by Roy A. Barnes

Travel has changed my life despite the condition that I live with every day. The condition is a neurobiological disorder called Asperger’s Syndrome. It is a form of Autism. I want to share my struggles and how I have learned to overcome challenges.

Cheated in London

The first time I traveled abroad was in 1998. I went on a group tour thinking the scheduled itinerary would adequately fill my time. I anticipated all the sightseeing and exploring I could ever hope for within the security of traveling with forty other people. I quickly discovered, however, that this would not be the case. Free time for exploring on our own was often scheduled into the day. So, when we were in London, I ventured out a few blocks from my hotel. I quickly came upon an Underground (subway) station. From that spot I could board a train to go virtually anywhere in the London metropolitan area. 

How I wanted to go to Parliament to watch the House of Commons debate. My exposure to British government earlier in the day was nothing more than a hurried drive-by in the tour bus. But as I approached the entrance to the Underground, I suddenly froze; what comes as second nature for most people seemed to me to be a million challenges to juggle simultaneously.

Many people with Asperger’s Syndrome take in every bit of stimuli their surroundings emanate. So when an environment isn’t familiar, it can be just too overwhelming to handle. This is exactly what I was experiencing at that moment. As a result, on that day I restricted myself to exploring only those areas that were within walking distance of my hotel. It made me feel cheated. The whole city of London was beckoning to me to relish it, and here I was clinging to sites around Hyde Park.

The trip progressed southward over the next few weeks, all the way to Athens. A weak sense of direction, also inherent in my condition, almost got me into dire straits on more than one occasion. As with London, I was only blocks away from my hotels in the cities of Brussels, Belgium and Innsbruck, Austria, yet I found myself wandering aimlessly through the night, asking myself how I would ever find my way back to the hotel where my tour group was staying. Only with the help of the police or conspicuous landmarks, did I manage to return to the hotels—eventually.

On rare occasions I would hang out with one or two people in the tour group. I relied on them to get us where we needed to be, but this only heightened my sense of inadequacy.

Something Had to Change

When I got back to the United States, I knew something was going to have to change. My love for travel and exploration was stronger than the handicaps of my condition. For almost a year and a half, the debacles of my first foreign trip haunted me, but in the autumn of 1999 I felt compelled to return to London. I vowed to travel independently on the subways and buses to all parts of the great city, no matter how scary it seemed, and no matter how lost I would get. I knew that for me to become the independent traveler that I wished in my soul to be, I would have to compensate for my natural shortcomings with two things.

First, I would have to study with extra diligence the detailed maps provided by tourism departments and those found on the Internet before embarking. I would use positive visualization to build my ability to find my way around.

Second, once abroad I would simply need the gumption to go up to complete strangers to ask them if I was on the right path, even if that meant doing so every other block along the way. This would keep my weak sense of direction in check.

For many people with Asperger’s Syndrome, initiating conversation with strangers is a challenge, but the bottom line was that in order for my aspirations to be realized, I had to take my Asperger’s Syndrome by the horns. I had to control it rather than letting it control me.

It was decided that a friend from Virginia would accompany me for the first part of the trip. We would be together, but I would act like I was alone while trying to figure out how to get to a certain destination. He would only intervene if I began to take a wrong turn. This technique proved to be effective.

He headed back to the States a few days before me, and I then discovered that I could survive being totally alone in the metropolis. This gave me new confidence in my ability to trek the world independently.

Europe, China, Panama, South Africa!

A year later, in October of 2000, I would be the one to play tour guide as I escorted another friend all over London and its surrounding areas. Sometimes, my sense of direction created inconveniences for us, but I persevered. The trip was filled with sightseeing successes!

Since that first frustrating trip abroad in 1998, where I let my disability oppress my sense of adventure, I have taken trips to Western Europe, China, South Africa, and Panama—mostly on my own. I have secured hotel reservations, and train and bus tickets all over the world. I was especially challenged in Spain, Italy, and Panama because I am not fluent in Spanish or Italian, but I got around fine with the aid of detailed, user-friendly phrase books. The locals in these countries appreciated my attempts at using their language to communicate.

By 2004, I had enough travel experience to be confident in submitting travel articles to various publications. I have now had many of them published in several magazines, both print and online.

Globetrotting inspired me to confront my Asperger’s Syndrome in a way that I would not have done otherwise. It ultimately led me to a new career as a travel writer. This milestone gave me the confidence to submit articles on other topics, and they have been published, too.

Asperger’s Syndrome is just an obstacle. The key to overcoming obstacles is having a desire that is stronger than the obstacles themselves. That inner quest leads one to find ways of overcoming.

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Roy A. Barnes writes from the windy plains of southeastern Wyoming. His travel-related works have been published by Transitions Abroad, The Valley Advocate, Northwest Prime Time, Live Life Travel, C/Oasis, and others. His works of poetry and prose have been published by Poesia, Skatefic.com, Literary Liftoff, The Goblin Reader, and Conceit magazine.

For more information about Asperger’s Syndrome, visit:
www.udel.edu/bkirby/asperger/aswhatisit.html 
www.tonyattwood.com.au