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  • What are the most accessible destinations you’ve visited?

    Posted by alyssa-silva on June 26, 2023 at 12:10 pm

    I have always loved traveling and experiencing new cultures, especially when the weather starts to get warmer! Living in the northeast, I’m all set with visiting cold and snowy destinations. 😂 But I am always curious to hear about the most inclusive destinations my fellow wheelchair users have explored. 

    What are the most accessible places you’ve had the opportunity to visit?

    micaela-macdougall replied 1 year, 3 months ago 4 Members · 8 Replies
  • 8 Replies
  • deann-r

    Member
    June 27, 2023 at 11:08 am

    As you might know I’m not a huge traveler. One cool spot here in Minnesota that I visited several years ago was Mystery Cave in Forestville. They actually had an elevator to get down into the cave and paved paths through the cave. Only one area wasn’t accessible as there was a narrow path you had to climb that overlooked a reflecting pool. Otherwise I was pretty impressed. What’s your favorite accessible destination?

    • alyssa-silva

      Member
      June 28, 2023 at 6:35 pm

      I haven’t been out of the country much other than Portugal which was not very accessible. But as far as the US goes, I was surprised to find Fort Lauderdale super accessible. Aside from buildings, there were wheelchair taxis within a 5-minute radius. I thought it was just a Florida thing and scheduled a trip to St. Pete Beach on the opposite coast a few months later. I was so wrong haha. Getting a wheelchair taxi was a nightmare. But I wonder if it’s better now. This was going back 7 years ago.

  • patrick-lenihan

    Member
    June 27, 2023 at 10:31 pm

    Las Vegas is probably the most accessible place I have visited. Although it really isn’t my cup of tea, I do recommend that everyone go there once in their lifetime just to experience the spectacle of the place. My favorite accessible vacation was a cruise on 100 foot retrofitted WW2 mine sweeper in Glacier Bay Alaska. Although the boat isn’t ADA compliant, you can get an average sized chair into a few of the cabins and into the head. They hooked a hoyer sling onto the davit and lowered me into a tandem sea Kayak every day. It was awesome. Check out Sea Wolf Adventures to learn more about it. You can also check out a video on my youtube channel that I made of my adventure.

  • micaela-macdougall

    Member
    June 29, 2023 at 3:33 pm

    I’ve had the privilege of traveling to Europe a few times and always found it surprisingly accessible, especially the UK. Websites are more likely to have detailed accessibility info. Attractions usually offer free entry for carers. Public transport is very accessible – on trains, wheelchair spaces are often in first class, so I get first class amenities for standard class prices. Every single black cab in London is a WAV, so it is the only city in the world where I can hail a taxi from the street. There’s just an overall attitude that accessibility is a priority, not an afterthought, at least more than the US, in my experience.

  • alyssa-silva

    Member
    July 2, 2023 at 10:08 pm

    That sounds amazing. Now only if the US would follow suit. Are there any other European cities you found to be accessible?

    • micaela-macdougall

      Member
      July 6, 2023 at 7:02 pm

      Most of them are pretty good, especially the further north you go. Most
      places in the UK are fantastic. Paris has a great bus system. Rome
      and Florence were a little trickier with all the cobblestones, but I
      ended up rolling in the street and the drivers there are so used to not
      following rules that they were totally cool with it.

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