Holidays From a Chair - A Different Perspective by Trevor Herdman
When Richard Branson was trying to fly round the world in a balloon, a disabled friend of mine said "If he's so desperate for thrills, he should try using a wheelchair for a week. I get that kind of excitement every time I try to cross the road!"
Maybe that was a little exaggerated, but I knew what he meant. As a wheelchair user of some 30+ years, I've had to live in a world that was less than perfect when it came to meeting my needs. I'm not talking about the outer reaches of Mongolia either; I'm talking about the UK. At least things here have been improving. The same, however, can't be said for most of the rest of the world and there's nothing like the annual holiday to bring this into sharp focus.
Whilst many 'Responsible Travellers' are contemplating a trip to the depths of the Amazon rainforest or the top of the Himalayas, I'm dreaming of wheeling along the front at Benidorm!
Breathing in the aroma of fish and chips, tasting a pint of real (well perhaps not real) English beer and looking forward to a night of clubbing and excess – just like the rest of the Brits. Now I know this probably wouldn't be your dream, and to tell the truth it isn't really mine either. But finding accommodation that meets my needs, or the needs of any disabled traveller, seems as difficult as finding clean underwear in a male student's flat! It's so fraught with problems that taking a package holiday to Spain or Greece still remains a dream for most of us.
I'd tried to arrange holidays abroad on numerous occasions over the years without success. My wife and I wanted hotel accommodation rather than self-catering, but travel agents never had any information worth mentioning about access and facilities. It seemed neither they, nor any of the travel companies, had much interest in the needs of those of with mobility problems. After going through the motions, their responses were always the same "Have you tried a specialist travel agent?" Now I have nothing against specialist agencies. I just don't see why mainstream companies can't provide me with the information I need.
With all this in mind, I began looking again at the beginning of 2001. This is the story of my quest to find a suitable holiday from a mainstream travel company armed only with the brain in my head. A frightening thought! It's a combination of 3 trips to the same hotel in the same resort.
I was aware that many companies now had 'Special Needs' sections, so I decided to give them a ring. I had a short but crucial list of requirements. I needed to be able to get into and around the hotel, so no steps, or ramps and lifts to avoid them. Any doors I needed to use to be at least 700mm (28 inches in old money). The bathroom to have enough space to accommodate my wheelchair including next to the toilet. Most important of all, there should be a horizontal handrail next to the toilet to enable me to transfer onto it. So how did they do? Er, well, "Have you tried a specialist travel agent sir?" Well that's not entirely true. Virgin were able to provide me with some very useful information and I was able to identify a few hotels that appeared to fit the bill. My next step was to pay a visit to a local travel agent and see who could give me the best deal. To be honest in terms of overall appearance, one hotel was head and shoulders above the rest. The Los Jameos Playa in Lanzarote was designed by the island's most famous artist (surely that should be only artist), Cesar Manrique. Unfortunately it was also a 4 star and an expensive one at that. However, we'd had so few good holidays that we decided to go for it.
The travel agent I chose was Thomas Cook, and I'm pleased to say it turned out to be a good choice. In fact I was so pleased I booked the with them in both the following 2 years. They were very helpful. They clarified a few details for me, which included ringing the hotel, and took care of all the necessary arrangements regarding the airport and transfers. As it happened, the best deal was with Virgin, although in subsequent years we travelled with JMC. It included front seats on the plane (something, which I realised afterwards, was very important, especially when you're over 6 feet tall as I am) and taxi transfers (I'd wondered how they would get me on a coach). So, 3 months later, we were on our way.
The first problem you face if you can't walk, or have limited mobility, is how do you get on the plane? Most UK airports are well organised these days. They have good access, adapted toilets and even wheelchairs for use in the airport if you need one. Most, certainly all the main airports, have vehicles that lift wheelchair users onto the plane. True, I've shared them with the airline food in the past, but they are effective and more dignified than being lifted up the stairs in an aisle chair. The aisle chair is indispensable once you're on the plane however. From there it's into your seat. For me these last two manoeuvres require the assistance of the airport staff. This can be a hair-raising experience, even if you're follicley challenged like myself! One slip and I could end up on the floor, take some skin off my rear end and face several weeks in hospital whilst it heals. Not an attractive proposition. And despite what you might have read recently, hospital food still has room for improvement. Fortunately I've not had any problems so far but it is an area that causes me concern. And what about Arrecife airport? They do have a vehicle but in the 3 times I've been there I've also been lifted on and off.
Next up is the hotel transfer. As I mentioned earlier coaches are not really an option for me. As I cannot walk at all I'd need a coach with a lift, and there are precious few in the UK let alone Lanzarote. Similarly I could have hired a car, but my wife doesn't drive and I'd need one with hand controls. So a taxi transfer is the only real option. Now surprisingly there has been a big improvement here. Two years ago vehicles with lifts and ramps were brought to island for use as taxis and school runs. This year I asked the travel agent if I could have one of these rather than being bundled into the first available taxi on the rank and they arranged it.
The information I'd been given on the Jameos Playa was more or less correct, but there were some important differences. First of all the ramped entrance was too steep for me to push up unaided, although the beach entrance at the end of the grounds was level. The biggest difference though was in the bathroom. We had been allocated the hotel's adapted room (yes, there was only one). It had, we were told, wider doors and grab rails around the toilet and bath, and it had. However, the grab rails were vertical, not horizontal. Fine for someone who needed to pull themselves up to their feet, but completely useless for someone like me. On top of that, the bath was sunken. Again, a plus for those who could walk a little, but a complete no-no for me. I could get by without the bath, but not the toilet. It could have spelt disaster for us, but in a rare flash of inspiration, I came up with an idea that saved the day. By wedging a small suitcase in between the toilet and the wall, I was able to create a substitute handrail. Brilliant, I hear you cry. Well perhaps I don't, but believe me we couldn't have been happier if we'd have been upgraded to an executive suite without being charged.
After that, the holiday was a big success. But why should I have to put up with inadequate facilities? And, more importantly, why do I? Why don't I simply go somewhere else? Well this is where we came in. There just aren't many accessible properties about. Or at least travel companies don't have any information about the access and facilities of the properties they use. Why is this? Surely they could collect this sort of information, it's not rocket science after all. My friend and work colleague John Howarth used to ask these questions every time we tried to arrange our holidays. John is an amputee and has different access needs to me. He can manage a short set of stairs, but really wants a hotel with either a ground floor room or a lift. The area immediately surrounding the property is just as important. He, like me, wants somewhere without hills. Preferably flat. So after many years of whinging, we decided to do something about it.
On 1 July 2002 we launched Abletogo, an accommodation website aimed specifically at people with mobility difficulties such as elderly and disabled people. Abletogo is unique because it allows users to search for the facilities that are important to them and have the results ranked in order of those properties that best fit their needs. In March we were received the 'Excellence in Trade Use of the Internet' Travel & Tourism Web Award for Innovation 2003. The award was presented to us at the British Travel Trade Fair at the N.E.C. in Birmingham on Wednesday 26 March 2003. Almost as soon as we launched abletogo.com we received requests for other services from our members. So in January of 2003 we launched a second site, Abletogo Travel & Lifestyle. This was in response to requests has given us the opportunity to offer our users much more such as accessible holidays, travel related articles, advice, equipment and so forth.
Currently we attract 12,000 visitors a month and have over 5000 members, vindicating our belief that there is a desperate need for this type of information. We know that we have only begun to scratch the surface and can see abletogo developing into other fields in the future. But for now, there's plenty to keep us occupied!
Trevor Herdman, Abletogo. Email: trevor.herdman@abletogo.biz
Interested? Check out our
disabled travel holidays.
