Episode 26: Unmasking + masking on vacation!

Chase:     Welcome to Neurotakes. I'm Chase.

Courn:     This is Courn.

Chase:     Let's get into it. And actually before we get into it, if you have been listening up to this point or if this is your first time listening and you like the podcast, please leave us a review on the platform you're listening to. It really helps us reach more people and it would mean a lot.

Courn:     But only do if it's a nice one.

Chase:     Only do if it's 5 stars, please.

Courn:     Yeah, please don't.

Chase:     Please no 4 stars. If it's a 4 star, email us and tell us why. And then we can correct it so you can give us a 5 star.

Courn:     Correct.

Chase:     Awesome, okay, now let's get into it.

Courn:     So how was your trip?

Chase:     Oh yeah we recently did some traveling.

Courn:     That's a big deal in this day and age. I do not envy you having to travel right now.

Chase:     Yeah that's true but also I'm trying to get out of here sometimes. It's kind of wild. We live on the West Coast, so it's not that wild. But the trip was good. We went to Universal and saw some extended family out there. I'll tell you what though, it's a time, especially as my wife and I are unmasking and like really being our authentic ADHD and autistic selves, it's traveling is not what it used to be when we first started dating, I'll tell you that much.

Courn:     Yeah also no on unmasking autism and ADHD but masking with actual masks.

Chase:     Correct.

Courn:     For clarity.

Chase:     That is a great-

Courn:     If anyone was confused.

Chase:     Thank you, thank you. You gave me big eyes and I was like, oh no, oh no. Yeah, no physically wearing a mask while traveling. That's a whole piece too actually I want to talk about today. But just like unmasking our ADHD, autism, for sure. That's a whole piece. So yeah, we can talk about that today. When's the last time you traveled? Has it been a while?

Courn:     Ooh, ithas been a hot sec.

Chase:     Yeah.

Courn:     I think over, I thinkthe last time was when we literally went to Seattle with both of you.

Chase:     Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that was like a little road trip.

Courn:     Yeah, but the last big trip was literally our honeymoon. Which was like 3, 4 years.

Chase:     Oh, that's the last time you flew?

Courn:     Yeah.

Chase:     Oh dang. I never realized that's been a while.

Courn:     I do not like plane trips.

Chase:     Yeah.

Courn:     And we've been planning the Korea and Japan trip for so long. And now it's coming up in spring so I'm super excited about that.

Chase:     I'm so excited for you.

Courn:     Yeah got all the money to spend on Pokemon. That's what the entire budget is.

Chase:     Thanks, student loan forgiveness. If you missed that episode, go back and listen to it.

Courn:     Literally, that's what's funding this whole trip.

Chase:     Yeah, absolutely. You know, I never, I used to be that kid that was like, I can't wait to travel and like definitely once I traveled outside of the country for the first time I was 18 I was like, whoa, the world is so different than where I live and like there's a lot to learn and it was like to Costa Rica so there's quite a bit of culture difference not really but like there's quite a bit of challenges or differences. So, but like, as I got to be an adult, like traveling got a little more anxiety inducing and stressful. And now I'm kind of like, wait, do I like to travel that much? Kind of, it's kind of up in the air now. Cause I thought I'd be like a travel girly.

Courn:     I feel like it's different when your parents are making the itinerary and you're just showing up and then as an adult having to make that itinerary that's when I realized I hated traveling.

Chase:     Or when they're paying for the tickets.

Courn:     Correct. That too. Why is no one telling me that like vacations were so expensive too? Like how am I about to drop 5k on like a week or something? Like who can afford vacation?

Chase:     Domestic!

Courn:     Yes! Like that's not even a good vacation. Like no one told me that lodging is just like minimum a thousand to 2000.

Chase:     Minimum. Hotels what 250 on a good day? 300 bucks a night, parking, rental car, food and that's another thing we can get into and that could be a good segue actually into our first topic is like traveling with our allergies and just like food sensitivities got really challenging this time. My wife and I have not together but each a gluten allergy and then a dairy allergy. Jess, my wife, also cannot have shellfish so I feel like that like combined like shellfish, gluten, and dairy really limits our options for travel foods because a lot of travel foods that are processed with preservatives are preserved with milk. And wheat, right? Like crackers and a lot of chips and stuff. So this time around, you know, we always prepare with like a few snacks and like also not like too carb of heavy snacks I guess because, I'd like then crash so we're trying to balance of like things and you can't really travel like fruits and vegetables so we try to always prepare with a few snacks but man when you're like going from like airport to airport and like-

Courn:     It's hard!

Chase:     Yeah and like then your like tummies kind of upset just from like moving around and like I get like anxious just from being around different people and like kind of watching all the time because I don't always feel the safest in the airport. I'm brown. I got a neck tattoo. I got a wife. Like I haven't always got head on a swivel. So I think food while traveling was tough this time around.

Courn:     Agree. I mean that's always been an issue for me. Like, I don't know. I always had to pack like snacks and full food for me growing up whenever we traveled on an airplane and did stuff like that. That was just any place we went just because I don't know. I have ARFID, I have an incredibly restrictive diet. There was no way I was going to eat food on the airplane. I'm also like vegetarian, lactose intolerant. So it just was never a good time.

Chase:     Exactly.

Courn:     And like, I also just have like super bad chronic IBS. And it's just like not a good combination on a plane. Like That's like legitimately a disability when you're on a plane when you don't have access to a bathroom at all times. Like so many close calls.

Chase:     When you can get up and do the walk of shame for no reason. There's no shame, but like you gotta walk past everyone, they're looking at you.

Courn:     I still have nightmares from our honeymoon trip. I just had a super upset stomach on the way back. Middle of the night, there's some man who's been in the bathroom for like literally 40 minutes and I'm like, dude, get out, get out.

Chase:     Get out. I would just start knocking.

Courn:     He just came out like, mmm, just like this. What is up with men? Just taking 40 minute poops in public places. The audacity. I have never done that in my life. I'm out here fighting for my life.

Chase:     You're like clenching up, trying not to make a mess.

Courn:     I snuck into the first class bathroom. That's how bad it was. The attendant saw me and they were like, what are you doing? I was like-

Chase:     Don't even ask.

Courn:     They saw my face. They didn't say anything.

Chase:     The sweats. No, it's true because I feel like, you know, like sometimes like the takeoff, you get a little like nauseous and sick like then it's like do I want water, do I want a soda like, oh we got free drinks on the way there!

Courn:     Yeah?!

Chase:     That was wild. I had a little Mr. Mayor moment, little side rail, because of where I work and people like see me a lot and then now I'm like in more community spaces so the flight attendant recognized me-

Courn:     Wait what?!

Chase:     And was like out of Portland they were like, oh hey I think you go to my gym and I was like oh yeah and they were like oh yeah like Loyal Athletic Club and I was like yeah and they were like oh my gosh and then it's like okay well that's nice to meet you. No name exchange because we're like in the aisle trying to get to our seat. And they were just like, okay. So then of course when they came by with the drinks, they're like, oh my gosh, like where are you headed? And like blah, blah, blah. And they were like, do you want like a drink or anything? Like a cocktail. And I was like, I mean, maybe a little bit, like let's get some food in us. Cause it was like an early flight. And they were like, oh yeah, just let me know. It's on me.

Courn:     Do you want a cocktail at 7am?

Chase:     Literally, they were like, it's on me. And I was like, ohhh! And so later on I got to use the bathroom, in which case I got stuck in the door. I couldn't open the door. So they just heard me going and they get stuck and they open and they're like, you need help? And I was like, thank you. And then I was like, well, we'll take some drinks. And then they came over and like gave us a little like rose. So we were getting tipsy on some rose on the way there. Full free.

Courn:     See, this is a time where I wish I drank. Cause I'm like, that sounds like it would be a delight.

Chase:     But again, like the tummy, right? Cause then I was like bubbling my tummy and I kind of got gassy. It's like a whole thing. So not to mention the food while we were there, you're just kind of out of your element like-

Courn:     You don’t know what you’re gonna get! I don't know why you can't look it up in advance or anything it actually bothers me.

Chase:     Restaurants, like you know you're trying to do your best and like our the extended family we visited was really like helpful in there they did research before I'm like oh here's a good places like. They were helpful in that regard but still like does it have milk or does it have butter? Like are you sure and like there's a lot of like questions there oh like snacks at the house you don't really have like we didn't have a car on our own to go to the store to get snacks so it's kind of like hey, can you take us to the store. You know it's like those little extra things you're just like oh and so then it's like okay get snacks at the house. But then what if all of a sudden those snacks don't sound good? You know, your brain's like, oh, I don't want that. So it's like kind of stressful with the food switch, but I mean, the trip was really fun.

Courn:     No, I feel you on the food though. It's kind of actually embarrassing when I have to talk to people about like our honeymoon trip and going to Europe and stuff and being like, they talk, they're always just like-

Chase:     I love that story!

Courn:     Oh, not that story.

Chase:     Okay, not that story.

Courn:     Not that story. I will tell that story because it's so funny. But no, just the fact that like, everyone's like, oh, how's the food in Europe? And it was like so funny. I loved all the food we ate but literally my my best meal was when we found like an American Mexican restaurant in Paris because I was so sick of eating like rich pastas and pizzas and like traditional food.

Chase:     Who would have thought you'd get sick of that?

Courn:     It was too much. I was like y'all and literally I was just fighting for my life which then led to me fighting for my life because I ate the creamiest pasta and why is there no public bathrooms in Europe? I had to break into a construction site into a porter potty-

Chase:     And, and do your thing…

Courn:     Yeah and then they saw me come out and they were like half chasing after me.

Chase:     They were like, hey what are you doing?

Courn:     What are you doing? And I'm like, oh god, this is how it ends. A little alarm went off and I was like, we gotta get out of this park.

Chase:     Yeah.

Courn:     Yeah. Yeah. Did what we had to do.

Chase:     Yeah, and like talk about the food at like Disney and Universal like-

Courn:     It’s so gross!

Chase:     Gross and like freaking expensive, obviously and like trying to find allergen friendly stuff means you kind of have to go to like some of the nicer restaurants like-

Courn:     Yeah usually just now we have to get accommodations that have a full kitchen and like Raymond started like meal prepping me food so I could eat my same foods whenever on vacation. Or we have to go places that have those chains that I'd like to eat at which I hate having to eat at a chain at a vacation but like sometimes I just need that safe food.

Chase:     And I think that's just something I was excited to talk about and like maybe like normalize and maybe like I realized I had to accept more that like just because other people go traveling to different countries, different places and I go I can't wait to try like the local food and like that yeah that's exciting if you can do that but like for us I have to accept that like that's not the experience we're gonna have and like be okay with that. And that's kind of been hard. That's kind of been tough to like come to terms with.

Courn:     Cause I think it's a hard societal thing too. I think people will just judge you like you're not fully immensing yourself in culture without understanding how that food stuff can like quite literally be very disabling and very stressful and kind of like ruin the trip for you.

Chase:     Yeah, like trust me if I could I would be eating a lot more stuff or I would be indulging in things but it's like I'm not gonna feel good and I'm already like a little nervous being in like a new place right? You're kind of just like gotta go easy so we ended up eating grocery store sushi because they had 1 of the local like or I guess like the East Coast chains had like $5 sushi on Wednesdays and we were there for 2 Wednesdays.

Courn:     I don’t trust that!

Chase:     It was actually so good. I was shocked. I was like sus about it but it was good. No, didn't get sick.

Courn:     No shame. No. No shame.

Chase:     Again it's like oh we found something that works like let's go like 2 or 3 times.

Courn:     Yeah, that's totally fair!

Chase:     There's that, I did miss the coffee. I feel like there's not good coffee anywhere outside of Oregon.

Courn:     Dude, that's my qualm, like international travel to our whole honeymoon. Couldn't find any like just normal black coffee. They only ever had like shots of espresso, which is not my jazz. I actually want to enjoy my coffee or just like a cafe lattes and stuff. And those are just too sweet for me.

Chase:     Yeah. Or again just like, oh do they have alternative milks? Like most places will have like a soy and stuff but it's like, oh and then it's just getting expensive out there. I sound like my parents but I think we spent almost 20 bucks on 2 coffees and a pastry each.

Courn:     I mean, I believe it. That's how it is here too. I mean if you want to have like I'm the type who has to like I buy we buy a lot of food on vacations right and stuff-

Chase:     Yeah totally that's, that's a treat!

Courn:     Yeah it's a treat but then yeah having to like I don't know ration like a thousand bucks for food for a week because like it adds up so freaking quick with 2 people. Like you go out to 1 nice meal, it's like $100. You're just like, fuck!

Chase:     Yeah, you're like tipping, if you get a cocktail, or if you get something else, yeah. I will say the Southeast does have pretty decent steak houses. I don't know if that's everyone's experience. As someone who eats meat, 4 people got a steak dinner with like 2 sides and shit. There was a cocktail in there. Less than 200 bucks for everybody.

Courn:     I don't know what a good frame of reference is but yeah-

Chase:     Well I mean talking like 50 bucks a person for a nice like a big-ass steak meal I don't know, I'm just saying. I was here for it was like the 1 food we could literally eat going out in the sell these and I was like wow this is okay.

Courn:     I have no experience in the meats but-

Chase:     Yeah that's fair, yeah you find that with some of your travel though like having to pick up snacks and other accommodations?

Courn:     Yeah I mean we bring we bring so much food, that's the thing. I have to bring so much of my snacks. I don't know, we brought a lot of food on our honeymoon trip, every time we take a vacation, even if it's just something small, like, I don't know, like occasionally we'll go up to a cabin with my family, like once a year for stuff. We bring all our own food. I don't trust other people to provide food for me. If it's like a group trip, I'm always just doing my own thing that's how I've always been but.

Chase:     Absolutely, absolutely the accommodations I think while traveling was another eye-opener for us because again like my wife and I have traveled at least once a year since we've been together on an actual airplane flight and stuff and doing things. So each time it's gotten more and more authentic, as in we've unmasked a lot, but we've realized how expensive accommodations can be, both on the airplane, food, travel, whatever it is. I was like, wow.

Courn:     Isn’t that life?

Chase:     Oh my god.The legroom on a flight, right? It's pretty tight, especially in the economy. But the more you pay, the more legroom. And so for me, I'm good with the tight space. I don't need that. My wife, no, really enjoyed like the leg room on one of our flights because we got like a cheap upgrade. And they were like, oh this is really nice. Like this felt really good. And I was like, oh god, oh god, here we go. You know, just like knowing for the future like, okay maybe we got to save up a little more for like a flight with more comfortable seats.

Courn:     No, honestly, I mean that little, little stuff just like adds up, but just like the airport is just like a very dislike disability hostile place.

Chase:     I never realized!

Courn:     Well, I mean, I don't know, it's just like-

Chase:     Until now!

Courn:     I feel like every wheelchair user I've ever followed has some like absolutely horrendous story of just like the airport ruining their wheelchair, like leaving them in the airport somewhere, like not talking to them, like having them fall out of their wheelchair like there's just all these insane traumatic stories it's like not a lot of accountability from airlines.

Chase:     Definitely not disability friendly on any regard.

Courn:     No no no and I mean it just in the very experience that I've started unmasking and there's a few times I've been to the airport and gone to like public places just like the looks you get in stuff. I think it's just a new thing to me and that's a big privilege thing to say like I've masked so well that people really didn't know I was autistic and now that I've started to unmask, people stare at me in public places, they stare at me in restaurants and stuff and it's like really annoying, it's hard!

Chase:     Yeah I mean even just us wearing masks like yeah-

Courn:     That's already enough to get people starting at you!

Chase:     That alone! I was like I was like I know people are gonna look at us that I mean that alone sensory wise was tough I had to build up like ever since we started talking about it, I was like, building up my tolerance again to like, wear a mask that actually like, creates a seal and is like, proper. Because that like, sensory overload got, gets to be a lot. Especially when you're like, traveling and like, walking quickly and you're breathing quick. Like the sweat, like all of that. That was another sensory thing. So it made a difference though.

Courn:     I'm like, I wear that mask for like our 11 hour fucking plane ride to Europe. So anytime someone complains to me about like 1 to 2 hour ride, I'm like, you got to build up your tolerance dog but like.

Chase:     That's, that's what we had to do yeah it's just like for weeks leading up to it I was like wearing it more around just going out which I need to like be better about doing in general but I was like man that sensory really got me this time because before I was wearing those really like crappy masks which I know they don't do that much but that was fine but wow but-

Courn:     I will say I mean you find the mask that's right for you and you work up to it like it will feel better like I found out when I was wearing masks that weren't really protective they also just didn't feel that great either like it didn't have great mouth room and stuff like a lot of people wear surgical cloth masks they're really tight to your mouth and like they're not gonna feel great like, you can get ones that have like good you know-

Chase:     But they also have a lot more breathability and I think that's what people like oh that's fine just that's what I did.

Courn:     That’s cause the air is just flopping out!

Chase:     I'm gonna say it didn’t actually really do that much so but we didn't get sick between our booster shot like 2 weeks before and then like the mask we didn't get sick because-

Courn:     Who knew science would work guys?!

Chase:     Imagine that but I was definitely like pretty germaphobic, like germ conscious traveling especially with like-

Courn:     Airports are so gross!

Chase:     Airports and like the parks I was just like a lot of germs here! Yes so that was another one, I feel like I was pretty anxious about the germs because I was like, oh, yeah, I want to come back all sick and a lot of high contact areas. So I've never really worried about germs until now when I'm like, oh, I got to worry about sick time and like PTO and like if I don't work I don't get paid like I'm not salaried. So that was another like interesting thing to realize this time around with travel.

Courn:     Yeah, I've always been a big germ person to be honest. I'm like I've always been really grossed out by airports and stuff and airports are just like central to so many people, so many germs, so many things. People just doing gross stuff too. Like, I don't know, I just like watched a child, like last time I went to the airport, I have this vivid image of this kid. Okay, like he clearly had like COVID or something cause he was struggling. He had so much snot and it was like bright green. And he's pushing out of his nose and I'm sorry if this is a really gross visual, you can skip ahead 20 seconds if you hate it. But it was like dripping out like a faucet and slowly just getting closer to the ground and then this giant puddle, like it had to have been like a good 2 ounces of snot, just hits the floor absorbs into the carpet and then he just leaves and someone else sits there and like puts their bag on top of it like 10 minutes later and I just like, oh my god, like actually in the mom saw the whole thing like she was sitting across-

Chase:     Didn't care?

Courn:     No!

Chase:    Yeah airports are nasty with germs, nasty with germs!

Courn:     I see so many people not wash their hands in the bathroom, ah!

Chase:     Yeah yeah yeah and like you're in just such close quarters with everyone like, you're in line, you're in security line you're on boarding, like sitting close yeah like-

Courn:     Unfortunately if someone has COVID on the plane because of like the air quality in there, like you will get it if you're not wearing a mask. Like that is just inevitable.

Chase:     So absolutely. Are you in airport? Like, Do you get to the airport pretty early?

Courn:     Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. What do you mean? I'm autistic. Of course I get to the airport early.

Chase:     So that's the fun dilemma that my wife and I have is like, I'll get there at the last second. I don't give a damn.

Courn:     Why? You stress me out!

Chase:     But I will say there's been 1 or 2 times that I was like cutting it kind of close and I was like, oh, this is not fun. Not fun. The thrill of the risk is not worth it. So but like, okay, so what about time of day? Do you have a like preference of like flights? What time of day they are?

Courn:     I mean, usually like in the morning, just so it's not like, it's mainly just because like if it's later in the day, I'm gonna be like stuck planning and just sitting around waiting. It's like any activity like I like to do things in the morning then get it done.

Chase:     Correct.

Courn:     And if you're getting-

Chase:     Before stuff gets in the way or like you have to keep that in your head now.

Courn:     Yeah and for the sake of traveling too maybe you want to get to your destination when it's not super dark out like I don't want to arrive at like 2 a.m. That's super disorienting.

Chase:     Yeah. So yeah. So that's like another thing getting to like the airport early I was like we have found like a compromise to get there kind of medium or we just get there early now but-

Courn:     What's your idea of early, how many hours in advance?

Chase:     I want to get to the gate like right as it starts to board.

Courn:     That's stressful!

Chase:     I don't like sitting and then like sitting and then sitting and like going to different places to sit like I'd rather just stand in line and just like get on plus like-

Courn:     That's fair, that's very ADHD of you!

Chase:     For sure but I agree like the time of day so our first our flight out of here was super early I was like cranky about it but it was fine because I got up got straight to the airport like boom boom boom. Our flight back home didn't leave until like 5 or 6 p.m. That was terrible yeah I didn't know how much I hated that that was the whole thing I learned I was like wow because then again I was like oh we can have a whole day we were gonna go to the beach and like chill and we had plans and then the hurricane said, no beach for you. So I was like, okay. So then again, I was like, what are we going to do for like 8 hours?

Courn:     Nothing.

Chase:     You can't go to a park, you can't go to the beach. What are we going to do? So we kind of end up sitting around for a bit. It was just so stressful to then think about the flight all day and then have to travel all evening. That was the whole thing I had to realize is maybe now picking flights at a certain time of day, those flights might be more expensive because we just went the cheapest route. But I was like, wow, now we might have to pay more to have flights that like accommodate us based on the time of day.

Courn:     I mean that would be nice I'm always about the cheap stuff.

Chase:     That's the thing though I'm like okay.

Courn:     We always end up doing super early flights that like especially like sometimes I don't know we usually when we fly it's like we're going to like a destination I don't know, we have like a Alaska and it doesn't always have a lot of options, but that's where our cards are through so also like sometimes you just only have 1 option. Like we had to whatever if we're going to that airport. We had to leave it like 5 a.m. Yeah, this sucks. I gotta be at the airport like 3 a.m.

Chase:     Like that was us.

Courn:     Yeah, I do hate that I'm usually like a 2 hour before for domestic flights just because I usually like to eat before I get on.

Chase:     That's another thing, right? It's like finding a place to eat near the gate. Something sensory friendly, allergen friendly.

Courn:     I have to get all my, I don't know, like ducks in a row, get ready. I don't like just like sitting around at the airport but like just the idea of being late or like the 1 time you don't show up early security taking like 40 minutes because that's happened to me before. And then of course when you do get there 2 hours early, security takes 2 minutes. But I'm like you know we got 3 hours early for international flight because we thought all that stuff was gonna take so much time to go through the additional security it took like 10 minutes but on our way back we got stuck for like an hour in customs.

Chase:     Getting back in I feel like it's way harder.

Courn:     Oh, correct.

Chase:     leaving is like bye, see ya!

Courn:     Obvious reason, because the U.S. Is horrible!

Chase:     You are correct.

Courn:     Yeah it's I just like to make sure I'm always on time but it's hard because like I'm also just someone who's chronically late a lot so I have to like make up for it or I just don't account for time well so I'm always trying to plan stuff hours in advance otherwise I will be late.

Chase:     And then you're just sitting around at the airport for hours which I hate even though I have stuff to do like I was editing pod, I was watching stuff, I still was just like man!

Courn:     I do like people watching at the airport I do find the airport very over stimulating and there's a lot going on that's like if you go at a busy time I freaking hate it.

Chase:     Sounds, smells, sights, lots going on.

Courn:     But the people watching.

Chase:     So good.

Courn:     So top tier. I love guessing like where people are coming from, where they're going, like what their backstory is. Like that's half of my experience.

Chase:     What's their lore?

Courn:     I'll just be like, okay, so like they're divorced, but they're doing this for the kids. And this kid is actually like undiagnosed. That 1 is on medicine. And Raymonds just like, what are you talking about?

Chase:     You can tell which kids also travel a lot. Which ones never travel. And they're just like, blehh!

Courn:     like that kid's on Reddit. He's probably in an in-cell group. And Raymond was like, what are you talking about?

Chase:     I love that.

Courn:     And I'm like I'm just I'm just gauging.

Chase:     Yeah. Yeah.

Courn:     Trying to pass the time.

Chase:     We definitely did a lot of people watching and like we got on 1 of the trams to get to the gate and like the doors only open on 1 side for a little bit to let people leave and then it basically switches and closes those and opens the other side. You should have heard the bickering people had about that 1 side opening. They're like, why is that side opening? We're over here. So many thoughts. And so I always have commentary and I was telling Jess, I was like, who the fuck cares? Just like, shut the fuck up. And Jess is like, you better be careful saying that. Like people are on the East Coast will fight you. I was like, then let's go. That's fine. Like, oh, the people watching this ridiculous. They had so much so many opinions to say. That's the other thing about I think travel. I just hate being around that many like strangers now. I don't know that I was like that pre-pandemic, but I was also like masking pretty heavy, so maybe I was.

Courn:     I was always like that. I just hate people. And people are like, you just get every subset of people at the airport. Like you really see a large population sample of people there, and it just brings out the worst in people. Everyone is feral at the airport.

Chase:     And it's so stressful being at the airport because you're like, try not to miss connecting flights. Oh, that's the other thing. My goodness, my wife, trying to be so helpful and like, condensed down travel time, thought that a 45-minute layover in America's, one of their largest airports was enough time.

Courn:     I could have told you that was a bad idea.

Chase:     We missed 2 out of our 6 flights. I was like, baby, baby. And I didn't see it until we were traveling that day because I didn't look at the tickets. Yeah. I was like, oh no.

Courn:     Sometimes the planes, they go slower, you know. I was

Chase:     like, you're expecting us to run through ATL in 30 minutes, baby, baby no! It's okay so we learned a lot this time around traveling I will say.

Courn:     Is there 1 of you that does most of the planning for the trips? Like planning? Well it sounds like Jess.

Chase:     Jess, my wife does it mostly. Mostly because they take the lead and I will do it if they didn't. I wouldn't mind but because they did and actually the family we were visiting was even more a planning person. So they were like,oOh my gosh, I got this. And they sent us an itinerary. It was nice. Jess really liked it. And I was like, okay, what are we doing this day? And it definitely helped to pack, but I would probably make less plans if it were me.

Courn:     That's fair.

Chase:     I would just be like, oh, I want to do this, and I want to do this, and I want to do this. Cool, let's get there and figure it out. Yeah. You not know, who is it in your relationship?

Courn:     I mean, I think that's pretty obvious. It's Raymond, it's not me. That's very unautistic of me.

Chase:     I was gonna say.

Courn:     I don't know. I get very overwhelmed by lots of choices and I feel like that is a more like standard trait and some people can like rein that in and really like organizing and I do but something about travel there's just so many variables like literally just the idea of picking a flight. I don't know, I used to have meltdowns all the time when I had to like pick flights for work stuff because there's just hundreds and thousands of options, different times, trying to coordinate like different time zones, like trying to coordinate lodging, where you want to be, making itinerary of someplace you've never been before. Like all of that research is too much for me. Like if I could focus on one part I could do it. And like I know I used to handle a lot of that stuff but now I just find it so freaking overwhelming and luckily.

Chase:     Isn't that so wild?

Courn:     Yeah because it just it gets worse and worse to the point that like you realize that you were never good at it in the first place. You were just forced to do it because no 1 else would and you didn't enjoy doing it but because you were good at it you were forced into it. But I'm good at organizing certain stuff. Travel's not one of them. People know I'm not a good planner in that aspect. Don't ask me to plan what we're doing. I will just arrive.

Chase:     True. Yes, I can speak from experience.

Courn:     Yeah, it's a bad trait of mine to be honest, but Raymond's like really good at that stuff and he enjoys it, which is what matters more.

Chase:     He's very decisive in that way.

Courn:     Yeah, and not even that he's decisive in that he really enjoys the research aspect of traveling. And I think just traveling is like a really big fixation for him. So like he watches a lot of food influencers. So like he'll like save restaurants. He knows what cities we want to go to. Like when we go to Korea and Japan and that stuff is just like so overwhelming for me.

Chase:     That is like also so different than here. I feel like you do need a bit of research. Cause you're not, again, it's not like we can just show up wherever and eat whatever and like oh find something to eat like no we've got a couple more like hoops to jump through to find something so yeah, that's pretty wild. I forget that you're not the planner but then once you start saying it I'm like oh yeah.

Courn:     There's like certain stuff I plan but for something like that it's just a hard no for me. And anyone who knows me, I'm just really bad at like planning any timed stuff. Like having to plan an itinerary is very stressful for me. Like I like the idea of an itinerary, but definitely with travel and stuff, I hate unflexible itineraries. Like if your whole travel day is just like, not even your travel day, like your vacation day is just planned out to a tee, I find that stressful because you don't get to like, I don't know, enjoy things. And like, you don't know how much time stuff is gonna take and people always put their schedules too tight. So like anytime someone's made an itinerary for me for a trip, it just caused us to be running from place to place all day and I hate it like it's not a vacation.

Chase:     Correct.

Courn:     Like it's literally like work.

Chase:     Day-to-day life.

Courn:     Yeah. Yeah. Like we don't really have like set itineraries like literally your honeymoon is our favorite trip because we would just like pick 1 activity for like the day. Like we were like oh we're gonna go to the Eiffel Tower sometime today and that was the entire day.

Chase:     And that's great. Yeah, because that's what I like.

Courn:     If you're just like, I want to do this and this and that and I get some people love to travel like that. Like I want there's stuff I made sure I didn't want to miss but like okay.

Chase:     Yeah and like sometimes you're traveling there's maybe like a museum times like oh they're closed on certain days you got like account for but yeah.

Courn:     I feel there’s nothing worse than like stumbling upon something really cool on like a vacation and like not having time to see it like I get so much FOMO about like passing by stores and stuff, I'm a trinket person I have to go in every stupid little store. So if we're running to go to some, I don't know, monument thing that I don't even like those type of vacations. I don't know.

Chase:     Definitely.

Courn:     I go on vacations to eat food and do nothing.

Chase:     And that's growing up, to be honest. I feel like as a teenager and I travel, I'm like, go, go, go do the things, party so late and like pack all I can like make the most of it cuz what if I never come back and like which was kind of true like little scarcity mindset. I was a poor kid you know saved up but now I'm just like the real vacation is not doing anything and having like 3 things planned and just being like okay we're gonna do this and this and the rest is just to chill, so.

Courn:     That is truly becoming an adult is realizing that your parents weren't wild for wanting to have vacations where they just relax.

Chase:     And literally lay by the beach and do nothing.

Courn:     I don't want a vacation from my vacation. And that's a big thing.

Chase:     That's what we've been working towards.

Courn:     Yeah, I feel like even when I try my best to make vacations, I feel like very accommodating and flexible. The reality is I just need so much recoup time from them that it's just like, it's stressful for me.

Chase:     Yeah and at that point like if you need a vacation from your vacation come on?

Courn:     What are you doing?

Chase:     Yeah what's the point of that just do a staycation, save your money. We also have the privilege and totally recognizing that not everybody has this privilege, but we basically took the day off when we got back or that first day after we got back. So it wasn't like immediately from vacation, immediately go back to work and holy smokes, that made such a difference. I will probably account for that moving forward of like 1 extra day of PTO or whatever to just like chill or come home and have like the weekend to re-acclimate.

Courn:     Yeah, we always usually end up like leaving for vacations like early in the week and then coming back at the end of the week so then you have the weekend.

Chase:     Yeah.

Courn:     And that's usually because air fares cheaper that way too. Because people coming back on the weekend is always expensive.

Chase:     Yeah, they always leave like on a Friday and come back on like a Sunday or something or whatever. Yeah, no that was like a game changer. And I'd always heard like how good that was but never really had the means you know. I was just like, no I'm fine. I can come back. And I was like, damn it's stressful. So now because and we got back pretty late like 1 a.m. And so like that whole day basically just didn't work and I was like wow this is nice to just come home, sleep in, put our bags away, like do some laundry get the toiletries put away and clean down like that was way nicer this time around .Are you someone who likes to unpack immediately when you get back?

Courn:     I mean it depends when you get back but in general yes. Sometimes we've gotten back from flights at like 2 a.m. I'm not gonna unpack I need to go to sleep but yes within a day I will have everything unpacked because like it's gross.

Chase:     Okay yeah!

Courn:     I'm also just like want to get rid of the luggage stuff as quickly as I can because it's really gross to me being if you've traveled-

Chase:     All your bags have been everywhere.

Courn:     Yeah I take all my clothes traveling because I'm a horrible packer so I literally have to wash them all otherwise I won't have anything to wear.

Chase:     Yeah. Ironically my wife leaves everything out. I'm the 1 who puts stuff away immediately and I feel like I'm always the procrastinator. No like as soon as we walk in the doors I could unpack everything and put it all away throw the stuff in the laundry and be like, boom, done. It doesn't matter the time of day.

Courn:     I love that. That's the type of person I am, or at least I strive to be. It always falls apart at some point, but something like traveling, I just, I get grossed out and I want my clothes back. And like, also usually if you like buy souvenirs or other stuff-

Chase:     Yeah, cutesy things!

Courn:     I want to get everything out and put away. And it's always exciting to be back home. I don't know, that's my favorite part of vacation, just coming back home and being like, my bed, my mattress, my dogs.

Chase:     Truly. I didn't think about that. Yeah. So that was a lot of things to learn. And even just re-acclimating to your routine like now again just unmasking and realizing how much we enjoy and like need certain routines like I would have never thought that years ago that like I needed a routine because I'm so feral but now like again like oh how much time do we need for this, what time we get up for this, and like can I see like in just like all those things now coming back and reassimilating was kind of tough it took us a few days. And then like those little straggling unpacking things like we just got to get this done you know.

Courn:     Correct. I'm like if Raymond could he'd unpack like a month after? He's so bad about that. He's about unpacking. He packs like the night before. Like I'm very much a person who like packs like a week in advance and I check the weather and the location of each day so I can properly plan the correct outfits to wear. You need an, in case you piss your pants every day, you need to have an extra pair of underwear.

Chase:     You double up on everything.

Courn:     That's never happened to me in my life.

Chase:     Can't go to the store and buy anything.

Courn:     Yeah, in case I step on a puddle every day, I need to make sure I have an extra sock. What if we go out? I don't go out dancing. Oh, I need a dress.

Chase:    What if we need some heels?

Courn:     Yeah. I don't wear heels. Luckily I don't pack that stuff anymore, but I do pack like a lot of different layers of sweaters and clothes. Cause I never know what the vibe is going to be. So my bag is always tight and full.

Chase:     Yeah that's true. Also like checking a bag is expensive. So like you gotta account for being able to like check a bag. We lost 1 of the bags partway the trip. It got there eventually but it was like a day late and I was just like dang.

Courn:     That stresses me out.

Chase:     I hate checking bags for that reason. I'm not a bag checker.

Courn:     I am and I've never lost a bag and maybe I've just gotten lucky.

Chase:     Don’t jinx it!

Courn:     But I bring a lot of like products and that ones that are annoying to put in little bottles because I have my hair products and stuff. So I've just always had to like check a bag like it's just always been a given like I have to check a bag.

Chase:     Yeah yeah absolutely. Do you get checked going through security at the airport?

Courn:     Oh my god.

Chase:     Let's talk about that.

Courn:     You know what's funny recently, no but as a kid all the time, I got patted down.

Chase:     You look like a real Asian kid though. I feel like now you look slightly less but you still look very Asian. Maybe it's the hair color.

Courn:     Yeah.

Chase:     Actually you haven't traveled much with the pink hair have you?

Courn:     No it's only been the honeymoon and they got mad because they were like why does your passport have brown hair your license has blonde hair and you have pink hair in front of me and they were like you must really like to change up your hair and I'm like it just caught me within every like 5 years was each picture. Okay I'm sorry. But no I got patted-

Chase:     Is it even you?

Courn:     I got patted down as an 11 year old by this big burly dude and it was like honestly looking back really inappropriate and not okay.

Chase:     Yeah Like have 1 of the female officers or somebody maybe not a big burly guy.

Courn:     No, and like, I just remember him just like very much like grabbing private areas and patting them. And it made me super uncomfortable.

Chase:     This 11 year old really smuggling some stuff in.

Courn:     Yeah and it was like really embarrassing and I had to be back there for like almost like 10 minutes because they whatever they swipe your clothes. I don't know why I got fully wiped down.

Chase:     Swabbed.

Courn:     11 year old.

Chase:     That's messed up.

Courn:     My dad used to get taken for security a lot growing up because he was like the brown 1 of our family. That happened. Yeah now I'm glad that I finally whatever paid the extra money for the pre-check. I don't have to take off my shoes.

Chase:     That's another accommodation. Another privilege and accommodation.

Courn:     But that costs money!

Chase:     Yeah we talked about that. I was like if we do more travel and I was like we got to invest in this because we're not quite at the point where like makes it worth it but again I was like.

Courn:     Did they have the new like face biometrics?

Chase:     Okay, I'm so glad you brought that up I wanted to talk about that!

Courn:     Because like I don't know 1 of the mutuals I have talks about a lot and they're like you need to ask to opt out of that.

Chase:     Yeah it's the person on TikTok right?

Courn:     Yeah yeah. YK Reborn.

Chase:     Yes yeah yeah yeah. So that's the thing is like the airports we went to some of them had it but part of me is like oh should I opt out? And I was like I don't know, that I'm fully like prepared to do that and like deal with that and like the backlash was like I haven't but like I don't want my face automatically take it oh I was like it's a whole conflict and I was like ah but again I was like I'm not prepared for this I just need to take the easy way out but then I like afterwards I was kind of like guilty and got like, oh, I didn't, that didn't feel great. So I was like-

Courn:     I literally saved their whole video that had a script on what to say. Cause I'm planning to do that. I'm really against my like, face is being tracked in biometrics as like data. There's so many reasons why that's like personal information. It's not about, oh, I don't have something to hide. No, it's like actually very problematic.

Chase:     Yes, and nobody's talking about it. So I did it for like, I think the 2 flights or 2 airports that had it. But again, I was like, I did not feel good doing it. But I was just like, man, I'm a brown person going to this airport with neck tattoos. Like, I don't know if I want to cause that much attention.

Courn:     No, that's fair, actually.

Chase:     You know, and it's like, I got my wife with me. I don't know if like they're ready for that. We didn't really talk about it before. And so it's definitely a conversation to have, but I would have opted out if I was more prepared.

Courn:     Yeah, honestly, I just, the thing I hate about the airport and now just like being out as non-binary is like how many like I don't know why they use so much gendered language at the airport and to where they're just like ma'am come here! I actually found out-

Chase:     Excuse me young lady!

Courn:     I found out from that same person that literally when you do the arms up scan that they have to press a girl-

Chase:     Male or female?

Courn:     Yeah and that actually made me so sad that I'm like someone has to make a snap judgment so they talk about how people like will ask them follow-up questions because like they look very androgynous so they'll be like you know kind of like gauging questions and try to get them to talk more-

Chase:     Do you have an example what those questions could be?

Courn:     No I don't remember what they were saying, but I think they the main thing was just to get them to talk more so they could see the pitch of their voice and hear it and be like, oh girl or guy.

Chase:     That’s messed up!

Courn:     And they can always tell when they're having problems deciding which button to choose because they're like trying to make conversation with them and I'm like, ohhh. I'm like I don't really pass as androgynous so I don't think that would be a problem but yeah it does suck being perceived as a woman and it sucks people calling you ma'am so much and it's like never feels enough in passing to correct someone that's a complete stranger.

Chase:     Well and I think about the like you said gendered language when they have to pat you down they technically usually like match gender to gender like I'm pretty sure that's what it is you don't have just like a man patting down a woman and like vice versa or I don't know, whatever that's really matters-

Courn:     I just think they should get rid of men!

Chase:     Yeah that's the thing I was just like what you just grabbing some boobs, grabbing some junk. I don't know. It's just kind of weird to like have those gendered things.

Courn:     Correct.

Chase:    It's very weird.

Courn:     Correct.

Chase:    I don't know where I was going with that, but it was weird.

Courn:     It just feels like a performative thing where like the Portland Airport will have gender-neutral bathrooms but then they have stuff like that. Like it's just like this performative allyship of like certain things are like gender diverse friendly, but they aren't all across the board. It creates a lot of weird inconsistencies that make gender nonconforming people really uncomfortable in like public places like that, where it has to be on display. Like, I don't know, even just the fact that you just have to take off your jacket and do all the stuff that could potentially just out what your gender is when you're just trying to get to places. Like having someone loudly declare your gender as they're looking at your driver's license or passport. It's just all that stuff is like very anxiety inducing.

Chase:     Especially because Oregon, you can now pick the gender. You have the binary ones and then you've got, what is the other 1? Like there's like an unspecified.

Courn:     I thought it was just gender X.

Chase:     YIs it X or something?

Courn:     That was the only other option.

Chase:     Yeah, yeah, no, not trying to, you know, minimize it. I can't remember, but there is an option, which my wife has. And so like, it's interesting that like, we've got those things, but the airport, it's still like, ma'am, come on over here. It's just like, you just looked at the thing. Like you just look at the driver's license.

Courn:     It is weird. I just know why it's such a big deal to like switch to like non-gendered language. I don't think it's that big of a deal.

Chase:     It's not that hard. I'm not gonna lie. I've been trying to do more of my personal life of like little things and it's not that hard. It might be, maybe that's just me though. I don't wanna say that.

Courn:     I mean, it just takes time. You just change it and then you're-

Chase:     Like intentional. The Portland airport does have like sensory safe rooms now.

Courn:     I saw that, I haven’t been to the new airport.

Chase:     Yeah when I was telling you about that I think it's new because I think we were in the similar area like terminal and I didn't see them before but it's like a little like sensory friendly, like white noise, it's all quiet in there, low lights, ironically there was some construction happening like 500 feet so you just heard like NRRR, NRRR!

Courn:     Noooo!

Chase:     But you could hear that through the whole terminal. So I was like, dang-

Courn:     Construction noises haunt me.

Chase:     But I mean, it was pretty cute. And I don't know, I had like a, for our like neurodivergent travelers. And I was like, okay.

Courn:     I like that. It's just some of that stuff feels very performative to me. And something about the sensory rooms has always felt a little bit performative to me when I feel like airlines and airports aren't really making efforts to help all disabled people. Cause like that is an important subset is like an autistic, ADHD, neurodivergent people. There's like people like PTSD and even OCD that like have sensory differences that make it difficult. But I'm like the airport is just so unfriendly to disabled people. There's just so much stigma.

Chase:     Outside of that! Here's 1 little hub that's safe for you and nowhere else is safe.

Courn:     Yeah, like I just feel like a lot of like I feel like in the past couple years we keep seeing accommodations just at events and stuff that are like, what's the accommodation for neurodivergent people? And they're like, just make sensory rooms and put them everywhere. And like that's all they do without actually doing like any more of that like-

Chase:     Requiring masks, like noise limiting, like-

Courn:     There's just so much stuff that you could do and more intentionally that I'm like, oh that's a great start but I'm like okay also what if the room gets full if there's more than like 2 people in there like they need to be more like individual stalls versus like a single room like. I don't know, I just feel like they just slap some money into that we're like this looks really good I'm just curious if people are actually like using it.

Chase:     Check the box! I probably would have used it if I knew it was there but also like for me just putting like some air pods in is like enough yeah but it also felt like a little childish in there.

Courn:     Yeah, they're always designed for kids. And that's also the thing too. Like it's aimed for kids. And I'm like, I'm an adult and I don't, it doesn't have to be adult themed, but like, I don't want to be condescending. Don't have like, I don't know, like little kid graphics everywhere on the door.

Chase:     Yeah, that's definitely where I was like, ooh, this feels a little childish which don't get me wrong it was cool in there like beanbag chairs and yeah comfy stuff but I was like does it have to be? They had a little like sample airplane chair like couple chairs in a row so you can like kind of like sit down and like I thought that was kind of neat where it's like maybe if a kid is like really nervous you could like ease them into it. Oh my gosh speaking of kids, tell me why this kid in front of us in line to get on the airplane had like the puke bag in front of her she was just like walking on the airplane with the bag and like near her and she was like almost having or they were having like a panic attack-

Courn:     Respectfully that's me!

Chase:     Oh dude I was just like are y'all okay do you have to oh I felt so bad just because like I would like are they making the kid like was this the only option I just felt so bad for that kid. They were not having a good time.

Courn:     I mean yeah. That's also I'm just chronically car sick. I don't get plane sick as much but it's like traveling is just always a nightmare.

Chase:     Are you an aisle seat person?

Courn:     Huh?

Chase:     Are you an aisle seat or a window seat?

Courn:     No I'm a window seat person just because I like to sleep and I don't like to lean on people on accident and I've done it before when I've not been in the window seat and I get so, I used to get so panicked my mom was always an aisle seat person and we always traveled like in our own row. So then there'd be a stranger in the middle and actually would give me like a panic attack on plane rides and I'd cry.

Chase:     I don't like that.

Courn:     Yeah, but I like the window seat just because like you have a little bit more space.

Chase:     Do you?

Courn:     Yes, because you like can, like, I don't know, you're enclosed in on 1 side, so you can lean on it. Like, I just feel like you can do your own thing like I feel like if you're in the aisle like you're next to the other aisle person and I don't.

Chase:     Oh see I take the aisle because I can put my leg out and that to me is like way better.

Courn:     Which I get that like, I get that the space issue you can get up to go to the bathroom easier but I just like kind of being enclosed in my own area.

Chase:     And that's like more claustrophobic for me I don't care for that as much but-

Courn:     Like my ideal scenario is when we get on those planes that are like the 2, 3, 2 - that's the ideal that Raymond gets the aisle, I get the window.

Chase:     Hawaii does that on the Hawaiian Airlines flights it's like 2 on the sides and then 4 in the middle which is great because you can still do like 2 and 2 or like a whole family 4 can take that center row. Oh, it's great. Massive plane though. I think just in general the whole theme of the trip. We had a great time but talk about like really a lesson of acceptance of like ourselves and like honoring our nervous systems while recognizing our limitations. Yeah that was tough. Kind of just like like dang I wasn't ready for this but here we are. Yeah I was just gonna be a fun trip didn't have to think about much and I was like dang.

Courn:     It's always hard for me realizing on vacations that I just can't do as much as I used to be able to or I want to even do and especially it becomes apparent by going on vacations with other people it's hard for me like I've just become like chronically disabled in a lot of ways and ill that I can't walk long distances anymore. I get really easily winded, I get tired. Like if we go out for a couple hours, like I'm not going to be able to like, just keep going. Like I need to go back to the room and like, I need a nap or something.

Chase:     Literally.

Courn:     Like it's just so hard now. I don't know. To travel? And I'm like, it kind of stresses me out that I'm just like, is this worth it? Is it worth it to pay, you know, like 500 bucks a day to be here?

Chase:     Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I'm like, what would be the ideal? I don't know.

Courn:     I don't know. I've always liked a little small trips and stuff. That's like, we'd like to get a trailer someday, just so we can go on our own terms and have our own space and just be able to, I don't know, stop whenever we want to. The idea of just doing these long trips is just so daunting and overwhelming to me. And we spend so much time in the hotel room, and I know that's not the point of the trip, but I'm tired, dog. I can't be walking around all day!

Chase:     Yeah tell me about it man walking those parks whoo I'm walking on my feet a lot of work but that that made it feel like nothing, I was not prepared.

Courn:     No I'm like honestly we used to go to those parks a lot growing up as a kid and that's like the biggest privilege but that was like our big trip we'd always go to whatever Florida and go to Disney World, Universal Studios, Scott's at my mom, love those parks. But it literally was just like I felt like death like within the first hour.

Chase:     Do you like the roller coasters and the rides?

Courn:     I do like the roller coaster rides.

Chase:     Okay, I will say the rides were sick.

Courn:     Yeah, I now have such bad chronic headaches that I can't even go on roller coasters that much anymore, which sucks, but oh my god, we used to go just like 10 times in a row, single rider line, just keep going.

Chase:     Dude, I wish I could do that I was so nervous and anxious that like I needed a lot of breaks in between. But the Velocicoaster we did, it was the first 1 we did like 9 a.m. Just like straight to it!

Courn:     Nothing gets me like a good roller coaster and I feel very strongly in that like I just love roller coasters and that's never I don't know gone away as I’ve gotten older.

Chase:     That's wild. Yeah it was a good time.

Courn:     I'm like that's the ultimate thrill seeking.

Chase:     It was good. I was I was really nervous because I was just like I've never been on them that was my first time, that was hella cool.

Courn:     They're all safe you know you'll never know-

Chase:     It was totally fine!

Courn:     You’ll never catch me at a fair roller coaster any ride I've seen enough videos online I know how often those machines get checked that I'm like uh-uh!

Chase:     Yeah no tell me about the corkscrew over the water and the whooshing around I was like yeah that was a full scream that was like ahh!

Courn:     I love that, I'm not a screamer on rollercoasters.

Chase:     I was like sore the next day from just like holding on for my life.

Courn:     Yeah okay there's this wooden roller coaster at Busch Gardens we used to go on as a kid that literally I've my brother should call it the Hyman Breaker.

Chase:     Okay.

Courn:     Which is not appropriate but that's something I repeated as an eight-year-old as 1 would do and I said I went on the Hyman Breaker roller coaster but it was a wooden roller coaster so it was really unsmooth. Like uhhh! Literally I would have headaches after like you'd get bruises on your inner thighs and your outer thighs from like hitting stuff, it was a time!

Chase:     So what I'm hearing is we need to go play roller coaster tycoon?

Courn:     Yes! I've been wanting to play roller coaster tycoon so bad but I have to get on my partner's computer because I can't run Steam on this for that.

Courn:     So thanks Apple.

Courn:     Rollercoaster Tycoon is so good.

Chase:     Okay. Well, On that note, shall we go plan our next vacation?

Courn:     Yes, please.

Chase:     All right. Bye.

Courn:    Bye.

Chase:     Hey folks, a quick disclaimer here. Courn and I speak directly from our own experiences, and while we try our best to amplify marginalized voices and present accurate information, the thoughts expressed here are definitely not a reflection of all neurodivergent, AAPI, or queer folks. So, if you have any suggestions, comments, or thoughts, feel free to email us at hello@neurotakespod.com. Thanks!