WHEELCHAIR NUMBER 10 (Blog dated 26th November 2019)

Hello everyone!!
I am super excited for Vin today, I mean ever since his 10th wheelchair arrived yesterday 😁

I had my eyes on this one for quite a while ever since I discovered it on https://www.wheelchairindia.com/Folding-Power-Wheelchair

I had been on the lookout for a power cum manual wheelchair with thick polyurethane tyres ever since we encountered the cobbled streets of Italy and most of Europe.

1) Let's talk about the choice of tyres first.
So the new rubberized wheels of folding, manual wheelchair number 9 started getting worn off within the first 3 days of our trip in Europe in 2017. It was kind of worrying and intimidating and we were extra cautious with his wheelchair henceforth as without his wheels, Vineet would be severely handicapped. And we too...
Hence the choice of thick polyurethane tyres for travel

2) Next let's talk about the choice of manual cum power wheelchair.
So last time with the manual wheelchair, it was quite exhausting for Papa to push Vineet all the time as the folding wheelchair had very high hand rests and impossible for Vineet to push himself manually. Hence the choice of a power wheelchair which would also work manually, in case the motor got defective😬😬 In the website video, a person without disability was able to use this wheelchair manually as well without any problem.However , when Vineet tried it on yesterday, the hand rests seem a bit high and we have yet to try out with Vineet on a seat cushion if his hands reach the wheel rims..

3) Next we shall talk about the folding aspect.
Although Vineet's wheelchair number 8 (Karma KP 10.3 ) is also a power wheelchair, it is not easily foldable . We have to remove the battery, then fold the other parts as well .This new chair weighs 42 kgs which is actually heavier than wheelchair no 8 which weighs 37.5 kgs, but we needn't remove the batteries. Just 2 folds and it's ready to be tucked into the car's boot. So we can now go for a picnic and Vineet can enjoy on his own!! 😃

Karma wheelchairs are made in Taiwan and assembled locally so I'm told. But this wheelchair is not branded and has been directly imported from China I guess, which is why the costing too has come down to half of wheelchair number 8. And that counts. The cost. While searching for this particular type of wheelchair I stumbled upon the website alibaba.com which is the gateway to Chinese products directly from the mainland. Anyone who has visited this website will know how ridiculously cheap the stuff there are. Of course it's a wholesale market and there are MOQs (minimum order quantity). But if you order a sample piece, the price gets doubled with airshipping. And even then, it stands cheaper than on Amazon or any other similar online shopping site. I could more on this with examples, but this post will become too long. 😛☹️So basically , this was a good deal for us, as when you have a person with special needs in your home, expenses touch the sky...But God has been good to us and we are ever grateful that we can afford to buy stuff that Vineet needs all the time. My heart goes out to those parents or children who's special needs are not fulfilled...
Friends, if you support any kind of cause from your hard earned money, do give a thought to children and adults with #specialneeds . #AssistiveDevices can be ridiculously expensive for most...

And a word for those who work for changes in society for a good cause, kindly do something to bring down costs of assistive devices. Thanks🙏

And Finally, The part I LOVE the most!!
When this wheelchair moves back, it has a beep warning sound . This is very very necessary in all wheelchairs. It is dangerous for people standing behind a wheelchair if it suddenly starts to move back. Of course there is a beep horn for front on the joystick pad as well.

So here's hoping that this wheelchair comes in handy for us as we love to travel,but we don't get a chance easily😒. Lots of things to think about and loads of planning is exhausting!! 😣 But then, we might as well make the most of it while we are still able to! 😊 

Air India !! Please DO SOMETHING for YOURSELF!

September 01, 2018

Sorry everyone, this is going to be a rant post.

So we had booked #airindia flight tickets to the conference in Delhi as its getting difficult for Vineet to travel long distances in train especially due to #inaccessibility in the AC compartments of #IndianRailways. We have to carry Vin all the way to our berth, and the biggest worry? Will we find a good co-passenger who will not object to Vineet's folding wheelchair peeking out of the lower luggage place?

Will we get at least one co-passenger willing to exchange his lower berth for VINEET, in case we haven't managed to get any ? 

Or will we get some privacy while changing his diapers?
Yes, these are the kind of things we have to worry about when we travel by train 😒

I knew that #KaziNazrulIslamAirport at Andal, West Bengal is a relatively newly built airport and after it's inauguration 2 years back it was working in collaboration with #AirIndia as well as private airlines. However, due to very few passenger input it shut down last year and was re-inaugurated this year with only one Air India flight, that too once in a day, and to and fro only one destination - New Delhi . We couldn't have asked for more, it was a boon for us as well as many others who frequently visited the capital city New Delhi. It is performing very well with these clauses and there is a good crowd everyday as we discovered on our flight day later. I was worried only about one thing - whether they had #BoardingRamps or not. So I asked my friends on Facebook and also called up the Airport help desk. Friends were not so sure and the help desk person assured us that it would be no problem for a person on a wheelchair to board the airplane. So I rested assured and we got ready for our most awaited trip to New Delhi.

On 10th August we reached the Airport early morning as our flight was at 8:20 a.m. I was very impressed with the Airport building and wheelchair friendly paths. They had the #transferwheelchair which we use while the wheelchair which Vineet uses is scanned by X-ray by #armypersonnel . And they also had the #AircraftWheelchair which is used to transfer a person on a wheelchair from the entrance of the aircraft to his/her seat. Its narrow and can easily be used in the narrow aisle of an aircraft. The personal wheelchair of the #personwithdisability is taken away at the entrance and stowed at the back of the aircraft. It is brought back at the time of disembarking in a similar fashion. All this takes time and hence we are always the last to disembark from a flight. However during embarking we are first, so it's a balance 😁

Anyways, so coming back, we were the first to be taken when the flight landed from New Delhi, AND #THEREWASNOBOARDINGRAMP !! As we looked up the long flight of steps leading to the aircraft entrance where the flight steward and stewardess stood with their hands folded in typical Air India style Namaste, we wondered what to do next and so did the airport staff who had escorted Vineet's wheelchair from the building to the airplane. Here are the pics I clicked as temperature of my head soared.

Now the most important part. The attendants offered to lift Vineet up the stairs to the entrance to which he vehemently refused. To those who think it's not a big deal, TRY IT ONCE. Just try sitting on a wheelchair while 3 or 4 people take you up a flight of stairs. You feel you are in the air and if one man stumbles, the entire Entourage will get disbalanced and not only you, but all of them will get severely hurt.
IT  IS  DANGEROUS  NOT  ONLY  FOR  YOU  BUT  FOR  THE  ATTENDANTS  AS  WELL !!

So Vineet opted for his dad to take him up the stairs as he is comfortable in his arms. 

But my question to the #MinistryOfAviationIndia is this -
 What will Vineet do when his dad gets older and is no longer able to carry Vineet up the stairs? He will never be able to have confidence in being carried in his wheelchair by attendants, so will he stop travelling by air from the airports where boarding ramps are not available? It is my understanding that each airlines have their own set of boarding ramps according to the need of the place/airport.So in metropolitan cities they have plenty of boarding ramps all colored with the specific airline colors. Since this is a small airport so Air India cannot afford a Boarding ramp (as it is, it's running in huge losses and I sympathize with them. They have served us well all these years).

So I now turn to the Aviation Ministry with the suggestion that provide at least One Boarding Ramp at those airports where the Airline cannot afford. It is not for the airlines,. It is for people with disabilities like Vineet now, and for us, AND THEM, when we grow old and will need a wheelchair to visit our near and dear ones. Yes, Please Please understand that it's for Yourself as well. For your tomorrow. That time you may not be professionally capable of all that you can do today. So here's requesting those who are reading this to understand and come to our help. We are human beings. Which other species will help us if not you? I fail to understand how Air India is unable to provide a ramp when all other airlines have given up on the steep, massive, dangerously sharp-edged AND expensive stairs!!
Not to promote any airlines here, but this gentleman makes many points in this report -
https://www.forbes.com/sites/johngoglia/2013/06/16/indigo-airlines-eliminates-stairs-for-easy-airside-boarding-why-havent-other-airlines-caught-on/#208224ef2018

Thanks for going through..

Update - I shared this experience of mine upon returning from Delhi after the Conference on Facebook and tagged our Aviation Minister and our local MLA, but no response. Then I wrote an email to the Aviation Ministry, no response. 

I am not doing this for Vineet alone, it's for all who are like Vineet and also for you and me. As I mentioned in my FB post, one day we all are going to be old and some of us may need a wheelchair to visit our family in some other city or country. We may be caught in the same situation as Vineet today.  Think about it.....

Thank you 🙏

A short 'afternote' about our Europe Trip with Vineet

Phew!! Feeling quite accomplished now that I've finished documenting Vineet's trip to Europe before my memory gave way! 😜 So there were a few small things I wanted to point out to parents with a child as special as Vineet.

1. So when we came back I found that Vineet's SB site had a blister kind of thing at the bony part. Big mistake on our part - we had forgotten all about his cushion in this trip! 😱 It did not occur to us at all that his travel chair had no cushioning at all. We had carried it to Mumbai (and even left one in the hotel by mistake) but this time we forgot in the hullabaloo. So now we had to take care of this blister which ultimately burst and is now healed, Thankfully by the grace of God Almighty 🙏

2.  I don't know if we searched less or what, but it was so difficult to find a bottle of milk, just plain milk in there. They came in different forms and flavours, but never just pure milk. Quite perplexing...or maybe we didn't try to hard, eh 😏 Nevertheless, that one glass of milk daily was quite irregular for Vin and it made him weak. So if your child is having food issues, carry lots of them with you in portable forms. It would have done us well to carry small milk cartons from here. Next time! 😌

3. Lastly, while writing my posts I was also able to find a lot of exciting things about Italy - especially the " ACCESSIBLE GONDOLAS in Venice!!! I was soooo excited for Vin! They ACTUALLY have them!
Click HERE for the official link for demo videos and online official bookings and you can also contribute to them for making this thing happen!! I will be in touch with them... ☺




Have a look at this awesome video 😃



4. And it also makes me make a note about our very own First Indian Travel Company for the specially challenged - www.enabletravel.com

They also have a Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/EnableTravel/

I am still upset at myself  why I didn't come to know of them earlier... Nevertheless, I love their stories and their services ,and after #DeepaMalik our very own Paralympic Champion went for a Europe Trip with them , she has highly recommended their services. They are having an Offer going on at the moment on the occasion of the country's 70 years of Independence - you can nominate a friend or relative with any disability and send them on one of their #70trips without any worry at all! Isn't that a great initiative?!! We won't be able to go on another vacation so soon again 😁 but naturally, but if you want to nominate anyone , here's the  link - CLICK HERE  Those who will nominate will get a Rupees One thousand travel voucher from 'Cox and Kings".
And if you want me to nominate someone for this, please leave a mail to - spinabifidainindia@gmail.com

HURRY!!!!

Vineet's London-Europe Trip 2017 Day 10 ( Zurich)

14th June

On the streets of Zurich

So today was going to be the last day of our beautiful trip. It was a bittersweet feeling.. Part of us wanted to stay back but a greater part wanted to be back home soon with our near and dear ones. I for my part was very worried about the way Vineet looked - tanned and almost dehydrated... He had also been skipping his daily one glass of milk in the evenings as dinner was early all these days...😒
So at noon we said goodbye to our hotel in Olten and moved towards Zurich. I was not surprised when we were told that our new driver would be a lady,  coz earlier on one of our drives I had seen a girl as young as in her twentys driving a big bus as ours easily in her red cold-shoulder- top 😍My eyes had widened at her- we have yet to see something like that in our country....
However our lady driver was more experienced and must have been in her 50s (?)  and she drove very well and took us for a short tour of the city of Zurich before dropping us off for a short time near the station for lunch.We had lunch in Burger King at Zurich station and since we still had some time left, we rushed to catch a tram and go towards the lake as our Tour Manager had advised us. He even told us the Tram number ☺. The tram was very accessible and it was a wonderful ride up to where we were supposed to embark. A fellow traveller helped us as to where we should get down, and then we were supposed to walk a short distance towards the lake.

Beside Lake Zurich

 As we were walking towards it,  we saw a church ⛪ on the left hand side and walked towards it. Only to be told at the entrance that we would have to pay 5 euros for entering and a short tour!!  What the heck??!!  To pay to enter a church is the WEIRDEST thing that I've ever come across in my whole life as of now!  I don't think those guys at the counter have read the Bible wherein Jesus himself beat and drove out all those people who had made the Temple  (Church during the days of Christ) into a marketplace for their stuff. Read - JOHN 2:16 And here they were taking money to let in people?!!  I was so shocked and angry that I forgot to mention this part,  but I told them they were doing a horrible,  miserable thing. And I refused to pay them any money and walked out with a vow to report this to higher church authorities. I asked them the name of the church,  but they deliberately told me the Dutch name so I couldn't remember it (but they're wrong, I will hunt it out and make my point soon😠)

FRAUMUNSTER  CHURCH, ZURICH

Okay!! Grand update! GUESS WHAT! GOOGLE HELPED ME FIND THE NAME OF THE CHURCH - "FRAUMUNSTER  CHURCH " IN ZURICH. YES. THATS THE ONE, THOSE ARE THE PEOPLE!
 And I thought I heard them vaguely making an excuse to the extent that they needed money for the maintenance of the church as it was a heritage site (I could be wrong here, nevertheless). As far as my little knowledge goes, a heritage site is taken care of by the government. Secondly, in the Cologne Cathedral, entry was free and if anyone wanted to opt for a guided tour of the whole church right upto its highest floor, only then they needed to pay a small amount. That was so so OKAY. And THIS was NOT OKAY AT ALL!! I even felt ashamed to see a couple of Asian (maybe Chinese or Japanese) tourists paying to enter the church... 😑


Anyways, still smarting,  we moved towards the lake and what do we see on the road?  - three guys on motorised wheelchairs roaming about the streets and basically having a good time! 😊 Oh it was such a heartwarming sight....  Then there was this guy playing the bagpipe near the lake while a small boy was making huge water bubbles with the help of his grandfather. There were the words "PEACE" written on a small board behind them. And I thought what a perfect way to end our wonderful trip! PEACE!  Much needed in the world today!

So now it was time to head back to where our bus was waiting to take us to the airport. And soon it was time to say goodbye to Zurich, Switzerland. We went back the same way- via Oman Airways and Muscat. This time we didn't get Vin's wheelchair wrapped as we had learnt our hard lesson while coming. It was a good decision.

At Zurich Airport

It was a difficult journey while returning as we were already jet-lagged and spent most of the hours sleeping away and thereby missed dinner, and we didn't have time for breakfast also the next day. By late noon we reached New Delhi Airport and then rushed to catch our evening train back home. Only when we had seated ourselves comfortably in our coach that we heaved a sigh of relief. But by then Vin looked weak and dehydrated. I immediately took care of him and made him feel better as much as I could. We all longed to be in the comfort of our home and with our near and dear ones soon.
And so it happened the next morning! 😃
 NO PLACE LIKE HOME SWEET HOME !!!! 😊☺

Watch our video here -

Vineet's London-Europe Tour 2017 Day 9 (Mount Titlis and Luzern)

13th June

Entrance to the Cable Car towards Mount Titlis

After having rested the earlier day, we were all charged and excited to go to Mount Titlis today 😃 We dressed in our snow boots and carried our jackets as it was quite warm in the valley. I also carried our regular shoes and sandals to change into later, as it was really warm. We reached Mount Tilis base after a bus ride of around 50 mins and before we knew, we were ushered into the ice cable car and off we zoomed up towards the mountains! It was beautiful, thrilling, exciting and a never-before experience! At the second station we changed into the #Rotair, which is the only revolving ice cable car in the whole world! Until now, we had NO problem at all moving Vinsy in his wheelchair. It was all so smooth, unbelievably accessible. 😀

Then we reached to where the snow was by lift from the rotair station.So now,there was a nice little open restaurant out there with the floor made of iron grills and wood and then there was the snow. So now what to do...how to take Vin into the snow? Simply drag his wheelchair in the snow as far as Papa could. When he got tired, we had reached half way towards where road to the ice-flyer and snow-activities started. We couldn't think of dragging Vin till the "Glacier Park". It was just too far....

Thats the Glacier Park in the background where we couldn't take Vin

So we perched in there and Papa suggested we make a small snow-man. Mum and Tia got to work with some help from Vin and soon enough we had an 'OLAF' ready complete with Vin's cap and papa's shades on it! He looked too cute and endearing, so other tourists also started taking fotos with it! We felt accomplished 😌 Then Tia started going up towards the topmost part and mummy went too so she could get some videos from there to show Vin later.

Yup. So we couldn't enjoy the snow-activities at all and we had thought we would.... It was sort of disappointing....but never mind... 😔

LAKE LUCERNE

We had lunch in one of the Pizzeria there (which was exorbitantly priced) and then we moved towards the town of Lucerne. It was a beautiful town and we had all afternoon and evening to ourselves. We did some shopping there and decided to spend some time sitting quietly by the lake (Lucern). It was a beautiful view and we didn't want to move from there. But then, our Tour Guide had mentioned to us about the " CHAPEL BRIDGE (KAPELLBRUCKE)  nearby and so off we went towards it. THERE WAS NO RAMP at the entrance and there were at least 6-8 steps. Papa told me and Tia to take a look inside and come back, but we don't do stuff like that. Where Vin can't go, we can't go too...not all the time.

ENTRANCE TO THE CHAPEL BRIDGE (NO RAMP)

So we took the pathway beside the lake and the Chapel Bridge and came to another bridge which had 2 steps leading to it and we could carry Vin onto it.We roamed on the other side and found nothing interesting, so we returned the same way. This time we got ourselves a helper who helped transfer Vin the 2 steps down. As I write this, I am thinking maybe I should have gone into the Chapel Bridge and checked for some accessible path... At least they could have put in a sign if there was at all!! 😐

Then it was time to leave for dinner.

After note - When we returned back home to India, I wrote a letter to Mount Titlis authorities about how disappointed and disheartened we were that Vin could not go upto the ice flyer or the snow activities, and how it would be nice if they could arrange a ramp or something to make it happen for people on wheelchairs. And I was pleasantly surprised to receive a reply from them saying how they were looking into the matter and were as eager to help people on wheelchairs reach the.....
Well,  that certainly brightened me up 😃 At least they were thinking....  And it also reminds me to write back to them about a more feasible idea that I got the other day when I was watching a few videos of mount Titlis on YouTube .Hope it convinces them soon!! 🙏😇

Watch our video here-

Vineet's London-Europe Trip 2017 Day 8 ( Olten, Switzerland)

12th June

Today our entire group left for " Jungfraujoch", a glacier-saddle between two high of the highest peaks of the Alps in Europe. (Here is the wikipedia link - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jungfraujoch ) So to reach it, you have to catch a train from Interlaken (in the valley) and change it from Kleine Scheidegg again to reach the top.
We did not go. I had read reviews of Jungfraujoch before coming and they said that it was a highly over-rated tourist spot. That was the first reason and also we were already scheduled to visit Mount Titlis the next day, which was also a snow-covered mountain (though not so high as Jungfraujoch). Then there was the biggest problem of breathing at that height which I cannot bear. I have suffered due to it when we had visited 'Zero Point" in Sikkim, India earlier. I did not want to risk that trouble again. Fourthly, there were changing of trains to be done and frankly I didn't know how much of a trouble it would be for Vin in his wheelchair. And lastly, we wanted to take a bit of rest after all those hectic days of continuous touring.
So. We slept. We slept so late that we almost missed breakfast! 😜😅Then we had lavish baths 😄and after a delicious lunch (from the hotel restaurant), in the evening we got dressed and decided to go for a short walk towards the town of Olten nearby where we could also see some church steeples and I wanted to visit one 🙏


                

It was a lovely walk and we enjoyed walking beside the fields of Switzerland into the town where we saw very few people and some kids on bicycles. We saw sheep grazing and finally we found a church where we went in and prayed. We thanked God for the beautiful trip of our lives and returned back to the hotel where we met our group buddies who had already returned. And we found our dinner packed neatly and left for us by our Tour Manager. God bless him! 😇

Also I would like to share with you all the awesome "adaptable room" we got here , even though it was on the 1st floor. The door to the Bathroom was wide , there was a shower tool, toilet had handle bar, and there was even an Emergency thread! Have a look at the pics -

 

And here is a short video I made of us -

Vineet's London-Europe Trip 2017 Day 7 (Black Forest and Rhine Falls)

11th June

The Black Forests of Germany in the background

Today we proceeded towards the Black Forests of Germany and therein we stopped at the largest cuckoo clock and the original cuckoo clock factory. One of the building was wheelchair accessible with a lift but the other one was not- not at least till what met my eyes... Have to Google about it too 😐
            So at least Vin was able to go around in the accessible shop and admire the various Swiss watches, etc on display. Then we moved on to the Rhine Falls. Here too,  there was a wheelchair/accessible path just a few paces away from the stairs that went down towards the Falls, but again,  No Signboards😒😑
I wandered around ,  went down the stairs and luckily saw a baby in a pram coming from that way and heaved a sigh of relief!

Once down,  we crossed a small bridge and then there were stairs again to go further down to where the ferries were. We saw a small makeshift lift just at the entrance. BUT IT WAS LOCKED!!

YOU CAN SEE A VIDEO OF THAT LIFT   HERE

So again I went down the stairs and looked for alternatives or ways, but NONE. Again we were left behind from our group and there was a big crowd and queues to go into the numerous ferries with different scheduled timings. I went up to one of the ticket counters and asked the man there about how to use the lift. He said we have to give him a copy of Vin's passport and a government 'disability certificate'and he would give us the keys to it. I ran towards Vin and papa to give them this information when I saw papa carrying Vin and coming down along with our dear Tour Manager. They left the wheelchair on top of the stairs as it was very sunny and there was no shade nearby. Papa is a loving💕 papa and luckily we found a bench to sit on while we waited for our ferry to return from its previous trip. It came and we went for our exciting ferry-ride towards the Falls. And no,  the ferry was not wheelchair accessible. I suppose there are none in the world? I read about Venice's famous gondolas were going to be made accessible,  but I have not updated myself about this( which I should be doing)

On the ferry ride finally!

This time we were allotted rooms on the 10th floor of the hotel in Germany. We had a long wait for the lift although there were 3 of them but of 3 various sizes - small,  medium and large!  😂
The view from the balcony was beautiful as we could see almost the entire city of Ludwigshafen  and the bridge. 

Vineet's London-Europe Trip 2017 Day 5 ( Brussels)

9th June 2017
We moved towards Brussels today. It was past noon when we reached "Mini-Europe" in Brussels. As we had gotten late embarking,  when we entered the main building,  our group was nowhere to be seen! Not a single soul there except a worker outside. We looked frantically for an elevator or lift as we saw a huge flight of stairs right in front of us! 😮😞😟😕 But NOTHING! No signs or boards either! We asked the worker about it but he said he had no idea. But he offered to help us carry Vin up the stairs in his wheelchair. But I thought it was Ridiculous!!  How can they not have a wheelchair accessible route in a place like "Mini-Europe"?!! 😠😠😒
 But we were already late and papa did not allow me to find out more and I forgot about it until when we had to go down the similar way after the tour. Again we carried Vin down the stairs. There must have been around 20 or more of them!
Although the tour inside was very wheelchair-friendly.

And today when I googled 'where is the wheelchair ramp in mini-europe brussels", this is what I got - http://www.minieurope.com/en/practical/faq/  I can't seem to find any maps directing towards mini-europe

Okay, so I finally found the wheelchair route into Mini- Europe. I wish I had checked this earlier, but even so, I find its very far and time-consuming. Especially for travellers like us who have very less time. It would have been simpler and easier to just put in a lift.Or at least they could have sign boards to lead us to the path. Here's the link - http://www.minieurope.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/plan_parking_6_eur.pdf

It reminds me that I have to put in an online complaint regarding this😐😑

Grand Place, Brussels

In the evening we proceeded towards the Grand place which had cobbled streets and after going around for some time, we suddenly noticed that the tubeless,  rubberised wheels of Vin's wheelchair was getting ripped off!! It wasn't that bad,  but henceforth we took precaution .

And here is a short video I made of our stay in Belgium -

Vineet's London-Europe Trip 2017 Day 4 (Paris Disneyland)

8th June 2017

Today we were slated for Eiffel Tower and Disneyland Paris. We opted out of going up the Eiffel Tower as we wanted to use that time for going around it☺😋So we went towards the wheelchair entry which was closed (strangely why we didn't ask),  but as it was early on,  the main queue was short and we proceeded through it. We crossed over to the other side towards the river and the bridge and took fotos. Then we crossed back again towards the garden side and took a lot of mandatory poses with the Eiffel Tower. Then we proceeded towards Disneyland.

Disneyland was on the outskirts and covered acres of land area. But once inside, we were amazed to see the sea of people in there!  Our tickets were pre-booked and we had the option of going either to the Disneyland Park or Disneyland Studio. So people with kids(like us) opted for the former and off we went.
No one at the ticket checking counter told us about the Special Green Card (sorry I can't find it to upload a pic of it, but will do so as soon as I find it 😋)

 It is absolutely necessary for visitors on a wheelchair and though I had read about them in my SB groups on FB,  it completely escaped my mind that day. It was only when we went to go for a boat ride that the lady escort told us about it and by then we were half beyond the castle. Its funny for a place like Disneyland not to have a Notice or Poster regarding this. We were tired, disappointed and didn't know what to do. Papa is a loving papa 💕 and said he would go and get the green card for Vin while mummy and Tia would go around. It was long before they came back with the card and by then it was time for the parade. We enjoyed the parade and it was time to leave. But we had a good time and brought back with us some beautiful memories.... 😊☺😍

Here is short video I made of the Disneyland Parade - 

Vineet's London-Europe Trip 2017 Day 3 ( Towards Paris)

7th June

When we woke up the next day with the sun shining brightly through the blinds,  I muttered under my breath 😜😅 This weather could have been yesterday 😠😫😭
Anyways,  we found that the front seats of our coach had been occupied again, and this time our dear co-passenger refused to give up his seat inspite of our Tour Manager's requests. So our Tour Manager gave up his own seat and some other good people shifted back to make space for him. He announced it in the bus that since we have a special child with us,  could everyone kindly leave the first seats for him and his dad on one side as he would not be able to have any front view which others could have by standing.

When we arrived at the border of U.K. towards France, we had to clear our Immigration. And here it was very kind and thoughtful of an official to come up to our bus and get it done for Vineet and our family without having to go into the building which was some way off.That was really really sweet of them! 😊☺

Anyways we moved towards the Eurotunnel. Oh and another thing!  This morning Papa had an idea- he suggested we put 2 diapers one on top of other,  so when one got soiled, we would simply remove it and there would be no hassle to put on the second one as we realised there were no changing beds in disabled toilets. It WORKED! 😃 Wherever we stopped for lunch we changed him - it became a routine for the next few days ☺

Into the Eurotunnel (From U.K. to France side)

In the evening when we were checked into our hotel on the outskirts of Paris,  we realised that even the lifts were of so small in size that only Vinisha could squeeze into it along with Vineet in his wheelchair. The rooms were also not wheelchair-accomodating, although I realised afterwards that maybe there were, but not available for us... So if you are planning for a similar trip as us, please do ask your Tour manager for a ground floor room or a specially-adapted room for people on a wheelchair. We got one only in Switzerland. 

Vineet's London-Europe Trip 2017 Day 2 (London day tour)

6th June

We had the misfortune of spending the only day we had for London in its infamous 'cold,  windy,  rainy' weather. 😣😖 It had started the evening before and we got our winter jackets and boots (which we had packed for our last tour days in Switzerland 😜😁) that day itself. I forgot to mention that our Tour Bus (merc-benz make) was not wheelchair-friendly . Means we had to transfer Vineet from his wheelchair to the bus seat and then stow it away in the luggage compartment. So everytime we had to get down,  we waited until the last person. But thankfully we had some very helpful coach-drivers who took out the wheelchair before us 😊😇 May God bless them🙏

So we packed Vin's "khichdi" and some cornflakes and left after breakfast. We were last to board the Tour Coach and guess ❓All the front seats were occupied (but naturally). Our Tour Manager requested those in the front seat to make a seat available for Vineet and also his dad as we had been cautioned the previous day about the speed of the bus which would have been risky for Vineet sitting on his own without an escort.

So we mostly moved around in the bus and by noon when we alighted to go into Madame Tussaud's,  the rains had stopped and there was the sun peeping through the clouds⛅

ANOTHER  SPOILER YET AGAIN AT THE ENTRANCE TO MADAME TUSSAUD'S 😒😑😕

As we queued up with our group,  the museum escorts led us towards the wheelchair-entry where we were told that they could not allow more than 3 wheelchair entries inside as there is space congestion. And that slot was full for that (our) time-slot. We would go in only after an hour and they gave us the coupon for that time. It meant that we would have only an hour to go through Madame Tussaud's instead of the 2 hours that our group got as the Coach would be back by 4 p. m.  to take us to London Eye. We went across the street for a pizza where Vinsy had his "khichdi" and we teased him about it 😛😁😄

           Then we roamed the nearby streets and bought some souvenirs, and finally it was time to go inside Madame Tussaud's again. We got an escort for Vin,  but he disappeared after putting us in the lift and telling us which the last leg of the tour was. Anyways,  inside it was really crowded and though it was wheelchair-friendly,  we breezed through it and we were very happy to see the Enormous Toilet for the specially challenged 😜😄😅😁 We changed Vin and heaved a sigh of relief😌

Then we got off at London Eye and here too Vin was led through the wheelchair entry and mummy and papa were too pleased with the handling of Vineet by the escorts😊☺

Then we proceeded for dinner and by 9: 30 p. m. when we returned back to the Hotel and saw the sun shining through the window,  we realised we were in a different world 😉😀

Here is a short video I made of our London Trip -

Vineet's First Overseas Trip 2017 (A preview)

Have I been waiting to write this very special event in Vineet's life or what 😃😀😀!!! It was a very special blessing by God in All our lives as we had thought of going on a Europe Tour sometime later in our lives,  but we had no idea that it would happen so soon!  This year itself!

            So going back a little into my earlier post on the #JustinBeiber Concert post, we were going through a  couple of travel brochures online just for fun,  and we stumbled upon this very attractive offer from #ThomasCookTravels for a Budget Europe Trip . We sat and calculated a lot of things 😌😀 and thought it was a nice deal considering our family of four.  We consulted friends and finally one day Papa clicked on the "Book" tab and there was no looking back then 😃☺
            To cut the story short,  let me just say that in the next few posts,  I will be sharing our travel details but mainly I will be focussing on the #accessibility issues and how we managed Vineet's incontinence. Also his fooding part. So if you are thinking of doing something as exciting (and adventurous 😁😜) as us,  you can read on and also contact us at - spinabifidainindia@gmail.com

P. S. - We stocked on Vin's diapers and all his stuff ( but naturally) and took 2 of each - one set for the main luggage and one smaller set for the hand luggage. We bought a small size 'Rice-cooker' for his daily "khichdi' lunch meal and rice and dal along with his fav cornflakes. I also took some meal supplements for emergencies ( airplane companies are playing up these days and can't be trusted all the time as I was about to realise 😒😒😑) And of course,  another folding wheelchair (coz the earlier one got spoiled by the sea waters of Puri)

I would also love to have feedbacks on these posts from travellers on wheelchairs and maybe some more travel tips and hacks for our future travels (hopefully 😊)

Thankyou for going through!  🙏💕