If there’s one word of advice I picked up during the many years I spent behind a travel agent desk it was Research. There wasn’t enough research I could do for my clients, and although it made me somewhat jealous of their adventures, it guaranteed that I wouldn’t be hearing from them during or after their travels because of any mistakes. Furthermore, it prepared me for a future I couldn’t yet see.
If this kind of book-worm, phone-calling, fact-checking thorough preparation is necessary for able-bodied travel, it’s exponentially necessary for travelers with disabilities. I learned this undisputable fact when booking our first trip to Alaska in 2002. Now, years later, I’m still learning how thorough preparation can save headaches on the road. It’s a lot of work preparing your own travel, I won’t lie to you. But if you want to enjoy every aspect of your vacation with as few hassles as possible, it’s worth it.
I’ve estimated that I spent about three months getting ready for Alaska. We knew it would probably be our one and perhaps only shot at the Last Frontier, and wanted to do it all while we were there: Denali National Park’s limited access road by park bus to the depths of the animal kingdom; landing via prop plane on the Ruth Glacier, dozens of miles into the snow-filled caverns of the land of ice where humans can’t even walk to; kayaking for half a day along the desolate shores of the deepest port in North America, Prince William Sound; and ferrying out from the tip of Homer to the board-walked secluded island of Halibut Cove. All the while staying at Bed and Breakfasts and taking full advantage of the largest, most appreciated meal in the largest state of our union, homemade-style.
As it turned out, three months of preparation wasn’t enough. Although I bought half a dozen guidebooks, made countless phone calls, and wrote dozens of emails checking on lifts, ramps, door widths, shower-types, distances, expertise and experience, we still had obstacles to overcome and had to ask for the occasional hand in assistance. This is my second piece of advise to travelers with disabilities: Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Because no matter what- no matter how much research you do, no matter how many phone calls you make, pictures you see, emails you write, you’re still going to come across obstacles you didn’t foresee, and need help you didn’t imagine you would. Being prepared for this part of traveling with a disability is just as vital as the rest of it.
So where to begin, you ask?
First step: Plan your itinerary. If you know you want to go to Alaska, Europe, Hawaii, or even just next door to Oregon or Maine, and you know you don’t want to do it with a tour group, your first step is to plan your own itinerary. Look at the calendar, mark how many days you want to be gone, and estimate how much you can do in that time while saving a few days for nothing but rest and relaxation. Also remember to save a few days for travel on either end.
Let’s say you have 12 days total like we did for Alaska, and you know that the state is enormous so you can’t spend twelve days in eight cities across thousands of square miles. You’ve got to narrow your scope and pick cities first. For Alaska, we picked Anchorage, a centralized city we could fly in and out of, and then the nearby areas of Denali National Park, Whittier, and the Kenai Peninsula. We quickly realized we’d have to save Kodiak Island, the Southeast (Juneau, Sitka), Nome, and the Arctic Circle for some other time.
The same goes with any other trip, no matter how large or small the state, region, or country, take the time to look at mileage. When fit onto one page of an atlas, Alaska doesn’t look so big. And even though Anchorage looks like only a short hop to Denali, it’s a two and a half hour drive, and once you get there, you’re looking at anywhere from all day (and a long one at that) to several days in the park to explore its entirety. So I can’t stress enough that planning a practical itinerary ahead of time is going to minimize the research and headaches once you’re there.
Once you know the location and the amount of time you have to spend there, get a few guidebooks to use as reference. Mainstream guidebooks are not usually good sources of disability information, and the ones that do have accessibility information are usually wrong or semi-wrong unless the book has been specifically designed and written for someone in a wheelchair (see list of guidebooks and authors below). But nonetheless guidebooks are great for phone numbers, websites, ideas, and maps. You can do most of your research online these days, but having something in front of you to read both before and during your trip is beneficial for ideas and further information. Choose from Frommers, Fodors, Rick Steves, Travel Smart, or Lonely Planet and get started.
Now you’re ready to book your plane tickets. This is a whole different topic and deserves its own article (see Secrets of Airline Travel). But to keep this simple, remember to ask for all your special needs and have them put in your record, make sure to break your wheelchair down as far as it goes to minimize damage, and make sure you know your rights: www.faa.gov.
Once your dates are set in stone, you’re ready to jump into what should be weeks or more of research. For lodging research, decide if you want convenient, conventional, quaint or exceptional. Convenient and conventional would be the chain hotels that you’re already familiar with ahead of time such as Sheraton, Holiday Inn, and Marriott that have an international name with a set percentage of ADA hotel rooms in each hotel. This option allows for minimal research, albeit still needing a follow up call because many hotels in these chains are privately or franchised-owned.
Questions to ask at the hotel: Roll in shower? Height of the bed? Size of the bed? (Many ADA rooms only have one bed because of space requirements and you can often get stuck with one double bed in your room.) Other questions would be regarding amenities: Is the pool accessible with a ramp or lift and is there a nearby bathroom? Is the beachfront accessed by ramp or stairs? Does the restaurant serve breakfast and is it accessible? Is the ADA room on the ground floor? Many hotel employees will say their hotel is accessible, but are ignorant to the small details that people with disabilities actually need. Asking as many questions as possible not only educates you on their facility, but will educate the staff of individual needs and questions.
If you want the quaint option, stay in a Bed and Breakfast. Finding one that’s accessible is harder because they are often in private homes, but it’s not impossible. We found four in Alaska and three in Hawaii (there’s even a writer out there that specializes in this -see sidebar), and many businesses are beginning to put this information (such as the universal wheelchair symbol) on their Web site online. Searching online should make your research a little easier (I usually start with a city name, the word “bed and breakfast” and “accessible” in my search). You will probably spend quite a bit of time searching, but boy are the breakfasts worth it! Not to mention the valuable first-hand advice you receive from the locals who own the B & B’s.
The exceptional option would be a hotel that you know is 100% accessible across the board, therefore not needing any call whatsoever. So far there is only one company team that can boast this, Microtel and their upscale version, Hawthorne Suites. But as this industry improves and changes, keep an eye out for more companies that will follow this lead.
Once you’ve found your lodging, then start diving into your activities and inter-region transportation. Will you rent a car and go the scenic-drives-route or can you take a bus or the train to see this region? Do you need ferry trips to explore nearby islands? Do you want to take a helicopter ride over the volcano or other areas not accessible by wheelchair? If you decide not to rent a car or van with hand controls (now available almost anywhere), all of the other options will need to be asked some of the following questions: is there a wheelchair ramp to the boat? Are there wheelchair seats on the train or boat? Does the bus have a working and recently-serviced lift? Is there someone to help you into the plane for a flight seeing trip if there isn’t a lift? Furthermore, are there discounts for travelers with disabilities for these options? Usually there are, and this might make a difference in your budget!
To add a little additional sight seeing to your trip, find parks, museums, castles, restaurants, and other local highlights in the area that augment that ferry, helicopter, or train ride at the end of the line. Call ahead for their accessibility and possible discounts.
Additional research on local activity providers will often uncover companies that are either willing to adapt their equipment or already have experience in handling people with disabilities. You can also search for adaptive programs in the area that can point you in the right direction. Options will vary; for instance, most rafting companies in Colorado have adaptive experience, but I only found one in all of Alaska that would take someone in a wheelchair. Some providers will fear liability, while others will have a friend in a wheelchair that they’ve taken out on the water or into the woods and have some exciting new adaptations to try. Some activities that are easy to adapt include sea kayaking, rafting, jeeping (4-wheeling), hot air ballooning, flight seeing, and short hikes around parks. Activities that take special equipment and preparation are horseback riding, sailing, atv-ing, and golfing. But with a little research, some or even all of these activities can be found in any region.
Once you feel like you’ve made enough phone calls and have gotten all your questions answered, spend the last week before your trip brainstorming one last time. Go over your notes, track your miles on your itinerary, double check your flights and airline special-needs, and flip through those guidebooks once more. Print out any maps you don’t have, pick up maps at AAA, or dog-ear them in your guidebooks. Check the weather and make sure you bring the right gear to make traveling easier. Make a packing list of your necessary items, and cross them off when you pack. Don’t forget to bring your notes and the names of people you spoke to on the phone. If you can’t think of anything else, you’re ready, but make notes on the road while you’re there. If you do run into something you hadn’t thought of ahead of time, write it down for next time.
My last bit of advice is to be polite if you run into obstacles, and again, don’t be afraid to ask for help if you want to try something or go somewhere that seems inaccessible. Do yourself a favor and be flexible. This is advice I carried over from my travel agent experience that every traveler no matter their ability needs to bring with them: Patience. Traveling is not all about the itinerary; it’s about the experience when you’re there. And if you taint the experience with high expectations of perfection and anger at the lack of it when problems arise, you’ll miss the experience entirely. Take pictures of the regional flowers, talk to as many travelers and residents as possible, breathe in the local air, and smile when you need a little help. If you’ve forgotten something, make it a lesson for next time. If you’ve over-planned, remove an activity and rest for a day. This vacation is yours, so make it so!
When automatic ATVs aren’t available, ask for a “Rhino” vehicle for the tour and explore the area! (Kauai, Hawaii)
Guidebooks for people with disabilities:
Access Anything: Colorado and Access Anything: I Can Do That
Candy Harrington’s Barrier Free Travel: A Nuts and Bolts Guide for Wheelers and Slow Walkers and There is Room at the Inn: Inns and B&Bs for Wheelers and Slow Walkers
Costal Conservancy Publications’ A Wheelchair Rider’s Guide: Los Angeles and Orange County Coast and A Wheelchair Rider’s Guide: San Francisco Bay and the Nearby Coast
Fodor’s Great American Vacations for Travelers with Disabilities (somewhat outdated)
Rick Steves’ Easy Access Europe: A Guide for Travelers with Limited Mobility
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