Accessible Everything

Hi All,

Just to let you know that I'm moving blogs again. I'm not happy with all the google ads on this site, so I've set up my own page using WordPress:

www.craiggrimes.com

Many of you will know of Scott Rains, if not, here’s a brief introduction. Scott is a wheelchair user that lives in the USA and is at the forefront of universal design for all. He is a keen activist in disability rights, legislation and inclusive tourism. In fact, his entry today the 28^th August is titled “Hostels and Inclusive Travel”.  

His blog “The Rolling Rains Report: Precipitating Dialogue on Travel, Disability, and Universal Design” is well worth keeping up with, as if it’s happening, he knows about it. He’s always flitting around the world and having interesting experiences.

www.rollingrains.com

Clive Gilbert from the BBC has written an interesting article about travel for disabled people:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6951947.stm

I’ve been contacted by a company in Argentina that claim to have six accessible cabins that adapted for wheelchair users on the ground floor. Unfortunately, the do not give any details about the facilities in the bathroom apart from saying that it is totally accessible. I will contact them to see if I can get more information about the bathrooms, including photographs.  

They also offer activities for disabled people including sports and excursions. They also have a medical team on site if any problems are experienced.  

Their webpage in English can be found at: www.proyectorotae.com.ar/index_eng.html

My partner left for Nicaragua yesterday and should currently be flying somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean on her way to Miami. I’m left here in Barcelona feeling slightly nervous and excited about the prospect of joining her in just over 5 weeks. The planning stages of my tri now have to continue. One of the first parts of this started with ordering all of the medical equipment that I need during my stay overseas. I am sufficiently paranoid about loosing my baggage where most of my medical stuff will be that I asked Edurne (my partner) to take some with her. This means that, should all go well and she arrives with all of her bags intact, I will at least have a small supply of catheters and sheaths waiting for me in Nicaragua when I arrive. So even if I do loose my bags during the flight I will still have some emergency supplies there that I can use whilst I resolve the problem.

  

I’ve also been looking into the type of passport I need and the VISA requirements for both the USA and Nicaragua. My flight is Barcelona – Heathrow – Miami – Managua (Nicaragua), due to homeland security legislation you now have to go through customs in the USA even if you are just changing flights to go to another country. This has meant that I have to be sure that I have the correct passport. The passport required is the one with numbers and chevrons on the bottom and the photograph printed on it with the holograms behind (not the old style with a photo stuck on it). You can travel into or through the States on a 3 month travel VISA without having to do anything if you are a British citizen, the same applies to Nicaragua.

Please note, all comments regarding passports and VISAS are regarding British citizens, if you are from a different country you should check with the appropriate authorities (Embassy or Consulate).  

The next part that I have to consider is vaccinations, I will be going to the doctor this week to talk to them about the injections and precautions that I need to take. I’ll keep you posted and provide more information about this at a later date.   

If anyone has traveled in this part of the world and has any useful information regarding tips for disabled people I would very much appreciate it.  

Craig

As I live and work in Barcelona it’s probably a good idea to blog about some of the basics for disabled people that want to visit this great city. I will be referring my own guide to Barcelona as it seems to be one of the main sources of information in English.  

Getting To and From Barcelona 

The best way for most people to get to Barcelona is flying, although this may be fairly obvious, some airlines are a little misleading. There is only one airport in Barcelona, which as one might guess is called Barcelona International Airport. The official Barcelona Airport website is: www.aena.es/csee/Satellite?cid=1132569968790&pagename=Estandar%2FPage%2FAeropuerto&SMO=1&SiteName=BCN&c=Page&MO=6  

Some airlines (notably RyanAir) list two other airports as Barcelona, which are Reus and Gerona (Girona, Spanish spelling). Both of these airports are a considerable distance from the city, between 1 – 1.5hrs drive away. This causes many problems for disabled travellers which are mislead into thinking that they are flying directly into Barcelona. The main problem is getting from these airports to the city as few of the buses are adapted. Reus and Gerona should only be used by people that want to go to places such as Salou or the Costa Brava respectively. Even then, very careful planning should be made to ensure that you can get from the airport to your final destination. 

Two clients of AccessibleBarcelona have come to the city by train (both from the UK and from Paris), and both of them have commented that it was an absolute nightmare! Trains in general aren’t very accessible in Spain, but it is getting better. They are currently building a high speed line with TGV from Paris – Barcelona –Madrid which should be much more accessible, until this is completed or unless you are a train fanatic I wouldn’t bother. For further information about train travel please use the following links: 

Spain: www.renfe.es
TGV: www.tgv.co.uk
General European Train Travel: www.europeanrailguide.com
Information for disabled passengers regarding Eurostar and useful addresses: www.europeanrailguide.com   

There is also the option of arriving by sea, either during or at the end of a cruise please see my blog entry Accessible Cruises 13^th August 2007 regarding this subject: www.craiggrimes.blog.co.uk/2007/08/13/accessible_cruises~2802047  

The other way to get to Barcelona by sea is by ferry. There are various companies that call into Barcelona from the Balearic Islands but Trasmeditterania and Balearia are probably the biggest companies: 

Trasmeditterania: www.trasmediterranea.es/trasmeweb/inicio.do  
Balearia: www.balearia.com   

Getting from the Airport to Barcelona City Centre There are really only two options for airport transfers. The airport bus (aerobùs) is accessible through the use of a ramp and has stops throughout Barcelona, finally terminating in the central square, Plaça Catalunya. The bus has one space for a wheelchair user. For further information please visit the Barcelona Tourism website: 
www.bcn.es/turisme/english/turisme/mobilitat/ser_tra_hom11.htm  

The only other option is booking an adapted taxi which will cost between 30 – 40€ each way. If you speak Spanish you can do this directly with the company which are called Taxi Amic: (+34) 93 420 8088. If not, you can make arrangements in English for someone to come and meet you at the airport and escort you to your hotel through: www.accessiblebarcelona.com   

Getting Around Barcelona on Public Transport 

Barcelona is one of the easiest cities to get around in Europe with regards to public transport. TMB (Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona), the main bus company, now have a fleet of buses which are all accessible. However, not all of the bus stops are adapted, so sometimes the ramps to get into the vehicle are at a rather steep angle. 

The metro is still rather disappointing with only one line (L2) being fully accessible through the use of lifts. With the other lines there are some adapted stations but you have to be very careful to make sure that the station you are going to has lifts.  

There is also the Bus Turístic (tourist bus) which has three routes and is accessible (the same problem with non-adapted stops also applies). This bus goes to all major tourist attractions including Sagrada Familia, Camp Nou, Casa Batlló, La Padrera etc. You can either buy a one or a two day pass and move freely between the 3 routes as you desire. 

For further information about public transport in Barcelona please visit TMB’s website: www.tmb.net/en_US/home.jsp  

More detailed information about accessible public transport can be found at: www.accessiblebarcelona.com/english/transport.html  

Accessible taxis are few and far between in Barcelona, there is only one company that offer them (Taxi Amic, see above) and a few independent drivers. If you require an adapted taxi whilst in the city you need to order it at least 3 – 4 hours in advance. Don’t expect to be able to flag one down on the street unless you are the luckiest person in the world! 

If you can’t find the information you require regarding Barcelona on the web pages provided, please feel free to contact me.

I’ve been scouting the Internet for information regarding accessible travel in Central America as I’m planning a trip in September for two and a half months to Nicaragua. I’ve known Gordon Rattray in Belgium for some time now as I stumbled across his website about safaris for disabled people.  

Gordon is a C4/C5 tetraplegic that loves to go on safari and has provided information about his previous trips to various places (not just on safari) including Tanzania, Botswana, Chicago, Ethiopia, Australia, Kenya and Malawi. According to his site he should currently be in Kenya and Tanzania for 3 months.  

He gives a host of travel tips and I found his “World Guide” particularly useful as there is information about Costa Rica which is one of the countries I will be hopefully visiting. Gordon’s site “Accessible Adventure Travel” may be found at www.able-travel.com  

I’ll be keeping you posted on my progress through the blog, writing about the planning, vaccinations, visa requirements and all the other adventures as time progresses. My flight dates are set for the 25^th September so time is counting down and I’m getting very excited!

Thinking of going on a cruise? www.cruisecritic.com has some very useful information for disabled people including Editor’s Picks; Best Cruises for the physically challenged, a review of the cruise ship Disney Magic, top ships for cruisers with disabilities and general tips on cruises for disabled people.

Their page about cruises for people with disabilities can be found at: www.cruisecritic.com/cruisestyles/area.cfm?area=30

Ideal Cruising also offer some useful information, including popular cruise ships for people with disabilities: www.idealcruising.co.uk/accessible_cruising.php

And finally a shameless plug for my own company, which offers onshore excursions for disabled cruise passengers in Barcelona, Valencia and Palma de Mallorca. We are also able to offer pre and post cruise accommodation, transfers and equipment hire:

www.accessiblecruisetours.com

Mary Dixon is a wheelchair-user that lives in London who likes to socialise by meeting friends and family in pubs or restaurants - so of course these places must be disabled-accessible. The toilets must also be wheelchair-accessible. Venues listed on the website claim to meet these criteria.

The list currently covers the UK, not just London, if you want to go to an accessible bar or restaurant in your area, just type in your postcode or town and Level Best will find them for you. You can also add entries of venues to help build up the database.

www.yourlevelbest.com

OK, so the first thing that I want to blog about is the fact that blogger.com have locked me out of my old blog! It keeps telling me that my password is wrong, which, it isn’t. So I’ve been through the whole process of trying to re-establish a new password which I simply can’t get to work and it keeps telling me the new password is wrong even though I’ve just re-established it and confirmed it. Grrrrrrrrr, technology…… Even when I set up a new blog with them, I still couldn’t log back into it after I logged out. Maybe, I'll publish some of the old stuff again maybe not! Anyway, here’s a new start on a new blog with a new blog website, lets hope this one works better.

 I’ve been doing some looking around recently at different things on the internet and there is some criticism about my old blog: www.accessibleconsulting.blogspot.com because I haven’t written anything in over a year.  Well I guess that that’s a fair enough comment and anyone that has ever looked at the blog has now long since gone, but I thought I’d give this another shot…… 

So first a festival update.  July 2006 saw the opening of a new music festival “SummerCase” which I mentioned in both June and July of 2006. I had a great time and the access was a little better than Primarvera Sound. There were more viewing stages for wheelchair users and more accessible toilets too.  Although the first night they forgot to put the ramps to the door so they were totally inaccessible! I suppose this is fairly typical, useless, yet somehow to be expected. 2007 has so far been a busy year and so I didn’t manage to get to either of the festivals to see if the access has improved at all. It’s a shame really as I really wanted to go to them, but life and business are both going well which is important.   

Anyway, that’s enough about me for now, I’ve been looking at other people’s blogs and I think I went wrong by trying to write too much and putting too much time into it (I easily get distracted by the work I should be doing). So from here on in it’s shorter pieces with useful information and funny not so useful information. Here’s my blog of the day:

www.matthewgoodsell.co.uk “The ILL-informed Ramblings Of A Cripple” “A half-assed attempt at political and social commentary. “ Matthew's words not mine!  Beware that some colourful language is used but Matthew has been blogging for 5 years now so he must have something to say that will interest all of us.