"iPad is disabled, connect to iTunes"... Is all my data lost?

[Gherkin]

Yesterday I left my hotel and had 6 hours until a train ride. So I put my iPad and Bluetooth keyboard in my camera bag and walked around for 6 hours.

When I pulled the iPad out of my bag on the train, it now says "iPad is disabled, connect to iTunes."

I figured out that the Bluetooth keyboard must have been mashing against the side of the bag and continually trying to enter a password. This ended up locking me out of the iPad and giving me the disabled message.

My question now is... Is all the data lost? The only thing I can do is connect to iTunes and either restore a back up or do a fresh install?

Or could I possibly go to an Apple store and get them to unlock it?

If there is no way at all to get the data, is there a way to put a fresh install on here without connecting to iTunes? I did a 7 hour drawing on the plane ride here and if I could at least do a factory reset before my flight home so I could do the drawing again on my flight home that would be nice.

That drawing is basically the only thing that wasn't backed up so I'm not too mad (at myself), but I'd like to see what my options are before going home.

 

[Nermal]

As far as I'm aware, so long as you connect to a computer that you've previously "paired", you won't lose anything. However, that means that you're stuck until you get home.

 

[Gherkin]

As far as I'm aware, so long as you connect to a computer that you've previously "paired", you won't lose anything. However, that means that you're stuck until you get home.

That would be such a relief. Everything I'm finding online though seems to indicate I just have to restore it or erase but maybe I'm looking at the wrong articles.