Our Europe Vacation with a Power Scooter
Summary:
Camille & I traveled from Florida, USA to Europe in December 2010 to January 2011.
We traveled from Parrish, FL., with Delta, to Atlanta, GA., then to Barcelona, Spain. There we boarded RCCL Brilliance of the Seas for a 12 night cruise.
Ports visited: Palermo, Sicily; Athens & Rhodes Greece; Alexandra /Cairo Egypt; and Valletta, Malta. When we returned to Barcelona, we flew to Paris, France on Vueling Air for a 3 day visit then flew Delta back to Atlanta and Parrish.
Details:
My disability:
I have polymyositis so I have limited ability to walk, use stairs, and stand from sitting position.
We traveled with a Pride Revo travel scooter, a walker, and an Up Easy assist seat.
The Revo was excellent (with my wife’s assistance to disassemble / reassemble). It disassembles into 5 pieces in less than a minute and easily fits in a trunk or back of a minivan. It also has large batteries for an advertised range of about 20 miles.
The walker was handy for transporting carryon luggage and for short walks. The UP Easy worked great in airline seats, in the walker, dinner on the cruise, etc.
Travel from Parrish, FL., with Delta, to Atlanta, GA., then to Barcelona, Spain.
We flew from Sarasota-Bradenton airport on Delta. We were allowed to “gate check” the scooter and walker (required if requested in the USA I'm told) so they were available for the layover in Atlanta. The flight to Atlanta was normal; the one to Barcelona was the worst I've flown due to the flight crew. For 4 to 5 hours toward the end of the flight we did not see or could not call a flight attendant.
We stayed at the Medinaceli Hotel in Barcelona which was very nice. We did not get a handicapped room but our room had room for the scooter. We went for a walk around the hotel our first evening. This was in the La Rambla, Columbus Monument, and waterfront area. We found Barcelona pretty much free of barriers. A fellow we met told us he moved from Mexico to Barcelona because it is one of the most accessible cities in the world. The taxi we picked up at the airport was a small minivan which worked great with the Revo scooter broken down. The taxis are regulated and there is no extra charge for disabled taxis. They have minivans and taxis with ramps.
RCCL Brilliance of the Seas
Excellent!! We had a handicapped balcony room on deck 7, lots of room, barrier free even to balcony, automatic cabin door. The toilet was a little low for me, but they supplied a plastic seat extender upon request. Ship was barrier free and staff was more than willing to offer help. We chose the late seating for dinner and shared a table with four wonderful couples. Only problem (and not RCCL's fault): I parked the scooter in an out of the way cubby hole outside of the formal dining room and used the walker to get to the table. Around the 6th night returned to the scooter and found that the key was gone. I believe someone took the scooter for a joy ride, returned it to the cubby, and removed the key from the lanyard it was hooked to. Luckily, I had brought a couple spare keys. Watch out for the gangways leaving and reentering the ship. They can be steep but crew is there to help if needed. One thing we liked about this cruise was in all the ports we were docked, and we did not have to deal with tenders (small transport boats) to transport us to shore.
Palermo, Sicily (Italy)
Not at all accessible. There were very few ramps on & off sidewalks to cross streets, and if they existed, they were usually blocked by parked cars. I spent most of the time running in the streets with the heavy traffic. We made it one mile to the cathedral which was accessible. After touring the cathedral, we caught a cab back to the ship rather than try to fight the sidewalks on my scooter.
Athens, Greece
We hired Athens Taxi for a 5 hour tour. Driver John was great (www.athens-taxi.org). The taxi was a Mercedes E class and easily accepted the disassembled scooter. Before our trip, I had read that the lift at the Acropolis is troubled with breakdowns. We arrived there at opening time before the crowds started to arrive. There was no admission charge that day (free on Sundays) but spent 1.25 hours on sitting on lift before they got it working. It was a rainy day, and that effects the operation of the first section of the lift. I told them I had been to the top 40 years ago and since it is 5000 years old I didn't it had changed much. I told them I'd wait at the bottom while my wife climbed to the top. The folks there were determined to get the lift fixed and get me to the top, and they did. The Acropolis has a gravel road around parts of it, but many areas used by tourists are not accessible. After leaving the Acropolis, we stayed in the taxi for a driving tour. Biggest problem in Athens was accessible restrooms (and a problem in every port). Driver took us to a hotel; it had a few small steps, but it was doable.
Rhodes, Greece
A very nice city, roads and sidewalks were generally accessible. Again, restrooms were a challenge.
Alexandra, Egypt
We hired a private minivan with driver and tour guide for a 12 hour tour to Cairo and the pyramids from Memphis Tours (www.memphistours.com). Excellent!! My review at Trip Advisor:
“We used Memphis Tours on Jan. 2, 2011 for a 12 hour trip from RCCL cruise in Alexandra to Cairo, Egypt. We booked this private tour ourselves instead of going thru RCCL. It was a lot less complicated process and the cost was quite a bit less. Mohamed was exceptional in working out the details, especially working with my disability and power scooter. They supplied a minivan that was very good. Our tour guide was Sahl and the driver was Khalid. Both were excellent! Sahl was extremely knowledgeable, and had a wonderful personality and way of presenting information. Khalid was also a great guy; I told him he was about the best driver I had ever seen (if you have been to Cairo you know what I mean). Both were more than helpful especially when dealing with the power scooter. When Camille was on the camel ride, since I could not go Sahl rode another camel so she would not be alone! We would highly recommend this tour. The pyramids are like the Grand Canyon, no matter how many pictures you have seen they don’t compare to being there. Don’t miss the 4x4 ride!”
Valletta, Malta
My favorite city in Europe! I could not remember why (I was there 40 years ago,) but as soon as we entered the harbor I remembered. We only had about 6 hours to tour, so we used a hop on, hop off bus that was accessible. I would have liked a little more time. The part of the city we were in with the scooter was accessible, but that was a small section of town, just enough to catch the bus. A couple we met on the ship (she was in a wheelchair) said they were stopped by steps right off the bat and returned to the ship.
Flight from Barcelona to Paris
We used Vueling (sounds like Welling) air. Had to check the scooter at check in but was supplied with a manual wheelchair and attendant. One good thing about being handicapped, front of the line everywhere! Good flight.
Paris
Found the city very accessible. We walked (rode) or used public busses most of the time. We followed Rick Steve's suggestion and toured city on the route #69 bus, accessible, and very inexpensive. Major items toured: Notre Dame (accessible, enter thru the exit), Eiffel Tower (accessible, reduced admission, front of the line) and the Louvre (accessible, free admission). We stayed at the Grand Hotel Du Paris Royal near the Louvre. The location made access to the Louvre and cafes very convenient. Like most of Paris, there were café’s everywhere. We had to search for ones that were accessible, especially to sit inside. Most had outside seating even in the winter, some with plastic enclosures and space heaters. We understand, however, that smokers sit outside. During the winter it was uncrowded, and it was not a problem for us. Finding a place to eat was not too difficult, but the restaurant rest rooms were usually down a small staircase on a lower floor. I think other areas of Paris may offer more selection for cafes, shops, etc. We did not get a handicapped room (1st floor) opting instead for a view and queen bed. Although the room was small, the bath was large enough to park the scooter. In hindsight, a handicapped room would have been much more useful than the small window overlooking Paris roof tops. We probably would get the larger handicapped room next time. On our last night, we hired a taxi for a 1 hour night tour (per Rick Steves’ tour book recommendation). It was a great tour of the City of Lights and grand finale of our trip. We had the driver stop a bakery where we got a wonderful selection of pastry that we took back to the room for my birthday cake.
Recommendations & Challenges for disabled:
If you are in a power chair, take a travel chair that breaks down easily. That way you can use most taxis and do not need van /ramp. It’s always good to travel with a companion, especially if you can’t handle the chair yourself (they also get front of the line privileges and reduced /free admissions). Every taxi driver we used, however, was more than willing to work with the chair. If you plan to do a lot of walking (riding) tours, get the large batteries.
If you have trouble getting out of low, narrow chairs I recommend Easy Up (http://www.wheelchairselect.com/Uplift-Technologies-6273949953-ULF1023.html?cv=) $83, no shipping. Works great and was allowed on all five airline flights without question. I keep mine on the walker seat.
Choose a cruise where the ship docks at shore vs. one that anchors out and transports passengers to shore by tenders.
Accessible restrooms are scarce about everywhere we went off the ship. The best still required a few steps. Don’t have a solution, maybe next time Depends. Will also investigate inflatable toilet seat extenders.
Don’t stay home, TRAVEL!
Have fun,
Ray & Camille Lesoine
We can be contacted on Facebook.
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” Mark Twain
Some links we used for accessible info when planning the trip (and a couple just for kicks):
http://barrierfreetravel.net/sample.php
http://www.motorboating.com/article/Features/Doing-the-Loop---Our-Way Magazine article on our 2002 – 2003 cruise
