📋 Trip Overview
Your trip at a glance. Fill this in first — it's your anchor document. When you feel lost mid-trip, come back here.
🦆 Neurodivergent note
Everything important lives in one place so you never have to hunt for it when your brain is already overloaded. Writing down your insurance details and emergency numbers before you leave home — when you have the cognitive bandwidth to do it properly — is not anxious behaviour. It is expertise.
🗺 Itinerary Overview
💡 Why list your route first
Seeing the whole trip laid out before you book anything helps you spot problems early — like two consecutive travel days with no rest, or a connection that sounds fine on paper but is actually a 20-minute sprint across a busy station.
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🎒 Key Information
If you have pre-existing conditions (including mental health), make sure they are declared and covered. A policy that won't pay out is worse than useless.
Save in your phone AND write here on paper. Phones die.
Someone who knows your itinerary and will notice if you go quiet. Agree on a check-in frequency before you leave.
Always travel with two cards on different networks (Visa + Mastercard). ATMs sometimes reject one but not the other.
✅ Pre-Departure Checklist
🦆 Checklist timing note
Tick these off in the days before you leave — not the morning of. If you try to do everything on departure morning, you will forget something important. The night before, your bag should already be packed and this list already ticked.
📅 Day by Day
Plan each day in detail. The more you fill in now, the fewer decisions your tired travel-brain has to make on the day.
🦆 How many activities per day?
Aim for a maximum of 1–2 significant activities per day. Not because you can't do more, but because building in breathing space means you actually enjoy what you planned. An overloaded itinerary is a recipe for a shutdown by day 3. On travel days: zero additional activities if possible.
Day 1
City...
Day 2
City...
Day 3
City...
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🚆 Travel on this day
🦆 Rail travel note
Activate your travel day in Rail Planner before boarding — while you're still at your accommodation or at the station, not on the train. A ticket inspector can fine you if it isn't active when they check.
Some trains require a paid reservation on top of your pass (TGV, Italian Intercity, Eurostar, night trains). Without one you may be turned away.
🏨 Accommodation
🦆 Arrival protocol
The first 15 minutes in a new room are cognitively expensive. Before you do anything else: find where you'll sleep, find the bathroom, figure out how the door locks, charge your phone. Everything else can wait.
Blackout curtains, noise level, temperature control — know this before you arrive so you can prepare.
🗺 Activities
🦆 Must-do vs would-like-to
Separate your activities mentally: one or two "must do" things, and a list of "would like to" bonuses. If you only manage the must-dos, that is a successful day. The would-likes are options, not obligations.
🍽 Food Plan
🦆 Blood sugar & regulation
Low blood sugar significantly accelerates overwhelm and meltdown risk — often before you notice you're hungry. Eating on a schedule, not just when hunger registers, is a regulation strategy. Always identify a safe fallback food option near your accommodation before you're already hungry and unable to make decisions.
Your "I can't decide anything" option. Know where it is before you need it.
⚡ Daily Budget & Sensory Notes
Knowing this in advance means you can prepare coping strategies before you need them, not during.
Not a luxury — an operational necessity. Schedule it like any other appointment. The 2–4pm window is especially high-risk for ADHD/autistic travellers — plan something low-demand here.
💶 Budget
Track your spending day by day. No maths required — just fill in what you spend and you'll always know where you stand.
Day-by-Day Summary
| Day | Location | Accommodation | Transport | Activities | Food | Other | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total estimated budget
Add 15–20% buffer for unexpected costs
💰 Pre-Trip Fixed Costs
🦆 Budget clarity note
Knowing your fixed costs upfront tells you what your actual daily spending budget is. Many people miscalculate because they forget these are already spent before the trip even starts.
🌍 Currencies by Country
🦆 Cash vs card — research this before you go
Japan = largely cash. Scandinavia = almost entirely card. Hungary, Czechia = a mix. Use bank ATMs (not private operators) for cash. Avoid airport exchange counters — rates are 8–15% worse than mid-market. Bring two cards on different networks.
💬 Phrasebook
A few key phrases in local languages. A genuine attempt at hello and thank you goes a long way — but you're also allowed to communicate however works for you.
🦆 Language anxiety note
If spoken language feels overwhelming in stressful situations: you can show a written card, point at a menu, or use Google Translate's camera. You are not obligated to speak. For serious dietary allergies, carrying a written allergy card in the local language (free at allergycard.uk or allergyeats.com) is more reliable than any spoken explanation.
🌍 Language
| English | Local language | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
🧠 Neurodivergent Toolkit
Your personalised support plan. Fill this in at home, when your brain is calm — not when you're already in the middle of a difficult moment.
🦆 What this section is for
This is your self-knowledge document. It asks you to think through your specific triggers, regulation strategies, and warning signs before the trip — so that when things get hard (and some days they will), you have a ready-made plan rather than having to construct one from scratch while already dysregulated. Write what is actually true for you, not what sounds reasonable.
🎧 My Sensory Profile
Specific knowledge lets you plan around these in advance — choosing quieter routes, avoiding peak hours, knowing when to leave before you have to.
Your sensory kit is not optional gear — treat it like medication. It lives in your hand luggage, never in checked bags.
⚠️ My Early Warning Signs
🦆 Why catch things early
If you can notice dysregulation at step 1, you can usually prevent it reaching step 4. The goal is to recognise your early signals and act on them immediately — not to push through and see how far you can go.
🆘 If I'm Already Overwhelmed — Step by Step
🦆 Write this at home, read it on the day
When you're in the middle of a meltdown or shutdown, you cannot construct a plan from scratch. That's the point of writing this now. Trust past-you.
🗓 Sensory-Friendly Planning Notes
This is recognised by many ADHD and autistic travellers. Building in a low-demand window every afternoon massively improves evenings.
⏱ Time & Executive Function Notes
🦆 For ADHD travellers especially
Time blindness + new environment + multiple transition points = a high-risk combination. The solution is more external structure, not more willpower. These fields help you build that.
💡 Tips & Resources
Practical reminders, recommended apps, and what to do when things go wrong.
🎫 Transport Reminders
📱 Recommended Apps
🦆 App setup note
Set up and test every app at home, on your own WiFi. Do not discover that offline maps don't work on your phone while standing in a foreign train station.
🚂 My Personal Tips
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🆘 When Things Go Wrong — Quick Reference
🦆 Read this before you need it
Familiarise yourself with these scenarios at home. Knowing what to do before it happens means less figuring-out while already dysregulated and probably tired. The goal is to reduce the amount of real-time problem-solving required.
Flight / train delayed — no information
Check your train or flight number on Flightradar24 or the operator's own app first — you often get more accurate information than any departure board. Go to the staffed service desk (not the gate — the main desk) and say: "My [flight/train] [number] is delayed. Can you tell me the current expected departure time?" For EU flights delayed 3+ hours, you are entitled to a meal voucher — ask for one specifically.
Accommodation says they have no record of your booking
Show your confirmation email or screenshot (you have it offline). Ask to speak to a manager. If genuinely unresolvable, ask them to help find you alternative accommodation — this is a reasonable minimum expectation. Call the booking platform's customer service line while standing at the desk. You have evidence of your booking: you are in the right.
Completely lost and offline maps aren't helping
Stop walking immediately. Find a wall to stand against and give yourself a moment. Then walk into the nearest hotel lobby and show the reception desk your address on paper or on your phone. Hotel reception staff in virtually every country are used to this and will help, regardless of whether you're staying there.
Lost or stolen cards / wallet
Call your bank's international lost card number immediately (it's written in your documents, not just your phone). Freeze the card digitally if your bank has an app. Your second card is exactly why you carry two. File a police report if needed for an insurance claim — ask your accommodation to help you find the nearest station.
Medical emergency
112 is the emergency number across all EU countries. Call your travel insurance emergency line as soon as possible — they manage finding the right facility and handle billing. Your EHIC/GHIC covers reduced-cost emergency care in EU countries. Do not go to a private clinic for emergencies without calling insurance first if you can avoid it.
Feeling on the verge of shutdown or meltdown in a public place
Physical removal from the most stimulating part of the environment is the priority, before it escalates. Find a toilet cubicle, a corner of a café, anywhere quieter — even just facing a wall rather than the crowd. You do not need to solve anything immediately. The problem will still be solvable in 20 minutes when you've had a moment to regulate. Refer to your ND Toolkit section for your personal plan.
🦆✨
Have a brilliant trip.
Planning this thoroughly is not anxious behaviour — it's expertise. Every experienced traveller builds systems like these over time. You've done the preparation. Now go over the hills and far away. 🚂
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