Travelling the World on Wheels.: wheel chair

Showing posts with label wheel chair. Show all posts

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Hello, hello Karachi. 

I did reach on Saturday afternoon and as soon as I got seated in the car with my parents, to our way home in Karachi I called both of my Grand-Mothers (my Dad’s Mom and my Mum’s Mum) first from my Father’s mobile. My Dad’s Mum said she’ll come late in the afternoon as she had to visit a relative and my Mum’s Mom was free so we picked her up on our way home. I also called up Sana (my oldest friend best-(eeest) friend from school) who never received the phone! L And then my friend Farheen, who is a doctor who was delighted to receive my call. And this blog post is going to be all about her, Dr. Farheen Saleem and how I spent the first Monday, 7^th of February 2011 with her. X

Monday morning it was, Farheen had already booked an appointment with ‘Sabz’ (beauty salon) a week before, she picked me up from my house at around 10am. The salon itself is not wheelchair accessible (it has 4 steps at the entrance) but the owner and everyone else over there are very helpful and cooperative. They lifted my wheelchair up and took me in (well, we did break all health and safety rules) but I was safely inside the beauty salon. I wanted to get my hair permanently straightened (relaxing/rebounding) as I have naturally curly hair. Yes, my hair shall be straight for the next 6 months, I thought with pleasure. Therefore before the treatment in order to check the strength of my hair a hair test was done. No, oh no! My hair was way toooo week this was because I had already died my hair when I went to Fuerteventura 2 months back, I also wrote about this on my blog. My friend and me were devastated, that means I shall be using hair straighters for my entire vacation in Karachi, Pakistan.

The hair specialist consoled me by saying ‘my child, don't be sad, just apply oil in ure head, use vitamin ‘E’ and use egg and yogurt as conditioner, hopefully ure hair will become stronger.’ Honestly, this didn’t make feel any better in fact even right now (while writing this blog-post) I have oil in my head. Farheen and me did not like this situation at all but the hair specialist saw our sad faces and suggested that its good if I get a protein treatment done in order to strengthen my hair where as Farheen decided to get high-lights in her hair (she already has a nice brown colour and straight hair) with her hair colour high-lights really looked good.

The protein treatment process was very elaborate. First my hair was washed, then a whitish paste was smothered in my head (I have taken loads of pics of Farheen and me during our hair treatments, shall be uploading hem along with my blog-post) it then had to stay on my head for 45 minutes (by the way this time exceeded to almost 2 hours and I’ll tell you why).

While sitting patiently with the protein paste in my head I somehow made friends with the owner, he was so impressed by me that he told his wife that I should be given a complementary pedicure. Yes! It was the best and the lady who was doing my pedicure massaged for over an hour and that is how my 45 minutes hair protein treatment turned into a 2 hour treatment, which was also good for my hair.

After my pedicure was done and my hair was washed I was then sat and my hair blow dried. Oh My! Tina Sani came and sat next to me (Tina Sani is an Pakistani female singer renowned for her classical and semi-classical Urdu Ghazals, and I simply adore her voice). She was reading a book and getting something done to her hair. I should have gotten a picture with her and should have spoken to her but honestly speaking didn’t know how to react with celebrities when spotted at places like beauty salons!

Anyways, but I had a good relaxing morning with Farheen, both of us were happy with big smiles when we sat in the car, our hair looking all grand and posh.

Do keep an eye on my upcoming blog-post. Its going to be all about how we spent the rest of the afternoon, Farheen and me. Xs

Thursday, February 24, 2011

“Everything we do at Emirates is dedicated to making your travel experience more comfortable, relaxing and enjoyable.”

This is so true about Emirates, although it’s a bit expensive. And if lucky one can get a cheap ticket like I got one this time; flight travel to Dubai is great. And yes, it was a great experience. Just like I explained in my previous blog-post (on visiting Fuerteventura) about getting into the plane on a isle aircraft wheelchair it was exactly the same way. I had already visited the loos at the Gatwick Airport therefore didn’t really need to go but the toilets on the aircraft are accessible and assistance is available when required.

I enjoyed the food on the flight. Although I was travelling in the economy class but still we were given food menus. We (economy class passengers) were given a choice of foods, I choose Chicken Coconut Curry with spinach and rice. The other choice was Baked Salmon with roasted vegetables. Then came the desert, Chocolate Fudge Brownie with hot chocolate sauce, yum and it was yum! They also gave me a bag full of Cadbury’s chocolates. As the flight was seven hours long we were given a small pack with small round shaped crackers, and a small sealed pack of salsa dip, this small pack was given the name ‘Nibbles’. The on-flight entertainment was great; all passengers had a variety of films (old and new), television programs (dramas, news, kids, etc) and music to choose from. Emirates was great, although economy but lots of leg room, plus the flight was half full therefore the seats next to us were empty and all passengers could lay on the seats. I’d say I enjoyed my seven hour flight from Gatwick to Dubai. J

It was six in the morning (Dubai time) when our plane landed at Dubai Airport. The airport is huge and my stop-over here was three hour long. Apparently there is a separate terminal especially for flights to and from Pakistan due to heavy load of passenger travel. I visited the toilet then waited in the transit lounge in fact slept for a bit, was too tired from my previous exciting Emirates flight experience from Gatwick to Dubai.

At exact 1 o’clock in the afternoon on the 5^th of February 2011 I reached Quaid-e-Azam International Airport.

Please do stay tuned to read my next blog-post, Waiting anxiously for you comments.

Take care.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

At 1 o’clock in the afternoon I left my house in Maidstone. My friends Safia and Aasim and their little baby boy Aayan also wanted to come and drop me to Gatwick airport. As I was on my heavy motorised wheelchair I had to travel to Gatwick by train. My friends took my luggage in their car to Gatwick which was very kind of them. It takes approximately 45 minutes by car and 2 hours by two train, as one has to change at Victoria Station and then Gatwick Express (which takes exactly 30 minutes from Victoria Station London). I have all the pictures while travelling on trains and I am also going to be uploading them along with my post.

I reached Gatwick at 3 pm. My journeys via trains and the change at London Victoria Station all went smoothly. The trains tickets from Maidstone to Gatwick cost me £22.

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.

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.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

To and fro Calais! Part 1.

1^st of November 2010 it was, winters had already begun.

...Early morning and a cup of tea, after checking my emails and doodling on Facebook, Twitter and job checking and business networking on Linkdin and Viadeo, then checking my diary on my phone (By phone I mean no hi-fi iPhones or Blackberry, although I wish I had one, its my simple Nokia which I also use as my camera and its handsome and sleek and I love it.) which said that I was absolutely free this week, with a sigh I thought ‘Oh know... what will I do’. But then all of a sudden a light bulb was flickering in my head. I believe it was trying to switch on, an idea was coming in my head, so I thought hard. And there it was a brilliant idea, why not head to Calais for a day or a few hours rather, which was all good, its like a short excursion. Which was excellent as I was on my own, Eureka!

I didn’t really bother to ask anyone as I knew everyone is going to be busy and no one is as crazy or passionate about travelling as I am and this is what keeps me motivated. One of my friend calls me a ‘Globe Trotter’ it sounds like an avatar from one of the games of X-Box. As my laptop was in front of me, I started Googling for ‘cheap ferry tickets for Calais’ literally. Well after the results turned up the one that caught my eye was ‘ travel to Calais for £1 by P&O Feries’, I had to check this one out and I did. It opened up the P&O Ferry website page about the £1 offer. It said that in order to avail this deal one has to be a foot travel passenger and the ferry journey has to depart any time after 9:00 am and will arrive back to England any time after 5:00 pm. This offer was not valid for weekends including Fridays. Well it all sounded too good to be true, hence I called them up. By the way the P&O number is 08716 64 20 20 and is not tool-free, so after hearing a not very short record about toll-charges, advertising there website and ‘please press 1 if you have to make a booking’, I pressed ‘1’ then, immediately a women received the phone. A very polite voice said ‘P&O Ferries, bookings...you are speaking to Sopie, how may I help you?’ she sounded so graceful, wanted to hear that voice again. In that minutes daze I forgot to speak. ‘HELLO, is anyone there?’ with a jolt I spoke ‘Yeh...hi, I need to ask you about the pound one offer, is it still available?’ back to her normal calm voice she answered ‘yes, and when would you like to go?’ she asked ‘On Wednesday, the 3^rd of November... and I am a wheelchair user!’ I said, it just came out of my mouth and I sounded so confident, honestly speaking I hadn’t a clue what I was saying, ‘Okay then, that’s no problem.’ She said. I was baffled by my own spontaneous decision, I am never so quick. Anyways I just went along with it as I had already checked my diary-phone, I had no engagements for this week.

The kind lady, Sophie, then explained me the whole process, including my train timings, getting to and from the Dover port, my ferry timing and so on. But before booking it all in she advised me checkout the train timings as I was coming all the way from Maidstone. I took her advice; she gave me her direct line, reserved my booking, gave me a reference number and asked me to call her back. Well and that what I did nest, I first checked the train timings at http://www.southeasternrailway.co.uk, the fare was coming to £25 return. Then I called the South Eastern Travel Assistance at 0800 7834524 (this is a toll-free number) these guys are really helpful when assistance needed on-off trains, for wheelchair users, buggies, push-chairs, prams, etc. the person whom I spoke to had also made a trip to Calais by ferry, which was helpful. She recommended me appropriate train timings for my departure and return journeys and booked assistance on the required train timings. My train journey was as follows: train departing from Maidstone East at 9:39 am, it will bring me to Ashford at 10:08 am where I’ll have to get the next train to Dover Priory Station at 10:30 am. Rather confusing, I do hope nothing goes wrong tomorrow. Anyways now I’ll tell you the return journey: my train departs from Dover Priory Station at 6:44 pm, it gets me to Ashford at 7:11 pm and then I have to get the next train to Maidstone at 7:19 pm which gets me to Maidstone at 7:47 pm. Gosh that is like a tornado with a huge swish!

After jotting all this information down on my MS Word (I use my laptop instead of writing I find it more com convenient everyone knows that but I never get a I-Pad on my birthday!). I then called on Sopie’s direct line at P&O Ferries, ‘P&O ferries, Good Morning, Rich specking how I may help you?’ this time a man received the phone. He was equally polite and sounded young and handsome. ‘Can you please give me your reference number’ he asked ‘sure’ I said. After making sure the timings of the ferry which were 12:30 am departure from Dover Port and 6:25 pm return from Calais and after co-ordinating the train timings, the issue of going from the train station to the port in Dover was raised as I was on a wheelchair, Gosh! Why God why am I on a wheelchair. But this did not discourage me one bit (well I’m being dishonest here. I was feeling let down a bi but I went even further, I had to do this right till the end. Well so I was given a taxi firm number to contact and book a wheelchair accessible taxi for Wednesday. Then I called them up, they were very nice but refused to book me a taxi from before, they told me that they were many black hackneys outside the station. Any of them will take you to the port and will charge £15. After hearing all this I again called up the direct number at P&O Ferries hoping for Rich to receive it. But this time a guy named Stephen received the phone, and sounded very polite as well. I gave him my reference number and he immediately found my reservation on the system. After asking my train timings he suggested that as my train will arrive Dover Priory at 11:01, I should give an hour’s extra before boarding the ferry as I am on a wheelchair. Which I agreed to as I have never used ferries before, therefore my ferry was now departing at 1:00 pm from the Port of Dover. Now the issue can up of me getting into Calais town from Calais port, but this time the man took my mobile number and said he’ll call me back with information on this. Which was good cause now I was getting a bit annoyed by using the tool charge number of P&O ferries. After 10 minutes I received a call by Stephan at P&O ferries, he told me not to worry our crew at the port in Calais will put you on a wheelchair accessible taxi that’ll take you into town, the fare is approximately going to be 15 to 20 Euros. I agreed (had to agree, no choice anyway if I had to do the journey) and now to complete my £1 booking I was asked by the man for my card details. ‘If you pay by credit card there is an extra £2 charge, but if you pay by debit cards they’ll be no payment fees.’ He said, ‘debit please’ I said. After I gave my card details and the booking was complete I was given a reference number ‘P60308362’ and told to arrive the port approximately an hour earlier. We exchanged ‘thank yous’ and ‘good byes’ Gosh that was a good nerve wrecking experience, but I am still going anyways!

Sunday, June 27, 2010

My day trip to Brighton, 26th June 2010, 30 degrees Celsius.

Writing Bit 1:

On the 26^th June 2010, 30 degrees Celsius.

This post of mine is going to have a different writing style. Its going to be a mixture of stylistic choices, usage of periodic sentences, loose sentences, like a day’s memoir in my very own words all said bit by bit (please forgive me if my writing causes any offense, Thank you). So here I begin in my very own style, ‘My one day trip to Brighton’. I live with my Mom, (although do hope that one day my Mom lives with me) but anyways. Since day before yesterday my Mom and me were planning to do something different on the weekend as the days are very warm in UK at this time of the year. Finally it was decided that we should pay a visit to the beach and might as well go to Brighton pebble beach, one of the famous pebble beaches’ in the world. Brighton is one of the most vibrant, colourful and creative cities in Europe. Cosmopolitan, compact, energetic, unique, fun, lively, historic, young, exotic and free-spirited, it's a city like no other. It is the most happening place at this time of the year, the sun is warm, people are all in festive moods, the outside street cafes are in full bloom, music is in the air, fish-and-chips and ice cream are everywhere.

Although Brighton is a place overflowing with history, arts and culture like experiencing the heritage of the Royal Pavilion and the Preston Manor, indulging in the seaside fun of Brighton Pier and the Sea Life Centre and checking out the Brighton and Hove Museums; which is all a unique mixture of heritage, culture and cosmopolitan fun. Brighton attractions cater for all tastes and budgets, but I was there simply to eat, enjoy and relax at the beach.

It was Saturday morning; we woke up late as it was a holiday, got dressed and a bowl of cereal for breakfast. My Mom and I were out of the house by noon. We caught the bus that goes into town (as in Maidstone we have few buses that go into town and even fewer that have wheel chair access, which is not good at all. I have stated this complaint to the Maidstone Borough Council as well as the Kent County Council, I just have to be patient), I guess, very patient, as it goes patience is virtue! Anyway, after a 5 minute bus ride we were in the centre of town, it was packed with people everywhere. As it was a Saturday and is was pleasantly warm, the sun was bright and the breeze was cool. It was awesome; everybody was in a festive mood in Maidstone town.

Through the crowd we made our way to the train station, which was a 10 minute walk. While at the station we found out the train for Victoria London was at 12:55 which was fine. We bought our tickets to Brighton which coated a merry £30 each. At the station there was an ad about buying a ticket to Mala costing £99 return inclusive of all taxes which was kind of ironic. Soon it was time for the train, the station man asked me if I am catching this train and I said yes. He got out a ramp from his office and called out to me to follow him. Soon my Mom as I were in the train next to the loos, which is not that exciting. Thankfully they were not many people using it in fact no one used it. Both of us were excited about going to the beach, and got into a conversation about buying a 32” TV, you know the flat screen ones. They are all these deals due to the football World Cup 2010 (the one in which England lost today, what a shame!). We could not come to a decision but soon we arrived at London Victoria and had to get to the other platform to catch the train to Brighton.

The train to Brighton was leaving at 2:07, we had exactly 15 minutes. Which was loads of time as the platform was not very far away. Soon we were on the train, gosh! It was packed in here. People with flashy bi-cycles, families with crying babies and talkative kids, girl-friends and boy-friends kissing and holding hands, friends in their deep conversations and people like me along with their moms chatting away. It seemed that the whole of London was off to Brighton, which was kind of true as I found out that in our buggy everyone was going there for the weekend.

Please do check out the next bit of my writing about my day trip to Brighton. Looking forward to read your comments. Many thanks.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Day 1 in Paris.

The next day we woke up at 8:00 am, got dressed and had a quick breakfast. We already had an idea, which places to visit in Paris, as from beforehand I had done an online research on sightseeing. (The best way to travel in Paris is taking the hop-on and hop-off tour bus. They are couple of tour buses but only one company does wheelchair accessible tours and that also if one is on a manual wheelchair as they have no ramps, so the driver and someone else shall pick the wheelchair on the bus and take it off when required. The wheelchair accessible bus is known as the L’ Open Tour and their website is http://www.city-explore.com/open_tour.html. The one day ticket costs 29 Euros and a two day costs 32 Euros) The bus drivers and local people around there are very happy to help, almost everyone understands English so there is not much of a communication problem. As I am wheelchair bound we were not quite sure if gallivanting around Paris on a motorised wheelchair was feasible or not, therefore we bought the tickets for the Hop-on and Hop-off Open Bus Tour from our hotel concierge, we also borrowed a manual wheelchair which was not very good but served the purpose. We bought the two day tickets and the first day we kept sitting in the bus and took loads of pictures while sitting on top and told the driver that we shall get off at the Notre Dame Gothic Cathedral. It is a magnificent work of art and architecture; the construction began in 1160 and was completed in 1345. It holds 60,000 worshippers and each and every bell in the cathedral has its very own name. (Visiting the Notre Dame is free and is wheelchair accessible except for the Chapel, it has a few steps).

After absorbing the magnificence of Notre Dame, we decided to walk all the way to Champs-Elysées street, a very long walk it was but heaps of fun, with its cinemas, cafés, luxury specialty shops, and beautiful trees and vegetation. Champs Elysees is one of the prestigious avenues in Paris; it is one of the most famous streets in the world. We passed the Place de la Concorde, this Place is a shaped octagon and designed in 1755. It is situated between the Champs-Élysées to the west and the Tuileries Gardens to the east. It is filled with statues and fountains, the area was named Place Louis XV to honour the king at that time. We also passed by the Luxor Obelisk it is a 23 metres (75 ft) high Egyptian obelisk standing at the centre of the Place de la Concorde. At the Arc de Triomphe, (one of the most famous monuments in Paris is located on the right bank of the Seine River), we decided to stop here and catch a cab. As I was on a manual foldable wheelchair, we could hail any cab as we were able to fold the wheelchair and keep it in the boot. We reached the hotel at around 7:00pm, washed, rested and had a snack to eat and then took a cab to the Eiffel tower, it is a completely different experience from what it looks like in the day. The magnificent tower stands proudly up high, lit up in the clear dark skies. Vendor selling miniature Eiffel Towers, key chains, glow in the dark tiny bouncy lights as souvenirs, a few people to sketch your picture in front of the tower and young photographers with Polaroid camera. Apart from its main lights which are the yellow ones it also has been installed with 70,000 lights which flicker every hour after dark for approximately 5 minutes, which is a sight to see. We were there till mid-night enjoying the glorious beauty towering on top of us thrilled by its gorgeousness.

Travelling the World on Wheels.