In Travel Features

If you’re someone who uses a wheel chair or another form of mobility aid, you’ll know that trying to find a holiday or a day out can be incredibly frustrating. Travelling with a mobility aid can make the whole process seem daunting, but it doesn’t need to be. You might have researched to the point where you know the entire history of the building, but that isn’t a guarantee that the accessible room you’ve booked is actually accessible. That’s where we come in, Tourism For All is dedicated to showcasing tourism businesses that do offer accessibility to everyone, regardless of whether you have a wheelchair, a zimmer frame or you just need a stick sometimes, you’ll find it all here. But that isn’t the end of the story…

Once you’ve had a look through everything that Tourism For All has to offer, there are still a few things you’ll need to do if you’re travelling with a mobility aid.

Insurance
Even if you are travelling in the UK, you will need to make sure that you are adequately insured. If you have a pre-existing health condition, you’ll know how frustrating and unfairly expensive getting travel insurance can be, but it is incredibly important. What happens if you suddenly can’t make your trip? Is the cost of that going to be more than what you paid out in insurance? What if your shuttle service loses your wheelchair? Can you afford to replace it? When in doubt, always get insurance, there are plenty of providers who specialise in offering insurance to those with pre-existing conditions that have more affordable rates. So, make sure you have insurance. Just in case.

Give yourself plenty of time
Going on holiday can be stressful for everyone, especially if they’re using public transport and are at the mercy of time tables and route changes. If you can, try and allow some time in your itinerary for delays so you don’t miss out on valuable holiday or sight seeing time. This is especially important for day trips, particularly if you have a long journey to get there, you don’t want to spend most of your day rushing around because there was a signal failure on the line. Planning for a delay will give you the chance to explore at a more leisurely pace.

Take note of everything
It’s a really simple thing, but it can be so useful, when you’re booking trips, transport or hotel rooms document everything that way if something goes wrong/gets lost you’ll have it all documented. Also if you have copies of manuals for your mobility aids in case they need to be folded away and stored by transport providers, there won’t be issues putting it back together again.

Speaking of manuals…
Make sure your equipment is protected. If you have to store your wheelchair or walkers it might be an idea to get hard shell cases, especially if you have power or battery packs. Take off anything detachable and try to keep it with you in case these get lost and if you can, take a photo of your aid before you go, that way, if there is any damage during transit, you can report this with the before photos. Some travel companies are happy to provide repair costs or replacement chairs/walkers if they are at fault when transporting you and your property, so make sure to find out if your provider does this in case you need to make a claim.

Now that that is all out of the way, you’re insured and you have all your documents, it’s time to enjoy your holiday!
Tourism For All has a whole host of accommodation options for you to choose from, so click here to find out more!

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