MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY NEW YEAR & HAPPY CHANUKAH TO YOU ALL XXX
I travelled to Dublin for a few nights over the festive period with family (Christmas day included.) We stayed in a lovely hotel by the river called the Clayton Hotel. They had an amazing breakfast with so so much choice- (perfect for someone who never eats with her morning tablets & then gets heartburn & stomach ache)
Whilst away we hired a mobility scooter. I usually find it very embarrassing to use a mobility scooter, I've been coping recently with the changes of needing to use a mobility aid to get around. It comes with alot of acceptance needing to use a mobility aid, something I'll talk about more in the future, but overall it really meant we all could have a great holiday.
For many they would become restricted here and not be able to enter the shops. Accessibility is a basic human right yet unfortunately wide door frames and ramps were hard to come by in some of the older more cobbled streets.
By the end of the trip I was falling asleep on the scooter. We adjusted the handlebars and my sister stood on the front and drove. I rested on the back ( a bonus if there’s only two of you travelling the other person could save their feet and you could get around quicker)
I had to go out to buy two pairs of gloves. Having your hands out on the scooter meant they get a lot colder! Also having issues with temperature regulation and my hand joints anyway meant I did occasionally struggle with pain in my hands and wrists due to the mechanism to keep the scooter moving.
One bonus of using a scooter was that I was able to wear heels and not worry about not being able to stand or walk in them. Anyone who knows me well will have only ever seen me in two pairs of memory foam sketchers.
Don’t be fooled by what you see on social media. I couldn’t wait to get my PJS back on. I find Christmas really hard on my body and Tourettesing telling everyone their Christmas presents and answers in games – a nightmare.
Mobility Scooter Hire:
The company we used to hire scooters in Dublin were amazing, my amazing mum sorted this all out prior to travelling, it proved a little tricky to find a company open over the festive period but the manager Martin was brilliant. We unfortunately encountered a few issues with the battery but Martin himself came to fix these for us which we were incredibly grateful for.
Link to website:
Email: info@mobilitydirect.ie
Regular charging spots for your Mobility aids are crucial!!!
Here's your reminder to check your batteries charge in your hotel room because a day with a dead battery. FAIL! Slower than walking and thats saying a lot, the batteries are practically impossible for an able bodied person to lift let alone those of us who are a little wobbly! Having the charger on you always and perhaps a contact for a spare battery or the provider of the scooter is probably a good safety behaviour. PLAN!
Shopping:
St Steven’s Green Shopping Centre: It’s huge! It’s beautiful. Lots of room to skkrrr about in my scooter. The main shops such as Dunnes (my favourite) are very spacious and plenty of room to ride scooters around. I didn’t notice too many benches or places to sit so could be a problem if you were attempting chaotic sales by foot! As for food places they were also pretty limited inside the shopping centre. Something to bare in mind if you need regular snacks or food with tablets, children etc…
Grafton Street.
There are loads of great shops here including all the designer ones! The streets surrounding this area are all filled with restaurants and shops, they mosly have step free entry everywhere with dropped curbs despite a few issues on the way. Every now and then a shops is up a step and it's useful to note the streets are very very busy!
The bigger shops are realllllyyy busy too! Dodging small children, street performers and slow walkers in the middle of the street is hard. The majority of the people around these streets aren’t locals, think tourists walking with not much clue of where they are going.
cafes and pubs
Many of the cafes and pubs unfortunately do not have flat entry, although we did manage to find a few chain places with sloped side entrances. Having the scooters inside the smaller shops and restaurants was a bit of a nightmare to be honest – for some people I know it isn’t an option but for me going on foot here was a lot more practical. Most places in this area do have outdoor seating- perhaps this could be an easier option in the summer.
Taxi’s:
We spent a small fortune on taxis. Saving energy when going out for an evening meal or drinks. You can request disabled friendly taxis which fit a small wheelchair in. The ‘my taxi’ app was the best way to book regular cabs or through your hotel or restaurant.
My Taxi App (link)
Attractions:
We didn’t do too many touristy attractions, particularly because not much was open over Christmas! We heard great things about the Boat Cruises, Guinness factory & Abandoned prison which is something I would've loved to have done although didn’t have time! (nothing is really open over Christmas which we expected.)
Jeanie Johnston- link
What we did do was the Jeanie Johnston: An Irish famine story. This was a replica boat on the river & I would 10000% recommend it. We managed to get free carer tickets to accompany & had a very small tour group. The tour guide was exceptionally informative and clearly liked his job. The steps up to the boat (or ladder should I say) unfortunately would restrict a lot of people although my grandma did have a good go! My advice would be always check if wheelchairs are available free to hire. Carers tickets are usually free to take proof of a disability (or simply if your me your tourettes tends to be proof enough). Ypu can call ahead and ask for a smaller group booking and how accessible attractions are, where toilets are etcetc.
our airport experience
BOOK SPECIAL ASSISTANCE AT THE AIRPORT WHEN YOU BOOK YOUR FLIGHTS!!!!
SPECIAL ASSISTANCE AT LUTON AIRPORT WENT ABOVE EXPECTATIONS.
DUBLIN AIRPORT UNFORTUNATELY MISSED THE MARK CONSIDERABLY!
Meet and greet as soon as you arrive in the airport terminal.
Wheelchairs offered (although I went on foot)
Personal assistant offered to push wheelchairs or carry bags and help fast track through security.
No queues at all.
Passports checking- they come to you.
Priority seating area before going to gate with assistant per disabled customer.
Taken in a lift and through back exits.
A Personal driver and van to drive you to the aircraft itself.
Passports and boarding passes checked in the van.
Met on the other side of the plane in a vehicle
Check your liquid allowance before you go. Have an able bodied person with you helps so they can carry your bags on and off the conveyor belt when you have have explained you cannot lift heavy things and have special assistance booked. (Thanks to my sister much love bro xxxxx) Don’t over pack. She will make you unpack everything, re pack 4 times, take all your liquids out of your own plastic bags and put them into one small plastic bag even though her colleague had already checked the bags of us and given us 2 bags extra each aswell as the all clear that things were fine. She was ridiculously anal and clearly bored. Prepare for stresses like these. It delayed us about 40minutes. Thankfully we made sure we had a whole load of extra time.
Dublin special assistance. I felt bad for them. They were inundated. There were two members of staff in the terminal working with an average of 8 passengers travelling per flight who required special assistance. A blind lady was sat waiting to be taken through to her flight (it took off in 15minutes) and she still hadn’t been through customs. We decided it would be quicker to pile bags and suitcases onto my grandmas lap on her wheelchair and a trolley. Very impractical. Struggling with fatigue more than normal as it was the end of the trip, pushing a wheelchair and carrying heavy bags really was not easy. But we survived hey ho. I would say have at least two able bodied people per disabled person if you aren’t planning to use special assistance, although we pre booked there were simply not enough staff to accommodate. We did manage to get extra help from customs to the gate after my wonderful mother explained our situation. (They had electronic golf buggies and manual wheelchairs) which made things easier to get to the gate. There was no way I would’ve been able to walk to it (hundreds and hundreds). It’s definitely time airports updated to electric wheelchairs.
Appreciation for the 5ft petite little women (my family) who pushed me around! I do feel guilty. But unfortunately life isn’t always as easy as it should be.
Appreciation to the few members of the public that treat you ‘normally’. Didn’t avoid eye contact. Didn’t question you. Offered help if it was needed (4 people walked past me stuck under the jewellery stand, yet only one person helped me… usually I am very independent and don’t like help. But the acknowledgment when someone has hurt them self is humane. Ignoring walking past not so great. Having a hidden disability can sometimes suck. People assumed that my grandmother: the slightly older lady who presents to be struggling was the only disabled person in the group, that I was sat in her scooter, or she needed help getting upstairs, carrying things or access to a disabled loo. YES! she did she struggles with chronic health conditions too. The Reality of invisible disabilities is that 3/4 of us on our trip were struggling with hidden illness.
Luton Airport Special Assistance- amazing!
After a few days recovery from a busy trip away with minor mishaps including ramming into a jewellery stand in a shop and getting my arm stuck between the scooter and the table. I am looking forward to planning my next trip.
Life doesn’t always deal you the best cards. Grab any opportunity you can while you can.
HAPPY TRAVELLING XXXX
Comments