Traveling while Disabled Blog

TRAVEL

Specifically, disabled travel. Early in my disability, I was still able to travel, especially since all our destinations were desert cities, where it's easier to breathe, easier to walk, and easier to dissolve the stress of travel. I also had the husband by my side, helping me in and out of vehicles, and up and down from chairs. This time around, I'm flying solo, to Florida, a place that is warm but also humid, so there's no relief for my swollen joints. I'll be doing budget travel, with trains and buses and rideshares instead of rental cars. I'm doing research on the transportation end, and feel pretty confident that between the brace, the cane, and knowing the rules and regs, I'll do okay, barring the random expected travel screwups that arise to test our patience and/or will. (Or ethics. Is it ok to knock someone out, if all the other passengers agree? Discuss amongst yourselves.) I'm also starting the research on the hotel or airbnb situation. Because of the fibro, I need a really good bed, and a pool to do my aqua-therapy. Ideally, there'd be a hot tub for recuperating after the flight, but I'm not expecting that with my budget. It looks like three kinds of choices - a condo or pool house thru airbnb, a retro refurbished motel, or a budget chain. There's also three choices for what city to stay in, because the Brightline will take me from whichever airport city to either of the other 2 airport cities on the east coast. I haven't bought a ticket yet, so I'm not worried about where until then. As I learn more about adapting to disabled travel, I'll be posting it here, as well as live-tweeting as I go. Follow me @ask_mamamary on Twitter to travel along! Saturday the 1st of February 2020

AIR TRAVEL FOR DIABLED PEOPLE

The one thing I learned from traveling regularly before becoming disabled is Know The Rules.  Knowing the rules prevents a lot of upsets and disappointments and extra costs. For example, carry-on size and weight. If your bag is too big or heavy, it goes into checked baggage, which is an extra cost. Those people who argue at the counter? They didn't know the rules, and they're not going to get them changed by yelling. Disabled flying has rules, too. There are things you have to do, but there are also rules the airlines have to follow.  You have to follow the same rules that other passengers do, but the airlines have to follow ADA rules.

Brace Yourself for TSA Screening

The TSA allows you to takes your meds on board, even if they exceed the regular liquid amounts. Keep them in the labeled bottles or containers, and put them in a separate clear bag from your 3-1-1 bag.  I will need both a cane and a brace, and there are special procedures for both (follow the link to the TSA website, and use the drop-down to check on your particular medical issue.) I also will need a special pat-down, because the fibro makes everything painful. The TSA has a card that you can carry that's supposed to make the screeners aware and a passenger support service that you can call to make sure you know what to expect. I'll be updating during and/or after this trip to let you know how the special screening procedures  go.

Comfort on the Plane

How to be comfortable on the plane? Fly first class! Barring that, what do the rest of us on a budget do? Choose wisely. Is price your first consideration? If so, you'll be sacrificing some comfort for cheapness. Cheap flights can be hell, simply by virtue of time or stops.  Can you get up early or stay up late without altering your med schedule or sleeping through the next day? Can you occupy yourself for 6 hours in an airport, or sprint through multiple gates to catch a plane? Keep these common-sense questions in mind when booking. Where you sit can also mean the difference between average and awful. If you need to get up and move every hour and a half, you'll want an aisle seat. If the seat doesn't recline (I'm looking at you, Spirit) you may want an exit row for more room - unless your disability prevents you from being able to assist in an emergency. Spirit does have what I think is the best value, if you can afford it - the Big Front Seat. You get the comfort of first class (without any of the service!)  Whatever airline you take, check out Seat Guru to see what seats are best in the kind of plane you'll be in. Tuesday the 4th of February 2020

Chronic Invisible Illnesses

If you saw me walking around the neighborhood, you might not think I was disabled. Fibromyalgia, a disease that basically makes everything more painful than it should be and makes you exhausted easily, doesn’t really show. If I’m wearing a longer skirt, you don’t see the brace I wear for the wonky knee, and because I’m vertical and fairly fit, I look healthy. Unless you look hard, you can’t really see the swollen joints, the deranged bones, the orthepedic shoes and comfort clothes, and the lines that pain, not joy, have carved into my face. Travel for the disabled has gradually become easier - not easy, but managable with luck and good planning. Travel for the disabled with invisible disablities has another layer of problems. Because we don’t have a wheelchair, there’s no visual signal that we need additional help. This blog will be a place where I’ll share my experiences with traveling while invisibly disabled. Hopefully my experiences and research will be able to help more people travel while disabled!