by John Towler; Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
My wife, Lorna, and I are especially attuned to the needs of disabled travelers, as we both have family members with special needs. My father was a diabetic for most of his life, and, as a professor of Psychology, I have frequently worked with the disabled.
Bavaria’s tourism board now lists on its website more than 30 certified-accessible hotels throughout the region and more than 40 sights and trips suitable for people with limited mobility (www.bavaria.by/accessible-tourism).
Each listing includes detailed descriptions (e.g., on the Forest Tree-Top Walk in St. Englmar, a 2-kilometer elevated walkway, there are no steps or obstacles — ideal for wheelchairs and pushchairs).
For mobility-impaired visitors to Jerusalem’s Old City, a brochure on self-guided tours is available from the Israel Ministry of Tourism.
The tours are titled “From Jaffa Gate to Zion Gate,” “The Jewish Quarter,” “The Temple Mount Compound,” “The Via Dolorosa” and “Jerusalem in the Second Temple Period.” The tours cover five to ten points of interest each and can be completed in a few hours, depending on pace.
In the article “Things To Do Before You Cruise,” in his August ’13 “The Cruising World” column, Lew Toulmin recommended prebooking ships’ excursions before sailing. I completely agree.
As a partially mobility-impaired traveler who uses a Rollator-style walker, I always book my shore tours ahead. When I board the ship, my excursion tickets are either waiting in my cabin or arrive shortly.
In June 2012, I slowly chauffeured our leased Peugeot on a one-lane road through the majestic scenery of the Provence in southern France. As I drove, I thought I should share with ITN readers how my wife, Flory (who passed away last year), and I journeyed 4,000 miles by car from the Netherlands to the Côte d’Azur and back, all at the age of 87.
Despite our difficulty walking and Flory’s needing to use a rollator, a 4-wheeled walker, which usually has a platform on which you can sit, we managed a wonderful trip.
Dear Globetrotter:
Welcome to the 448th issue of your monthly foreign-travel magazine.
Dear Globetrotter:
In June’s “Boarding Pass,” on page 121, Carol Vorchheimer’s plea for handicapped-accessible-travel outfits struck a note with us.
• Yes, shore excursions on cruises can be a problem (as we found on our April ’04 trip in Brazil), but the America West Steamboat Company (2101 Fourth Ave., Ste. 1150, Seattle, WA 98121; phone 800/434-1232) was so great in Alaska last year, we planned a trip with them on the Columbia River this summer.
As long as I’ve been writing, my passion has been to make Europe accessible. I’ve focused on economic accessibility (you don’t need to be rich to travel) and intellectual accessibility (you don’t need to be a scholar to enjoy Europe’s history and art). But I also want to make Europe physically accessible for slow walkers and wheelchairs users.
With this in mind, I teamed up with Dr. Ken Plattner to write “Rick Steves’ Easy Access Europe,” a guidebook on London, Paris, Bruges, Amsterdam and the Rhine for travelers with limited mobility.
A subscriber asked readers for suggestions regarding appropriate amounts to tip wheelchair attendants in airports. Responses are shown below.