The Autistic Traveler: An Introduction
By Stephen Gaiber
Introducing the Autistic Traveler
Greetings everyone! My name is Stephen Gaiber and I am known as The Autistic Traveler. I was diagnosed with Asperger’s when I was 3 years old. I have had many challenges all throughout my life such as having misunderstandings with others, challenges catering to the world, making mistakes, being neurodiverse basically. I also have been successful in spite of my Asperger’s such as learning to drive, being financially independent, living on my own, holding down a job and being responsible. I graduated from CSU Northridge in 2011 with a degree in Cinema And Television Arts with an emphasis in Screenwriting. I have been working at Trader Joe’s since 2012 and currently live in Irvine, CA.
Despite having Asperger’s, I have a good amount of friends who I keep in touch with all the time. Some of my hobbies on my time off include going to movies, going on vacations, going to the beach, streaming, and going to 24 Hour Fitness. Some of the things I like to do at the gym include basketball, swimming, and the machines. As I have stated my biggest passion is travel and I’d like to combine my vision with a career in entertainment and travel. Now I would like to share with you some of my travel stories and my upcoming vision.
Stephen Gaiber
My History
I got into travel at a very young age because I always liked to get out of town and escape the reality that I currently live in. My parents took me on many vacations when I was younger such as visiting our grandparents in New York, Hawaii, Las Vegas, San Francisco, and sometimes we explored other cities. A lot of times when I was younger, we even did local trips such as Palm Springs and San Diego. My parents loved to travel and still as they retire, go on a lot of vacations. The most common places we went to when I was younger were New York and Hawaii were the biggest airplane trips. As I got older, we went to different places such as Miami, Chicago, Tokyo, and London.
As I got into my college years I went on 2 of my favorite vacations throughout time which include Europe (London, Paris, Amsterdam, Venice, Switzerland and Munich) as a high school graduation trip. I met a bunch of people on a tour who were older than me, but were very nice to me. I went to the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, Mount Pilatus, Venice Canals, and Anne Frank Museum. It was one of the best trips I’ve taken, but that doesn’t top anything to the trip I took the following year. I went to China right before the 2008 Beijing Olympics. I went to Beijing, Xian, and Shanghai. Some of the places I went to were Tiananmen Square, Forbidden Palace, Terracotta Soldiers, some acrobatic shows, and of course The Great Wall of China. I also met some nice people who I had a good time exploring the country with. Those are just a couple of the trips I went on. Now I hope to entertain you with other different places and stories.
Variety in Traveling
I like to go on different types of vacations such as international, big cities, theme parks, beaches, and cruises. Some of the other different places that I went to include Spain, Germany, Israel, Australia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Texas, Tennessee, South Carolina, New Orleans, Atlanta, Virginia, Mexico such as Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Cabo, Walt Disney World, as well as lot of different Caribbean Cruises. Every type of vacation has its pros and cons, but I would say pros and cons such as as I got older, I enjoy going to cities more as they have more of a grown up feel as opposed to going to beaches and even cruises.
The reason why I still prefer going to cities more is because of all the culture that the city has to offer as opposed to going on a beach/cruise is fun and relaxing, but not very interesting. One of the reasons why I like Walt Disney World is because I like Disney and how it feels that fantasy comes to life. It also feels like I’m going to a big city as they literally have everything such as animals, movies, beach resorts, characters, and rivers. You can even go camping.
The Start of My Journey
As I mentioned I got a degree in Cinema and Television Arts with an emphasis in Screenwriting. One of my main goals by making travel blogs include telling others to talk about my travel stories and how my stories will motivate others with autism. I hope to educate others about how I can be independent and follow my passion. I hope to give you all a visual description of how I went through my challenges and how I can inspire YOU and those on the spectrum to be as independent and follow your goals as me. Also I love to be a creative type so why not follow the stuff you enjoy doing. I hope you enjoyed my introduction and I hope to take you on my next journey. Thanks for reading.
