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This was our first trip abroad since 2000. I was in much less robust physical shape. EaZyD would be working in Atlanta. We had to organise air travel, transport, accessible accommodation, equipment and carers in two cities from the UK. Easy, no?
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I discovered that air travel is not improved any by travelling in a wheelchair. In fact, there is so much to say about this that I truly cannot be bothered to go into any detail! I will say that I found it absurdly difficult to book the front row seats considering that I am totally unable to get to any other seats easily. Shouldn’t this be a no brainer? OK, mums with babies need to go in the front rows by the baby baskets but anyone else? Aren’t those who cannot stand up an equal priority? It is clearly difficult to navigate narrow aisles when you can stand, but when you have to be physically lifted in and out of a seat… is it that tricky to see the need for space? Would you ever have refused to move for a clearly physically incapacitated person? No, me neither. Why don’t they just let me book it in the first place? And, before you ask, I don’t get there ridiculously early because of the discomfort it causes me to be stuck in a wheelchair for hours. Rant over, moving on…
Transport! Oh dear! In both cities there is some wheelchair accessible public transport but with one man managing wheelchair, several bags of luggage and a walk, however brief, at each end?! This did not seem an attractive option. Alternatives?
This was not easy! In Atlanta, we ended up in a para-ambulance – the only wheelchair accessible transport we could find – at over $200 each way for a twenty minute journey! In New York, we found a more reasonably priced wheelchair taxi service using MPV’s – like a Chrysler Grand Voyager – but it was really hard work to get hold of them. In both cities, we felt constrained by the absence of easily accessible door-to-door transport. Spontaneity is a bit tricky when you have to give 48 hours notice for a cab! We did a lot of walking.
Accommodation? In Atlanta, EaZyD’s firm use the Four Seasons, so, they were our first point of contact and, would you believe, they were really cool:
- Accessible accommodation – no problem.
- Equipment – having established that what we call a hoist is known as a lift (Hoyer is the common brand name used) in the US, they sourced me a contact to hire from – no problem.
- Carers – ditto with the contact, no problem with the service.
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