Jenny I’ve been struggling a bit lately and realise that my most recent blog posts have been a bit doom and gloom. I’m not normally such a complainer at least not in public.
But something that cheers me up no end is planning a trip. I love travelling and seeing new places. My favourite memories involve exploring cities and countries, Thailand with Hubs being a highlight – with backpacks on our backs and no agenda, we decided day to day where we wanted to go and what we wanted to do. Also New York with my sis; hours and hours traipsing around Manhattan, drinking cosmopolitans and seeing the sites.
Unfortunately MS has started to get in the way of travelling. Lack of mobility takes the spontaneity out of a trip – I have to plan, research, arrange. It takes a bit of pleasure out of the whole thing, but I’m not going to let my dodgy legs get in the way of travelling and seeing new places. Don’t get me wrong, there are some trips I just don’t bother with – Chamonix in the middle of winter was one – the kids had an ace time visiting family, skiing and ice skating. But I didn’t relish the idea of trying to drag myself or a mobility scooter/wheelchair through the snow. I just had to suck it up and put my kids first – and I ended up having a lovely few days staying with my parents whilst they were away, being waited on hand and foot.
It is Hubs’ 40th birthday coming up and I have arranged a city break for us – child free! I’m not going to say where it is, as I would like it to be a surprise, but let’s just say it is not in Britain. I had to do a lot of research around disabled access and couldn’t just look up a deal on the Internet, booking there and then. To make it easier I decided to book via a holiday company, Superbreak, and I can’t emphasis enough how fantastic they were. I explained my mobility difficulties and they took all the hassle out of arranging it all, calling up the hotel to ensure that we have an accessible room and double checking with me what I can and can’t do to make sure the journey there will be as easy as possible. Yes, Hubs will have push me around in the wheelchair whilst we are away, but isn’t that a small price to pay for us to be able to explore, just like the good old days, pre-disability?
One place I haven’t been since I have been disabled is London – I have to admit that the reported lack of accessible Tube stations and reading threads on Mumsnet about how buses tend to prioritise baby buggies over wheelchairs puts me off. But I’ll never say never – I guess that I would just have to be extra prepared and research/plan just that little bit more than usual.
For now, I am counting down the days to our city break, looking forward to sitting in cafes, beer in one hand and a guidebook in the other. And happy to know that me and Hubs can still do things we always enjoyed, albeit a little bit differently and with one of us sitting down most of the time!
