An adventure begins...

4:30 in the morning, on the 27^th of November 2010, my carer Sharon (Bless her) comes in. I am already awake sitting on my bed, nervous and excited. My schedule was extremely tight, zero tolerance, any delays of transport to Gatwick meant missing my flight and £500 down the drain. The schedule was as follows:

5:30 AM: a wheelchair accessible taxi came to my house to pick me up and drop me to Maidstone East train station. Taxi fare was £10 (normally its £7, but as it was too early in the morning it charged me 10 quid. And this was Streamline Taxis).

5:55 AM: was my train to London Victoria. It takes an hour and few minutes to reach London from Maidstone. I slept on this train and therefore forgot to buy the ticket otherwise with a disabled rail card it is £9.

7:15 AM: was my train to Gatwick from London Victoria known as Gatwick Express. It takes at least half an hour to reach Gatwick. I have a disabled rail card therefore the train ticket was for £12.

8:00 AM: had be at the check-in counter, Gatwick South terminal. And yes, I was there on time. I did it!

At around 9 o’clock in the morning I was there waiting in the huge waiting lounge at Gatwick. My flight was in an hour, I don’t think I am able to take any pictures I thought, but it was very nice there. They are all sorts of shops from various restaurants, Mc Donalds and KFC, pharmacies to book shops, boutiques to perfume shops. But now I remember why I hadn’t taken any pictures as I has to visit the lu. Well although the toilets were right there but the accessible one was occupied. I had to wait a good 25 minutes for my turn to come. Finally the toilet was vacant. I dislike visiting the lu on the air craft as they are so tiny and no privacy, plus it was just a four hour flight, I wasn’t going to Australia. After I was done with the lu I had to go toward the boarding gate which was far away, literally a 20 minute walk. And yes I did take pics and I’ll upload them on my blog.

The process to get boarded on a air-craft if wheelchair bound:

1. They ask if you can walk yourself into the plane? I always say no, because it takes centuries for me to walk and the rest of the passengers are all waiting outside as disabled passenger are always the first to be boarded and the last ones to depart the aircraft
2. Hence (after saying no) 2 people, with care, pick me up (one from under my shoulders and the other lifts my feet) and transfers me on to a aisle wheelchair (which unfortunately I do not have pictures off as I was being lifted and transferred, therefore unable to take pics). It is a very narrow wheelchair, big enough to pass through the air-craft passage ways.
3. Then I was taken into the air-craft and put right into the front seat (all is done with care, so no worries there). Here there is lots of leg room (I really don’t need it cause I am short anyway). This process is extremely safe.
4. Once again I am lifted by 2 people and gently seated. The air-hostess then helps me with the seat belt and also helps me take off my coat and hand-bag, to be kept in the over-hear luggage compartment.

This is the process of me boarding an air-craft, completely free of hazards and dangers.

When I was seated I realized the air-craft was so small. But that didn’t bother me as I was sitting right in the front and could see the cockpit. The only drawback was I was right opposite the toilet. Aaa well one can’t get everything in life, I thought.

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