I am writing a series of articles taking you with me on my dream trip to Scotland.
I will explain how I felt through each part of the journey and what it was like to travel without my parents for the first time. It was just me and my friend so it took some adjustments and getting used to.
Friday 13th September
The day before heading off on my dream trip. There is still lots of things to do to make sure I am ready for an early start the next day.
As my friend and I are flying, packing is proving more difficult than usual. I am the type of person who likes to overpack. Also, as an autistic person there are things, I need to take that most people could potentially leave behind.
In my hand luggage was everything I couldn’t live without, so I knew where it was always. In my suitcase, was all my things that if it got lost, I could just replace them.
My suitcase is a Mickey and friends, which was a good choice as it would stand out when it came through baggage claim. The hand luggage was a plain black material cabin bag with lots of pockets.
That night I struggled to sleep as I was feeling so many different emotions. I was excited to be heading to a location I had wanted to visit for many years. I was nervous and anxious about going on my first trip without my parents. The flight was making me feel anxious as I had not flown for over ten years. Knowing the airport experience was going to be self-service check in, also made me nervous.
Saturday 14th September
The day started with a 4am wakeup call, which it’s safe to say, I did not want to get up at that time. Even the thought of holiday didn’t make the early start feel any better.
After doing my 10th check to make sure I had everything, especially my passport, it was time to load up the car and get on the road to the airport.
The journey to the airport ran smoothly until we got to the turnoff to the airport only to discover it was closed. We had to take a minor detour but thankfully we had left with plenty of time to spare.
We pulled up outside terminal 5 before getting out of the car to grab my luggage from the boot. I hugged both my parent’s goodbye, which felt quite strange as we always go on vacation together.
I walked into the terminal to find my friend, feeling nervous and apprehensive. My friend and I had agreed to meet under the letter B sign as it was an easy point to identify. She was sat waiting for me, which was nice as I was not comfortable about the thought of having to wait on my own in the terminal.
Check in went smoothly for my friend but when it came to me the self-check in desk decided to stop working. Thankfully a member of staff came over and checked my bag in for me, so we were able to keep on track.
Next up was security, which I was not looking forward to. There is so much to do in a short space of time, it’s crowded, it’s noisy and once again it did not go smoothly for me. I ended up having to go through the body scanner, which was quick and easy enough, just annoying and typical that it was me that had to do it.
Once security was done, I was finally able to relax and enjoy the airport. The best part being able to sit in departure and watch planes take off and land as well as taxiing to and from the gates.
Not long after arriving in departures it was time to board the plane. I started to feel nervous again as planes can be quite noisy and I find them a bit claustrophobic with so many people squeezed into such a tight space. I had a window seat so I could look outside and focus on the open space, which helped with being squished in a small area.
My favourite part of flying is the take off and landing. I think it’s a sensory thing, I love the sound of the engines building up power and the feeling of the speed of racing down the runway, feeling like I’m being pinned to the back of the seat.
We didn’t hit any turbulence until we were flying over the Manchester area, and it turned into thick cloud outside. The flight went so quickly that before I knew it the captain announced we were descending towards the airport. The landing was smooth, and the engines roared trying to slow the plane down.
We had arrived in a wet and gloomy Glasgow. After parking at the gate, we disembarked and made our way into the terminal. Next was the nervous wait in baggage claim hoping and praying our luggage arrived. My friend’s luggage came through first, which left me feeling even more nervous as we had checked in together, but my bag was not in sight. Thankfully after a few nail-biting minutes my Mickey and friend’s suitcase came into view, and I could finally relax and feel happy about being in Scotland.
Our destination was still about two and a half hours away, so we headed over to the car rental place to pick up our rental car. We ended up with a lovely white Citron C4. I pretty much fell in love with the car as soon as I saw it.
Now we’ve landed safely, keep an eye out for part 2 of the story, where I will reminisce about the journey to our destination and what we got up to on our first full day in Scotland.
