Special Mom’s blog

April 2nd is Autism Awareness Day! Autism is my every day life. Acceptance is one of the main components.

For my son’s 21st birthday we decided to cruise. Oh, cruising? With so many of it’s formal components I was really worried but my research many years back had me learn about Autism On the Seas. Please take a minute to learn about this organization here.

I spent months researching about our trip, joining face book pages and watching YouTube videos, it turned out beautiful.

Baltimore is the nearest port, so we decided to cruise from there. The options are limited but we were fine with any port of destination and Bermuda it was!

We did not book a cabin room with a balcony but maybe in the future we would. But we were very comfortable.

Leaving Baltimore port.

My boy had his tag stuck behind him and we knew he would not be lost in the ship. I would say not only the respite care Autism On The Seas staff were excellent but every crew on the ship were aware of autism. This really made a huge difference. Why bring a person with autism on a vacation question was not there in their faces. Acceptance of a person with special needs is hard, but with a person who looks and acts a bit different because of sensory needs can catch people’s eye. But they too love to be outside and enjoy like all.

The ship had unlimited food and ice cream. But my choice was soup. I loved all the different vegetarian options.

Bermuda, the destination was not favorite for my kids but me and my husband loved the Indian weather. Did you know there is no fresh water in Bermuda? The drinking water is collected by harvesting rain. We are fortunate with so much of fresh water around us.

An excursion to take us to see the Bermuda triangle. Ha, ha, we came back safe home.

Eye pleasing scenery at Bermuda. Nothing could beat that.

My younger one decided to rock climb on the ship, while we just watched.

Me and my boy just danced to some tunes. There was music all around and that kept my boy so happy.

A whole crew to support us in the ship. Respite hours, one on one support if needed, speedy check in and check out. Special time for dinner and lunch and the list continued.

We were in the ship on July 4th and it was spectacular.

After cruising, we decided this was going to be our way of vacationing. But we were hit by pandemic and so many other personal stuff. Anyhow, we have a big bucket list of places we want to see with cruising and we would be doing it in the future. Yes, it is not going to be limited this time alone. Not immediately, but immediate future.

The price tag for cruise looks big, but my husband being as calculative as he is, said it does work the same as any other vacation! I was happy with that comment.

So for A to Z Challenge in April

B is for Baltimore and Bermuda.

Theme: The travel I have done.

Hope to see you with some “C” places tomorrow.