Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Travel

Planning a trip when one of your party is wheelchair confined is such a pain in the butt. In July LD, I, Munchkin, and LD's family are going on a trip to Disney and then catching the Disney Cruise. We were all very excited about this until we started planning the excursions for when the boat docked. Almost everything is not suitable for electric wheelchairs. To make matters worse we were informed that LD may not even be able to get off the boat in the Bahamas.

We are now debating canceling the cruise even though I would love to go, I would not feel right being able to do all the fun stuff while LD is confined to the boat.

We have run into many different problems when trying to plan trips. We have to be sure that the bathroom we get is a roll-in shower. Even after confirming this with hotel staff we have been given rooms with a bathtub. So LD is left to take sponge baths.

Flying is also tricky. LD has to be transferred from his chair to an aisle chair, which is just a very skinny wheelchair. After this he has to maneuver himself in to the airplane seat. This is complicated by a non-movable armrest. While this is all being done his chair is being transported to the luggage storage in the plane or at least we hope. In previous years LD has said that his chair has been damaged in the transfer. The airline pays for the damages, but it is inconvenient for him to be without a chair. Thankfully the only damages have been to the fabric and are not major.

Most places in the United States are handicap accessible because there are laws and regulations, but flying out side of the US there are no guarantees.

All of these things are making our decision on where to take our honeymoon difficult. I have googled many things that have been helpful. I would love to go somewhere warm and sandy, but that is not the most ideal thing for LD. He would sink on the beach. Although he has said that they do make beach wheelchairs, but if I was him sitting in a hot chair while watching people swim in the ocean does not sound fun to me.

He wants to stay in a cabin or a wilderness lodge. That is fine with me, but then we run into the problems of there not being much to do or the weather being cold.

However I think I have found a solution yesterday. I was doing some more with google and came across Gimp on the Go. It is a website where the editor is in a electric wheelchair and he and others have written stories on what travel places are good for disabled people. The website is very informative. I love it and am so happy that I found it.

On the website he describes a trip to Hawaii and from what he wrote it sounds as if there was tons of stuff for him to do. So now all I have to do is convince LD that is where he wants to go. Wish me luck.

7 comments:

Slackermommy said...

I'm sorry but the title Gimponthego cracks me up. Hawaii would be an awesome hoenymoon! I'm really shocked that the world isn't more wheelchair accessible.

Lisa said...

Gimp on the Go. That is so funny. The creator behind that obviously has a pretty good sense of humor about his situation.

While reading this, I was thinking, "You definitely don't want to go to Mexico and especially to the place we went last year". I just remember seeing so many safety hazards (like with steps) and being amazed that with all of the tourists, they'd be more accommodating and safety conscious.

Jaelithe said...

When I first got out of college, I worked for about six months for a non-profit that did a lot of work with people with disabilities, and it gave me a whole new perspective on how difficult it is to get around in a wheelchair. (Try finding a place for a group to perform plays about disability acceptance when your performance group consists of people whose disabilities partial paralysis, quad paralysis, MS, blindness, deafness, and Downs, and the performance space has to be accessible to all of them, and has to have accessible seating in the audience. And then find five more places to perform for the rest of the season. Holy cannoli.)

I really hope you can find a honeymoon destination where you'll BOTH have fun. I mean, other than the obvious fun which can be had just about anywhere ;)

Michelle said...

Hawaii is gorgeous! Both of you would love it.

weatherchazer said...

Hawaii for a honeymoon...sounds like bliss to me! Good luck convincing LD.

Anonymous said...

Shoot, show LD some pictures of all that Hawaii has to offer and he'll be begging you to make that the destination!

Good luck Reba!

tiffany said...

what a struggle...i'm sure it will be more than worth it in the end. especially in hawaii! 'do you have a specific island or place to stay in mind?
i've been there quite a few times if you want help picking between one place or another.
theough it sounds like you've found a pretty great resource already.

thank god for the internet!

p.s.
thanks for the bday wishes.