland and the UK all three of us thought we were going to go along at a leisurely pace, but it turns out we have different definitions of what that means. For me leisurely means meandering slowly along together and taking in the atmosphere and people watching. For the others it meant a faster pace and going in and out of shops. No one was right, or wrong, but Dublin went by a lot faster than I wanted.

Of course, even at a fast pace Dublin is beautiful and mystical!

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