Quote from Lillysw3314 on February 16, 2022, 7:54 pm

Traveling with Disabilities is NOT Impossible

Hello Everyone,

My name is Lilly and I wanted to share a little bit of my travel experience as a disabled individual.  I have yet to discover any great websites that have a lot of travel suggestions for people with disabilities other than support groups and I want to share what I have learned with the hope of helping others to be able to travel and expand on what they are able to do, regardless of disability.

My husband and I are nature lovers and our goal is to visit every state and begin starting to go to other countries.  We love getting out in the fresh air, feeling the sunshine, going to places we have not been, and going for walks and little hikes.  My ability to do these activities vary depending on the state of my numerous medical conditions.  I have severe eating restrictions, major allergy/histamine-related issues, and I am limited in my physical abilities.  

The top few challenges I struggle with are where to sleep, what to eat, and what to do without hurting myself or being heavily restricted.  I have scar tissue in my lungs and severe Asthma and Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, which makes it so that I am allergic to a lot of things (some unknown) and have severe reactions that impact my physical abilities too. In addition, I have Ehlers Danlos Syndrome which causes loose ligaments and restricts what I can do, particularly since I had surgery for my cervical spine going up to my skull.  

The issues that I have make it challenging to find a hotel because many hotels have mold, mildew, dust, and use a lot of harsh chemicals.  My husband is an amazing planner and we have been able to plan ahead of time to get cabins within or near different national parks. We have started to use websites where people rent out their cottage or lodge which has made it much easier.  I have found some affordable, clean, new, or recently renovated places to stay by searching websites that offer services such as VRBO.  This has enabled us to be extremely close to the national parks, which saves us driving time that is rough on my spine from my previous spinal injury and the spinal surgery that I had in 2018.  We have found numerous places to stay that are great. The places we have found have been accurate to their description, clean, not moldy, well cared for, and convenient. They also often have an area to cook, which brings me to another major challenge of traveling with very strict dietary needs. 

We often bring food that I can have including healthy snacks for our little hikes, our own filtered water, and even ingredients to prepare meals.  We sometimes cook ahead of time if it is a road trip so that there are things that I can eat on the way and when we get there.  I avoid most meats, dairy/lactose, gluten, sugar, and most processed products.  As you can imagine or as you may experience, this is very hard to follow. However, when planned well with a great lodge to stay in or by bringing a big cooler and ice, we can go to national parks without having to worry too much about what I will eat.  It has turned out that most places, even if they do not generally offer different foods, for example, buffets, if you ask then they may be willing to have the chef cook something else. 

My husband and I visited Death Valley National Park, which may not sound fabulous, but it was stunning and had so much life.  We stayed at a lodge inside the national park and there were three very expensive restaurants with limited options. One of them was a buffet and it was the most affordable.  For two days I tried to eat snacks and eat what I could from the buffet, but on the third day, they had nothing that I could eat other than salad. Given the high price of the buffet, I requested something that I was able to eat.  The chef was thrilled to make something other than the usual and I was served a decadent meal by the smiling chef with all of the requirements I had asked for.  Sometimes we don’t want to bother people or don’t think to ask, but a lot of people are very accommodating if you put yourself out there and ask.  I also advise scoping out the menu of restaurants within a fairly close distance of where you stay because if you have needs for taking medications that require food intake then it is good to be aware of the surrounding options. 

After discovering this, any location we have gone, from the Everglades to the Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas Island off of Key West, I have asked for specific foods.  Even on the boat ride to Dry Tortugas Island, which had bagged lunches, they provided a gluten-free, dairy-free option, and were very accommodating when I asked. We also rented a houseboat and stayed in the Key West area for several nights and it was a fantastic trip.  We now feel that we have the competence to find great places to visit while also being able to accommodate my needs. 

My final point is in regards to my physical limitations. We have learned that if we go to the visitor’s center for any National Park, the rangers are very knowledgeable. If I tell them what we are looking for and how long we are there for, they do an amazing job helping us to find hikes ranging from 0.6 miles with little vista points to hikes that challenge me a bit more, such as three to six miles when I am capable.  They often have scenic roads that you can drive and stop at vista points which makes it accessible to a lot of people. Even visiting the Hoover Dam, they had a walking path that you could turn around wherever you wanted and had ramps and other handicap-accessible services, which I have learned are not always great, but they are a step in the right direction toward making it possible for people with all types of conditions to experience the beauty of nature and of our historical structures. 

I hope that this helps out at least a few people and I appreciate being able to share my experiences. I am sure many people can relate. 

Thank you,

Lilly.