2. Let the planning begin

With any trip comes planning, and I guess depending on the type of traveler you are dictates the amount of time given over to the pre-trip research needing to be done.
There are many types of traveler; everything from what I term the 'uber planner' who schedules the entire journey on a timeline, all bookings, excursions, museums, etc locked in ahead of time; right through to the 'Organic' traveler. The sort that just floats on the breeze and sees where the world takes you.
Dickey was most certainly an Organic type of tourist in his 20's and his tales of adventures through Mexico, Indonesia & South America never cease to amaze, impress and scare the shit out of me!
While I loved some freedom to change my mind, I also was the type to have my return flight booked and at least the first nights accommodation safely locked in.

Planning this trip needed to be entirely different. Due to the necessity of finding fully wheelchair accessible accommodation it was essential the itinerary was set and all of our nights away booked.
There was no more pretending we were carefree 20 somethings with no physical challenges! Our compromise was that we wouldn't pre-book anything else, not even our internal trains. We wanted at least some challenge and spontaneity!






After a few online searches it became apparent very quickly that the term 'accessible' was either being lost in translation or not standardized as it is here in Australia. It was going to be a long process, and thankfully we had given ourselves time. Just shy on 12 months, luckily.

We did attempt to enlist the services of a Travel Agent but sadly wheelchair accessible travel was not her area of expertise and whilst she was great at getting our return flights plus a couple of internal flights across Europe booked we felt she was missing the mark on our other requests. In the end we decided to just go it alone. After all we knew what we needed, the questions to ask of the suppliers, what restrictions we could overcome and also which cities we were determined to see. It was easier to dedicate the time and do it ourselves.

With this commitment came reward as well as its fair share of challenge and disappointment. We would have loved to have used Air BnB for our entire trip but the 'wheelchair accessible' filter is clearly not governed. We were being presented with properties that had shower's over a bath or a loft bed and they were listed as accessible! After literally hours of 'clicking' we successfully found and booked 2 Air BnB properties. Out of the 18 we needed in total!

With the help of our now very good friend GOOGLE we ended up coming across an international chain hotel that seemed quite well governed, and in the end we successfully booked several of our stays with them. While we would have loved a bit more character when it came to where we were laying our heads in some spectacular cities, it was the safe option to opt for the cookie cutter mold that was a medium budget chain hotel. Despite seeming to be well controlled luckily we did take the time to email every place prior to booking as we discovered that different countries had different rules! Single occupancy only, separate beds, wider doorways but no accessible bathroom and even stairs in to the hotel remained as issues to face! What we did forget to ask was if there would be a shower chair or bench, which I will fill you in on at a later date.

So a few tips/ hints/ suggestions/ things we learnt -
- Where we thought the organizing and planning process would take time, it took double what we thought!
- If you don't have the time to do it yourself and do it well, enlist the help of someone else who truly understands what your requirements are. Planning ensures success, ease and enjoyment when you are actually there. If you would like to enlist our services email us by all means.
- Be prepared to resend emails to the same people, asking the same questions in multiple different ways to ensure you get an accurate answer. It is worth the frustration to persist,
- Keep in mind English is not everyone's first language and not all people use Google Translate accurately!
- Be aware of the currency that is being quoted on the sites and any taxes yet to be added on. Most European cities include day tax and vat. Some don't charge disabled persons taxes, but we found this was inconsistent. Have your currency converter handy at all times.
- Set a budget for your accommodation and then as you start searching reassess if it is realistic. Wheelchair accessible rooms are not always the cheapest and the current exchange rate may throw this out. We initially hoped to average around $100 AUD per night. The reality was that it is no longer the early 2000's, we could not stay in hostels to break it up and the exchange rate was pretty average this year.

And finally practice patience. Easier said than done!!
The planning process for us was a rollercoaster journey and at times we both questioned if it was all going to be worth it. Ideas being stomped on. Finding accom' that looked mind blowingly awesome, accessible and within our budget, only to realize it was quoting in a currency other than AUD (insert frustrated scream here!). But then on the flip side the joy of stumbling upon a random review of a Spanish winery, finding an accessible apartment in a nearby town and slotting it in to our itinerary perfectly was an awesome feeling.

It was definitely worth it!