I bought an iPad to take with me in January when we go overseas. Going to France, Germany, Austria, Italy and England. Except for the absurdly disgusting freezing cold, I can't wait! I'm most looking forward to Italy... everywhere else I've been, albeit 15 years ago. I'm trying to brush up a little bit on my French, German and Italian but it's not going so well. Although it is fun to practice saying words like 'bicicletta' and 'dimanche' and 'rosti', even though I'm not sure how often I'll actually use any of those words.
It's going to be an interesting trip, sleep-wise. Thus far my only experience with narcolepsy and overseas travel has been my 2 week trip to Canada 2 years ago. I was on dexamphetamine at the time, so I was perpetually nervous about taking my speed through all the airports etc. I had a note from my specialist (sounds lame, but apparently that's all you need) but as it turns out no one cared about my dex. I did, however, have to discard my toothpaste as I was going into Vancouver. No fans of oral hygiene there as it turns out.
I was travelling by myself, which was great fun and I'm glad I did it that way. But I did spend a lot of time sleeping, and I made for a pretty lame roommate. Some nights I was in bed by 10pm, a sleep time that was made all the more pathetic by the fact that the sun usually set in Vancouver by about 11pm or thereabouts. So I was technically going to bed while it was still light outside. I didn't care all that much, however. I had a few late nights, including a fantastic pub crawl with a whole bunch of hostel people which was glorious fun. But on the whole I tried to use my days as much as possible, because that's when I was really awake and could appreciate where I was. Some days I came back to my room and had a nap if I needed to, or fell asleep in Stanley Park (a glorious, spectacular park in Vancouver where I spent a lot of time walking around and watching the wildlife). I slept a bit in airports, waiting for flights. All in all, my sleeping really only affected me, which I didn't mind, so I still had an excellent holiday.
This time around... well, for one I'm going to be travelling a whole lot more - mostly by train, so I'll hopefully get some good sleep time in while we're winding around the mountains. I'm also travelling with someone else, so my sleep habits will affect more than just me. AND it's going to be a much more social visit - I'm meeting with a close friend in Berlin, and I'm seeing my brother and (hopefully) an old housemate while I'm in London. We're also staying with friends in London. So yeah... I guess I've been thinking a lot about how I'm going to manage my sleeping, whilst adjusting to frequently changing time zones, organising to meet with friends and family, trying to see as much of Europe as possible, as well as allowing my gorgeous boy time and opportunity to also have a fantastic holiday, without me sleeping all over it! He'll be as understanding as always, of course... but I know it frustrates other people when I want to sleep and they want to do something else. I'm thinking that I'll just need to take naps in the least inconvenient places possible - on train trips, on planes, on museum seats etc. I don't want my narcolepsy to affect my trip either!!