Travelling the World on Wheels.: all inclusive holiday

Showing posts with label all inclusive holiday. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Honeymoon, without a Honey. (Part 1)

The flight to Fuerteventura was smooth and 4 hours long. Made friends with the old couple sitting next to me and apparently found out that they have a house in Fuerteventura and go there every year during the winters. Nice!

As I didn’t have breakfast, I was starving. After a long wait, our on-board hot lunch arrived; it was rice with curry, a glass of orange juice and a cup-cake for desert. It wasn’t very delicious or the most scrumptious meal but good enough to fill up my stomach. After this I slept for the rest of on-flight journey, in fact everyone slept. At around 2:00 in the afternoon I was awaken by an announcement, ‘we shall be reaching Fuerteventura in a few minutes. I donno what exactly is the temperature’ announced the pilot, ‘But I am sure its much warmer than back home...as you can see the sun’. He pointed out Lanzarote, Tenerife, and Spain to us from the plane the panoramic view was breath taking. He also told us that the local time of Fuerteventura is the same as UK as Fuerteventura is located on the same longitudes as UK (which was good I thought no jet-lag).

I then took out my mirror, wiped my face with a wet-wipe to freshen up, put a bit of mascara to get rid of my sleepy-eyes, dabbed on some lip-stick, brushed my hair and made sure I look decent. I was all smiles, yes, to check out the sun! Seriously as the air-craft landed, I just couldn’t stop smiling (I’ll show u the pics) I was so delighted to see the sun and the warm climate. In fact everybody coming from UK (which was almost all of them) were glad to be in a warm country.

As being on a wheelchair I was the last one to leave the aircraft (which was fine with me). Soon an aisle wheelchair was brought; I was transferred from my seat onto the aisle wheelchair and wheeled out of the aircraft. My own motorised wheelchair was waiting for me out side, then I was transferred on to my wheelchair. After showing our passport I was then to proceed towards the luggage arrival area. I just had one light suit case and the person assisting me took my luggage and we were soon outside. Oh God I just could not stop smiling, it was so warm and bright, especially from where I came from it was minus four.

Outside a Thomas Cook member of staff was waiting for me, she greeted me with a pleasant smile and guided me towards the wheelchair accessible taxi. I was soon in the taxi and on my way to Elba Sara Hotel. The roads were very clean but, due to the warm winds blowing from the Sahara Desert in Africa it was, very dusty.

Monday, December 6, 2010

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:

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
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.
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.
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.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Decisions, decisions, holiday decisions.

Its November, cold already, now the temperature is six degrees centigrade and soon its going to be minus one and even more, icy and frosty, burrrrr!

As you can tell I don’t really enjoy the cold except if I am going skiing I the snow or ice skating (if I do have the proper equipment). Now Christmas jobs as yet, no permanent jobs as yet, even my PhD at Queen Mary University of London shall begin next year September. ‘What to do? What to do?...’ I thought aloud, ‘lets check-out the sun. Brilliant idea! But where to go...as I am on a wheelchair and I am on a limited budget?’

(Figuring out wheelchair accessibility while travelling and having a limited budget can be an daunting issue. Not to worry my friend, the trick is to be persistent and not to lose hope. One has to be determined that no matter what I have to get my way through. Even if your travel agent gets annoyed with you because you call ‘em everyday to recheck and reconfirm your travel trip, which happened with me and I am glad I rechecked a million times, will tell you all about it. Because, you know what folks! At the end of the day it is your money and safety.)

It was the second week of November, cold and raining outside. It was 10 in the morning but it looked like evening already. Well it was a miserable day out there but that does not mean I should feel the same. No, no, no! Was having a warm cup of tea, sitting next to the window beside my laptop, listening to the pitter patter sounds of the raindrops hitting the ground as they tumble from the sky. Nut so thinking about the sun! ‘Affordable sunny wheelchair accessible holidays’ I googled. My search came to an unlimited number of hits. They were a few weeks trips to Egypt, South Africa, sunny California, Morocco, Australia, Sahara desert.... Wish I could go to all these expensive atleast a minimum of £700 which not only included flight tickets but also wheelchair accessible accommodation in a hotel, airport transfers, food and drinks. Well a bit too much for me as my budget was around £400 or rather the cheaper the better. The I googled for travel agents, which was a good idea. Found one http://www.personaltraveladvisors.co.uk/, well they are many out there but this is whom I consulted. You just fill out your name, number and travel detail in the online contact form. Soon a travel agent calls back who, has been assigned as your personalised advisor and provides tailor made holidays. Nice, which is just what I was looking for. She confirmed all my travel details with ‘And you said you are on a wheelchair, Miss Ahmed, and you’ll be travelling on your own?’ she asked. ‘Yes, I am a permanent wheelchair user and I’ll be travelling on my own’ I confirmed. She also asked me if I wanna go somewhere in particular and for how long approximately. I told her ‘well where ever its warm and as I’m on a limited budget of around £400 preferable or essentially rather it should be an all inclusive holiday’. After a short silence she comforted me by saying: ‘not to worry, I am sure we’ll sort something out for you’. And yes we did sort out something.

It took me two weeks to sort out an appropriate trip.

Travelling the World on Wheels.