I have gone ahead and booked our first family abroad holiday with a 3.5 hour flight!!

Not only that but I have told Cameron all about it already and the questions have started – thing is we have 370 days to go!!

– What plane will we be going on mum?

– What kind of engine does it have?

– Can I pull your suitcase to the desk?

– What is the rating of the holiday?

Thing is you see we do holiday each year, but we holiday around the UK.

We do log cabin breaks where we have seclusion and space where we can be relaxed and Cameron can be his loud quirky self.

When we go away it’s like military precision and I will show Cameron beforehand where we are staying and what there is to do nearby as I will meticulously plan everything so that he knows what’s coming and what to expect – and this formulae has worked so well for us for the last 5 years.

I’m going against the grain now though; I have started over the last couple of years pushing Cameron and testing his boundaries, at 9 I know he is more than ready.

A first thing first though is our impending two week half term holiday this year.

For the first week we will be taking Cameron over to Ireland to visit his granddad, this is home from home and a lovely easy break for us all which we do get in annually.

It has been a fantastic training method for us to introduce Cameron to flying and the hustle and bustle of airport travelling – the flight is a painless 40 minutes though and in less than two hours we are door to door.

For the second of the weeks though we have our annual log cabin break and we will be travelling up to Kielder Lakeside in Northumberland.

I have had the website up and shown him what’s what and the things he can potentially do BUT and I know all you autism mummies are going to wince in unity at this…

NO INTERNET CONECTION, AT ALLLLLLL!

So he is going to have a whole five days with no YouTube, no watching all those kiddies open the kinder surprises or watching Stampy Cat run around Minecraft or video clips of all those people playing ALL the games that we have purchased for him but still prefers to watch others play.

I have pre warned him though, at first he wanted to understand why as with previous cabin breaks we have had internet.

I explained that the area is remote and there is no signal but that there is the hot tub for him to swim, that there is a play station in the lodges and there is plenty of games that we can do as a family.

He seems to have accepted this and is telling everyone, “So, we are going on holiday and there is no Wi-Fi!!”

Ohhh, these 1st world problems we have.

So going back to the abroad holiday, yes we have Wi-Fi and a pool but I will not be making any plans for when we get there – I plan to have another first and try and enjoy a holiday with some suspense and surprises, after all there is nothing that I have put forward to him so far that he has not just got on with and shown me just how resilient kids can be.

Try it, plan something and tell them, “It’s going to be a surprise and a little different!”, just take their toy/tablet/comfort.

Start off small and grow your experiences as they grow, you will feel a new sense of release from the autism restraints.