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.

Some Fine Women and a little sweetnees

Over the weekend I got to meet some great St. Louis Bloggers. I had a great time sitting and chatting with Lisa, Jaelithe, Michelle, Linlee, Kristie, and Raquita.

I didn't bring a camera, so if you are interested in seeing pictures click on over to Lisa, Linlee, or Kristie. I can't wait to do it again!



*********************

On another note here is a conversation that Munchkin had with his 3 year old cousin this weekend.

Cousin: Where is your dad?

Munchkin: Over there. (pointing to LD)

Cousin: Where is your mom?

Munchkin: Shopping.

This is the second time Munchkin has referred to LD as his father and it is such a relief to me. It lets me know that Munchkin is okay with my future wedding and that he is already considering LD his father.