“I didn’t sleep on my 16-hour flight to Korea. I slept quickly at the hotel, and then friends and I chose our ‘random but busy day’ as Day 1 instead of our planned relaxation day at the Korean spa.
Walking around in rags is bad, especially when you’re neurodivergent and dealing with a time difference, new external stimuli, and a lack of access to your coping mechanisms (i.e. edibles are banned in most Asian countries). By the second day, I had a small emotional breakdown over the loss of my travel pass loaded with basically $5 in Korean won. And then, by day 4, my sleep-deprived friend raised her voice at me in a public area, and the overstimulation of it all sent me into a full-blown panic attack.
If you are traveling abroad with a big time difference, make a plan, try to stick to it, and take the time to slow down at the beginning (not the end) because it will take its toll on you or someone in your group.
It was a great trip, but I regret it. I’m sorry we ran out of time to do our Korean spa day. Once we decided to postpone it, it ruined everything, and we took out the day we set aside to breathe and enjoy things, which would have made the other days probably more enjoyable if we had refreshed ourselves instead of continuing to rush. vapors.”
—reneb4b1d76327
