great takes on family travel in the U.S.

From guest blogger, Craig Grimes, of AccessibleBarcelona.

Planning an Accessible Trip

The first part of any vacation or trip for anyone, regardless of if they have a disability or not, is planning and it is the initial step to accomplishing your goal. The planning stage of the trip is especially important for disabled people as through good planning many problems and issues can be avoided right from the start, leaving the individual to relax and enjoy their time away from home.

Destination Choice

With so many fantastic and interesting places to visit in the world, how do you chose your destination? Accessibility of places may play a large role in the decision you make about where you would like to go and it varies in different ways from continent to continent, country to country and even city to city. The only definite fact is that adjustments are going to have to be made and you will not be as comfortable as you would be in your home environment. Everyone makes this sacrifice when traveling; it’s all part of the experience.

On a global scale areas can be put into three very general categories:

1. A variety of establishments with facilities for the disabled: USA, Canada, Northern Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
2. Some establishments with facilities for the disabled: Southern and Eastern Europe.
3. Very few establishments with facilities for the disabled: Latin America, Asia and Africa.

When referring to “establishments” this is not only accommodation but also tourist attractions such as national monuments, museums, other sights of interest and also accessible transport.

For the gung-ho disabled traveler, access may not be an issue at all and you may be willing to put up with any conditions and take all the help you can get in order to visit exactly what you want to see regardless of the difficulties.

A great way of getting ideas for your next vacation is by browsing through other disabled travelers blogs, web sites of specialist travel agents and other organizations that provide information relating to inclusive travel for all. Here are a few to get you started:

Travel Blogs by Disabled People and their Families

NZ on Wheelsis a blog about access and travel in New Zealand and Australia.
Both Barrier Free TravelsGet Around Guideby Darren Hillcock give useful ideas for vacations in various locations.
Accessible Everything by Craig Grimes gives an insight into traveling Europe and Latin America.
Gimp on the Go by Andrew Lloyd has reviews of traveling all over the world, a great resource.
Rolling Rains Report by Scott Rains is about Universal Design and Inclusive Travel providing many useful links and information.
Disabled Travelers A travel blog and website all rolled into one by Jeremy Rynders.

Specialist Travel Agents

Holidays For All is a group of travel agents and charities the specialize in vacations mainly in Europe for disabled people.
Can be Done has a great search engine for looking up accessible hotels mainly in Europe and the USA as does AccessAtLast.

Other Organizations

Global Access News has disabled contributors from around the world that share their experiences of traveling.
Accessible Adventures is a web page about safaris for disabled people by Gordon Rattray and it also includes a world map with links to other web sites. A great site for unconventional vacations for the disabled.
E-bility gives lots of ideas fro traveling in Australia.
MAKOA – “disability information and resources” gives hundreds of links to different travel web sites across the world.
Access Able provides world wide travel resources

Next up, Part II: Getting to the Destination

Do you have any tips to share about planning disabled travel? Please share!