Traveling With Leah Is NOT for the Weak 😂✈️

Travel days with Leah are never boring. 😂❤️ This was our very early morning journey from Sarasota to Asheville, and what you see in this video is only part of the story. We were at the Sarasota airport around 5:00 AM, and mornings can already be difficult for Leah. Add an airport, TSA, crowds, instructions, two flights and a very tired mom into the mix…and things can get complicated very quickly. Security was our first challenge. Leah had trouble following the TSA instructions and standing in the position they were asking her to stand in, which started holding up the line. I could feel the stress building around us, and I was getting stressed too. Then we made it through, found Starbucks, and Leah did a great job ordering her own breakfast — a little life-skills win in the middle of the chaos. 🙌 But shortly after landing in Atlanta, everything went downhill. Leah became sick, we rushed to the bathroom, she threw up, had an accident, and unfortunately her change of clothes was inside the suitcase I had been forced to check. I ended up buying a sweatshirt in the airport and tying it around her waist so we could keep moving. There were also plenty of difficult moments that I did NOT record. There was loud talking on the next flight, disagreements over the window shade, frustration, overstimulation and a mom trying to keep everything together. By the time we arrived in Asheville, Leah and I were having a serious conversation about listening, choices and consequences — which naturally turned into one of Leah’s famous rapid-fire negotiation sessions over whether or not I was actually taking her phone. 😂 Sometimes a video can make a travel day look much easier than it really was. But after everything was over, I was proud of her. Traveling can be stressful for anyone, and I can only imagine how overwhelming airports, crowds, rules, noises, transitions and unexpected situations can feel when you experience the world differently. It wasn’t a perfect travel day. But we made it. ❤️ #LifeWithLeah #AutismAwareness #AutismFamily #TravelWithAutism #RealLifeWithAutism