Vacation Planning: Wheelchair and All
Any vacation requires planning. It starts with an idea, some research, dates, flights or rental car, place to stay and you’re going somewhere! It’s the same with a wheelchair. It can feel scary at first, I remember my son Zack was newly injured spinal cord injury and quadriplegic the thought of traveling with a power wheelchair felt uneasy and overwhelming. Zack was 16 when we left the hospital, I wanted to help make his life the best it could be. He was an active teen, and I didn’t want his life to stop. He asked a doctor when he could go on a roller coaster again. The Dr. said after one year. Almost to the day we went to Knotts Berry Farm amusement park and lifted him onto one of the fastest roller coaster seats. I held my breath the whole time I was so nervous, but I knew he needed to do this.
Another opportunity presented itself for Zack to try adaptive skiing, since he had snowboarded before the injury, I thought let’s try it. This adventure entailed getting onto a plane with a layover. Flying from California to Colorado. I felt anxious but determined. We navigated the flights, landed in Colorado. We were picked up in a wheelchair assessable van and driven to our hotel. The next morning Zack was on the slopes. The smile on his face was worth all the effort. This trip opened my eyes to see we could travel with a wheelchair. I felt like we conquered a giant task, this accomplishment boosted our confidence.
We booked a 7-day cruise to Mexico and found that cruise ships can be very good for wheelchairs, you request an accessible room with a roll in shower. The boat offers tons of dining options and entertainment. There were a few things we had to navigate, for example one of the ports stop you had to take a smaller shuttle type boat to land, Zack chose to skip this port, but it did not keep him from having an awesome time.
When Zack graduated from college, I planned a surprise vacation to Hawaii. We stayed in an assessable condo and rented a wheelchair van for the week. We drove around the whole island. You can rent beach wheelchairs. We found amazing lookout points and went to hotel restaurants that overlooked the ocean. Zack has now travelled to Hawaii 3 times.
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We’ve driven to our local mountains Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear in Southern California. We stayed at a hotel type lodge and rented an accessible cabin. Both small towns Zack was able to roll around.
For years, we drove to Palm Springs once a year with friends we had great memories of doing this and to see if we could manage it in the wheelchair. Palm springs is a desert. It is hot! We had cooling towels and water spray bottles, and we even lifted him into the pool. For his 18th birthday we went to the River and Zack was transferred onto his friend’s boat (scary one for mom), but he had an absolute blast. We transferred him onto a float and wearing a life jacket with 2 friends on either side of him for safety and he floated down the river behind the boat.
For his 21st Birthday, he chose Las Vegas. We booked a room in New York, New York. Vegas is very wheelchair accessible with lots of restaurants, shopping, street entertainment and shows.
These are some of the travels Zack has done as a quadriplegic so if you feel confined to your wheelchair, plan a vacation get out there and have some adventures of your own!