An Oxford sunset
Photo by: Sara Haj-Hassan (Stock Exchange)

Howdy, all! It’s been great sharing travel tips with you and whipping up access guides for your exotic travel destinations.

I do hope you’ve found Disabled Travelers useful, and that you’ll keep rolling wherever your urge to travel takes you!

Sadly, this will be my final post on our blog, so I thought I would take the time to share a couple of personal memories about my favorite travel destinations.

Naturally, I’ll include some accessibility information so you can join in!

Oxford: Oxford is the first “university town” in the English-speaking world, and has been hosting international scholars — the first of these from France — for thousands of years. The university buildings are spread out across a bit more than seventeen square miles, and are totally intermingled with the town proper. Students are divvied up into “colleges,” all with their own focus and culture. Tourists come from all over the world to see the ancient buildings, housing research libraries, meeting places, and living space. I can honestly say that Oxford was the origin of my love of travel, as my first trip abroad was to study as a history student there as part of Trinity College.

Official accessibility info from the city here. Transport, including accessible taxis, here. Accessible hotels through AOL Travel here. London-area airports service Oxford; a bus service is available that makes the complete journey in a very short time. See National Express Coach for information on this, and our earlier London post for disabled travel resources focusing on the local airports.

Stockholm: Stockholm is the capital of Sweden and easily the most beautiful place I’ve ever been. The city itself is located on 14 islands, so ferry accessibility is both a necessity and a priority for the locals. It also features some of the lowest income inequality in the world and a widely bilingual population. You’ll be amazed how easy it is to get around and communicate. In fact, in my entire time in Sweden, I never looked at a map for more than two minutes without being helped by a friendly local. Be sure to visit the Kingsgarten area, a wonderful place to while away the day; home to beautiful fountains, historic statues of famous kings, and outstanding local and American cuisine. Though I only stopped a few days on a whirlwind tour of Scandinavia, I can’t wait to get back!

Disabled Travelers has done Stockholm here.

Dublin: No matter where you come from, Ireland is truly the greenest thing you’ll ever see. Flying in over that patchwork of amazing emerald shades is a great experience, and that’s before you even get where you’re going. I definitely recommend setting at least part of your Emerald Isle journey out in the countryside, among the rolling hills. (Frankly, even the golf courses are pretty amazing.) Accessibility can be patchy out there, but that’s why there’s a thriving business in bed-and-breakfasts that cater to your every need, including your mobility impaired access needs. This is truly Irish hospitality at its finest, and something I enjoyed recently in a trip to Cork and Blarney.

Disabled Travelers has done Dublin here.

Boston: If you’ve never been to Boston, you might think of it as an immense, rushed, and kind of impersonal city, the way New York can be. But in fact, Boston has a style and a flavor all its own, and often “acts” like a much smaller town. With northeastern influences, a distinct love of seafood, and a long intellectual tradition intertwined with the founding days of the nation, you’ll be amazed at your first visit. While you’re in the neighborhood, please don’t forget to visit Cambridge, home to some of the largest and oldest bookstores in the United States, including a thriving community of family-owned and secondhand stores like you can’t see anywhere else! I definitely recommend a guided tour to point out the historic sites and locales that are literally around every corner. During my wayward history days, a Ph.D. candidate in American history showed me around, and it was truly amazing.

AbilityTrip provides good “one stop shopping” on accessibility in Boston.

Well, folks, that’s it for me! Thanks for joining me on this great trip, and as always, adventure on!

Si

The Reichstag building in Berlin
Photo by: Matthias Choules (Stock Exchange)

Hello, everyone! Today is the first post in a series I’ll be doing with an eye toward my own upcoming trip, where I’ll be visiting London, Berlin, Stockholm, Krakow, and Dublin. Now, we’ve already covered London and Dublin in previous posts, of course (and they’re known to be two of my favorite destinations) but in the upcoming posts we’ll be looking at access guides and handicapped travel resources for the rest. Then, once I’m actually on my way, a second series of posts will highlight some of my journey. We begin in Berlin, a melting pot containing residents from over 200 nations.

Of course, air travel isn’t all it should be throughout Europe right now. Thanks to ongoing eruptions of an Icelandic volcano, dangerous ash has spread across the airspace in many countries, grounding plenty of flights! Hopefully, this will be resolved soon and Berlin’s three major airports will be back to work. Schofield, Tegel, and Templehof Airports are all located in the Berlin area, and have a joint accessible travel page. If you’re starting off from London, as I will be, you can avoid some air travel with how to travel by train from London to Europe.

Luckily for us, Berlin is one of the centers of the handicapped traveler movement in Europe. Come to Germany’s accessibility page is a valuable hub on accessible attractions, restaurants, accommodations, and more; but it’s hardly the only great resource around. Also swing by Sage Traveling’s Berlin Page for a recommended itinerary for disabled travelers and information on travel agents and tour operators, among others. Just about any topic you can think of is covered within several separate topic pages.

For a variety of tips on transportation and other topics, including facts for deaf and blind travelers, drop by Visit Berlin, which provides a lot of context on the city’s many integration and barrier-free design efforts. AngloInfo’s coverage of Berlin includes more on disabled transportation. Luckily, there seems to be a lot of good public transit, and the overview on AI is thorough enough to help with planning from the comfort of home.

As for hotels, there are plenty to choose from. Sage Traveling also offers a page on accessible hotels. Disability World has a description of a Berlin hotel run by disabled people, and Accessible Accommodations has more info on places to stay. Many upscale hotels, and even some hostels, throughout Berlin have accessible features: for a budget-conscious hostel option with an accessible room, try Baxpax, which offers three locations in the city. And don’t forget the new accessibility search functionality at Hotels.com!

Though no longer updated, Berlin Eating, a section of Gablinger Berlin Tours, discusses many dining spots and includes information on accessibility. Try “The Wheels Come Off” from the U.K.’s Guardian newspaper for a perspective from disabled rights’ lawyer John Horan, who went on a quest to see how well wheelchair travelers can really get around in this historic city. The answer? Mixed results, but several useful links!

Finally, a few of our favorite tour operators have service to Berlin. Visit World on Wheelz and Accessible Journeys, both of which have organized outstanding trips throughout Germany in the past and can always help to meet your special needs. I’ll be “going it alone” this trip, but these two companies come with high recommendations.

In our next post we’ll be moving on to the next leg of my trip: Stockholm. This is one place I’ve wanted to visit for many years, and I’m very excited! Stay tuned for access guides across Europe, and some insights and pics from me once my odyssey begins! Cheers, and adventure on!

Si