Accessible Travel

Julie Jones is mom to Braeden, a 26-year-old young man who lives with cerebral palsy and is a wheelchair user. Julie loves sharing her family's travels with Braeden on her blogHave Wheelchair Will Travel and is the co-founder of the world's first disability-specific travel magazine, Travel Without Limits. 

Julie Jones lives in Sydney, Australia. Although she has always lived in the same city she traveled widely with her parents when she was a child and before it was something many people did. A love of travel was born from these travels and it was something she always imagined she'd do with her children. Having a son born with a disability threw a curveball into those plans but did not deter her family.

Family of 4 in a garden setting . Young man in the front row is a wheelchair user. Behind him are his mom, dad and sister

Julie's Travel Tips...

If you are a manual w/c user have your equipment serviced beforehand and ask for a repair kit.

If you are a power wheelchair user, touch base with your medical supply company for a recommended equipment specialist at your destination.

Start local even if it's a day trip away from home. 

Be prepared by investigating local hospitals etc. at your destination.

Accessible Trail

Referenced Resources

https://curbfreewithcorylee.com/, Sylvia Longmire Group Spin the Globe, https://www.allwheelsup.org/

Braden in a Beach Whhelchair

Transcript

Marsh Naidoo (00:26):

Welcome to the Raising Kellan podcast. My name is Marsh Naidoo and I blog at raisingkellan.org where we curate resources for parents raising children with developmental delays and or disabilities. It is finally spring and we are launching into our summer series topics that we will be chatting about, accessible travel, some summer reading picks, how to keep that and safe during the warmer months. If you would like to share with us some of your summer adventures or ideas that you might have for parents and their families to enjoy this warmer weather, please drop us a line at raising kellan@gmail.com. We would love to spotlight your summer adventures and we would love to hear from you. Remember, if you are listening to this podcast the content produced here is purely educational, and if you are needing assistance with specific questions with regard to your situation, always seek advice from a licensed professional. So let's get ready. Grab your cup of coffee, put your feet up, and get ready to join us on episode 61 where we talk to Judy Jones, who is the creator of the blog, Have Wheelchair Will Travel, as well as the editor of Travel Without Limits Magazine.

Marsh Naidoo (02:16):

Julie Jones, welcome to the Raising Kellan Podcast. We are so glad that you are here speaking with us this morning.

Julie Jones (02:25):

Well, thank you so much for having me. It's an absolute pleasure.

Marsh Naidoo (02:29):

Julie your blog chronicles your family's accessible travel adventures. I would love to know more and for you to share some of that journey with us.

Julie Jones (02:47):

Sure. Well, it's called Have Wheelchair Wheel Travel. We won a family a trip to Disneyland and had an amazing trip, and I had a real mental blank when Braden was born with cerebral palsy about traveling with a wheelchair, traveling with all his additional needs, and the thought of going to a different country. So we started off locally and then when we had that trip to Disneyland, it was just so liberating that I really wanted to share that joy with other people and tell them how we did it and hopefully empower them to do the same. So we started off with a very small idea of just sharing that trip and then we found that there was a real need for that kind of information and people that really took heart in knowing that it was possible we had done it.

(03:40):

And so that was where our journey began with the website. And as time has gone on, I've learned more about other people's needs and try and accommodate those within the reviews that I write. I very much try and work with the travel industry to help them understand better what is needed for people to be able to travel. And I have a background in the travel industry, so I think that helps bridge the gap between a family with needs as well as understanding what the travel industry needs to be profitable. They just need to have a better understanding of what families need.

Marsh Naidoo (04:20):

Were you a travel agent before you and the family started traveling?

Julie Jones (04:25):

Yes. So I always imagined that we would travel. I was working as a travel agent. My parents had taken me traveling when I was nine. We'd traveled for six months in Europe and Egypt and we'd had just amazing travel. So I always imagined that it would be something that we would also do as a family. So I think that was part of the confronting nature of having a son born with a disability was that our dreams, what we sort of thought we would be doing needed adapting. And even as a travel agent, I wasn't been exposed to that much. So it was really how we still gonna do what we always thought we would do.

Marsh Naidoo (05:08):

Now your son Braden how old is he Julie?

Julie Jones (05:12):

Yeah, so he's now 26. So we've learned a lot since we first started traveling with him. And yeah, it's nice to be able to share that with people. I guess we have a different perspective now than what we had when he was little and we were so engrossed in therapy and early intervention and all those things that you sort get thrown into that you've never known before. So it's nice for people to see where we've come from, where we're at now as well, I think

Marsh Naidoo (05:43):

What I enjoyed as I was reading through your blog was when you talked about when our kids are light enough to where we can just pick and lug them around. Your advice was priceless: while your kids are younger, do those hiking trips that you dream of doing. Yeah, that was advice that I found priceless as well as when you talk about don't be an observer in life, participating is so much better. I am sure there have been many of those memorable trips, but to you, what are the standout destinations that bring you guys joy?

Julie Jones (06:31):

Well, I think one of our most memorable is in 2019 before the world changed with Covid, we went to Fiji. And Fiji is not the most accessible place physically. It doesn't have the cutouts, it doesn't have anything like that over there where there's a great understanding of physical changes or modifications to buildings. But what we did find was the Fiji attitude which also included Braden and meant he never missed out on anything. And I think we all knew that we would love Fiji as a destination. My husband and I had been there many times, but I always research trips from the point of view of not just what the destination we would like to go to is, but very much a case of where can we all have a really good holiday, where can we sort of bond as a family doing activities all four of us.

(07:31):

And so with Fiji,I said about looking at what we'd like to do and then contacting each of the tour operators. So one was a quad biking tour and they had quad bikes where two people could sit on the quad bike. Now Braden's a wheelchair user I should say, and although he's quite physically capable of sitting say on a couch or on a chair, he really does need to be strapped in. So a quad bike was a dream, but we weren't sure whether that could be a reality. But we contacted the operator and they said, Come in, we'll see what we can and do. And as soon as I got that sort of, we'll see what we can do, we'll make it happen. If we can, we can. I sort of thought, okay, Fiji's looking like a good destination for us. And we had similar responses from all the different operators that we contacted and it took a lot of work.

(08:24):

Even when we got there, it meant two trips to places. But to see Braden's strapped on with a luggage strap and a non-slip matting under his bottom and riding along on the quad bike tour with the rest of us was just priceless because he'd never been able to do that before. We'd done quad biking in New Zealand, but his sister Amelia and my husband had gone on the quad bikes and he and I had gone in a buggy. So he'd still been involved, but he wasn't doing the same thing. And I think that was what was really special about Fiji. The Fijians were there to lift a wheelchair, they were there to lift Braden, they just, whatever it took to make sure, and they didn't make a fuss, we'd get off a boat and they'd just appear from nowhere and they'd be pushing Braden across the sand and Mark wouldn't need to do it. So that was what made it really memorable because we all loved the destination, but we love the inclusivity of it.

Marsh Naidoo (09:24):

In your beach trips, you described how you adapt BJ's manual wheelchair. Can you talk more about that because lots of parents would be curious as to how that works and if they are alternatives for a power wheelchair as far as adaptation is concerned navigating through the sand.

Julie Jones (09:52):

So in the US you're actually quite lucky because quite a few of your Florida beaches anyway or the beaches on the east coast seem to have power wheelchairs that you can hire. So we don't have that here. I think there's one beach in Sydney actually where you can borrow for free a power wheelchair. But in general, if you're a power wheelchair user in Australia, there's only a manual-adapted beach chair with balloon tires. We have a beach wheelchair for Braden, so when we're in Sydney we use that and it's got big balloon tires and it can go along sand, it can go along tracks and into the water, which he really loves and that's the easiest forest. But when we traveled to Fiji, we couldn't take a manual wheelchair and a big beach wheelchair with balloon tires. It just wouldn't have been possible. So we took a freewheel attachment, which is something that adds basically attaches to the front of the footplate of the wheelchair and it adds a wheel at the front and it just helps navigate the sand. It's still not perfect. I will say that's better on compact sand, but it did make it easier when we needed it.

Marsh Naidoo (11:07):

Julie, we all are familiar with the resources at home. If anything actually happens to our kid's wheelchair how to get it fixed or if the wheel comes off the walker how to get that fixed or have the tools in the garage. But now what would be your tip for parents if they're making that plane trip or that international trip? What would be your tips for that?

Julie Jones (11:35):

Well, we always recommend getting a service before you go on your trip because you sometimes can pick up something that's just about to fall off before you actually even go. And so if you go to use your wheelchair manufacturer or where you would normally get it serviced, we get the wheelchair serviced and at that point we usually ask for a repair kit. And so we travel with small repair kit. My husband's quite handy, so if it was just me, I'd be useless. I wouldn't have a clue what to do with the kit, but he can manage it, so that's good. So if you take a repair kit with you, that's good to be able to just do basic things. For power wheelchair users I might touch base with the company where my son's wheelchair comes from ahead of time.

(12:22):

Say I'm traveling to the states, do you know of anywhere if the worst should happen that I could get my wheelchair repaired? So it's good to have, I always say spontaneity is wonderful, but planning a research makes much more successful trip. So if you have that information at hand, it's a little bit if you have, you're traveling with somebody who's bit medically compromised or in your own hometown, often ends up in hospital, it's really good to know at your destination where the local hospital is or medical information like that, how you could get additional suppliers of whatever kind you might need ahead of time just so you've got all that information either in your phone or printed out. So when something does happen, it's much more empowering if you sort of know that you've got a base of information to draw upon.

Marsh Naidoo (13:14):

In your experience, run into situations where, for example, a child with GI Fed and how parents would source something comparable once they reach their destination. Any experience with that?

Julie Jones (13:29):

Most people travel with their own formula or feed or whatever it is that they need and spares of everything. And you can ask the airline for extra luggage allowance. Not everyone will give it to you, but if you can prove that it's medically required, the airlines usually give you your luggage allowance plus two pieces and mobility equipment. But similarly, if you need to take some kind of feed or whatever, it's really best to take it with you unless you know that you can readily source it at the destination. So I know some people that have traveled to the States from Australia, for example, and they couldn't take the amount of continent supplies that they needed. So they contacted the company where they source their continent supplies from here and asked them where they'd be able to order it in the states, order it in the states and had it delivered to their hotel. So it was there for them. But obviously you wanna make sure that you don't arrive and need that supply instantly because we all know things can be delayed or things can go as strange.

Marsh Naidoo (14:40):

I love following Cory Lee on Facebook from listening to his podcast as well. One thing that they do mention that as adult travelers that require have accessibility needs there's always that fear as to whether their power, wheelchair or wheelchair is going to make it safe to their destination. And there's been talk about perhaps allowing the power wheelchair on flight. What are your opinions? Is that something, because you guys live in Australia, is there any kind of move towards that accommadation.

Julie Jones (15:20):

I think the "All Wheels Up" movement in the States is probably the most powerful and I know Corey very much supports the of the work that they're doing in that space. I feel we are still a long way off just simply because of the logistics of it. If you look at it purely from as a wheelchair user, everyone sort of just wants the wheelchair to just be able to click on to the aircraft just says it does saying in a bus. But I know we wanted to take a cushion to sit under Braden on a flight and we happened to mention it to the airline, which probably we shouldn't have, but we did. And they said, Oh, our engineering department will have to check it all. So what would happen in a crash? How does that alter what happens? So I suspect that as much as we'd all like it to be a very simple fix,

Marsh Naidoo (16:21):

It's not

Julie Jones (16:21):

I think that it isn't a simple fix because of the variance of wheelchairs. Everyone's wheelchair is a different size, everyone's wheelchair will probably perform differently in a crash. The postural support, all those things need to be taken into consideration in saying that, I don't know that the airline industry is motivated enough to fix the problem. So that would be the downfall there in the project. But I think it will come eventually. But I think whenever we don't have bathrooms on the air lines that are big enough to accommodate somebody using a wheelchair or somebody needing a companion to go in and help them toilet, we're a really long way off because that would be a much simpler fix than putting wheelchairs on flights. And I think there's gonna be limitations as to how many wheelchairs you can have on a flight, things like that. So I think it's a great goal to work towards and unless people are working towards it, we'll never get a solution. But I do think we are probably our way off having that solved

Marsh Naidoo (17:26):

With the little ones getting on. I know with our travels from South Africa to the states, what we used was Kellan's car seats. Are there any other options?

Julie Jones (17:39):

Some of the airlines offer an upper body torso harness, but it really depends on the age of the child and their upper body's strength as to whether that is enough. So that's like a car seat harness that you would get within your car seat. So it sort of goes over the shoulders. And again, that means that you need to sit in a certain seat within the aircraft because it has to anchor to an anchor point. So we used it once. Braden sits quite well. It was just more a case of trying to help him sleep. We thought maybe it didn't work particularly well for him but he gets quite agitated on long haul flights I think, because there's nothing happening. <laugh> he is always on the go. But definitely there are a lot of European airlines. I know Virgin allows certain seats as well, but if you don't have a child that can sit well, it's also good to have them comfortable on a flight

Marsh Naidoo (18:37):

Travel without limits?

Julie Jones (18:41):

Yes.

Marsh Naidoo (18:42):

Tell us more about the magazine that you guys have. Is it a magazine or a newsletter? Julie?

Julie Jones (18:48):

No, it's a magazine. It's a glossy travel magazine. Every beautiful publication that you can pick up in a news standard at an airport. I guess my passion came from having worked in the travel industry, not seeing any imagery of people with a disability traveling. When Braden was young, you'd see all these photos of parents climbing mountains and doing all these adventurous hikes and things, and that just didn't, we couldn't relate to any of that. So it's really about, I guess it's twofold. It's showing people what other people with a disability are doing. And that covers off not just wheelchair users, but people with autism, people who are blind, people who are deaf, various needs, people traveling with a guide dog, what they need. And it also hopefully shows the rest of the world what people with a disability are achieving, despite perhaps not everything being in place to make it as easy as possible.

(19:47):

So we want tourism industry to do better. We want cruise industry, airline industry all to do better. And I think they really need to see that people with a disability are traveling and the variance of what they do. We have some people who are quadriplegics doing whitewater rafting, skydiving, really adventurous things. And then there's just, you know, drop and flop type holidays where you arrive at a resort that's got nice successful accommodation, a kids club that will take children with disabilities, that sort of thing. So it's really about showing people what they can do, giving them an example of what other people are doing successfully and enjoying and hopefully also showing the travel industry what they can aspire to do better. <laugh>,

Marsh Naidoo (20:39):

Tell us more about the magazine. Who would it cater to?

Julie Jones (20:43):

So at ships worldwide, and it covers worldwide destinations, we have contributed worldwide contributors who have lived disabilities. So people like Corey have written for us. He's actually just done a story for me for the next edition of the magazine. We've got somebody in London who's a blind traveler talking about how to get around London and accessibility. So it's very much, we often have, we've got somebody in the states who specializes in autism travel, who often writes for us about autism. So I think in the current issue we've covered off New Zealand, Costa Rica, Asia, or Australia. So it's really very much it ships worldwide. It's also available on Amazon for people who wanted as an e reader. So it's downloadable on Amazon. So no, we definitely and are looking at it as worldwide publication.

Marsh Naidoo (21:39):

For that parent out there that is still really hesitant, what would be a good way to dip their toes in the water to find out about accessible travel and how that would work for their child? What would be a mini step or what would be a building block?

Julie Jones (21:57):

We always say just take the car and go somewhere a couple of hours from home. And if for any reason it doesn't work, you can return home. But I think small steps are very much about local travel working out when you get to your destination, well this worked for us, this didn't work for us, for example, we will pay more for accommodation where we can roll out the door with Braden's wheelchair. So for example, when we were in San Francisco, we paid a lot of money to stay at Fisherman's Wharf, but we didn't wanna have to wait around for the valet to bring the car and then load a wheelchair in and load Braden in and then at our destination, do it all in reverse and then when we get back to the hotel, do it again. So for us, the ease of being able to walk out the door at Fisherman's Wharf and having all the attractions there was worth paying more for us.

(22:47):

And we also know now if we're going on a local holiday somewhere where there's a beach where we can just walk out the door with beach wheelchair and get down to the beach is really nice. So I think over time you learn what equipment you can leave at home and what's gonna sort of drag you down on your trip and what equipment you need. And I think that often comes from having a staycation, even in your own city. Go to a hotel in your own city and visit the local attractions like a tourist and not feel like you have to go home at the end of the day. Whatever makes you comfortable, but just start small.

Marsh Naidoo (23:21):

Wow, awesome advice Julie, thank you for talking with us. This has been an amazing talk and I think this is valuable information for the listeners on the podcast. I mean it's in the middle of winter here in Tennessee right now. This podcast is done in the hopes of wishful thinking for warmer weather.

Julie Jones (23:46):

I think you always need to be dreaming. It's like with right people were still buying the magazine and I sure that's because they were dreaming of the holidays post covid or when things slowed down. So I think we all need dream and plan and that gets us through the cold times or the tough times.

Marsh Naidoo (24:04):

I would love to, once the podcast is done, attach links to your website as well, and this is work off the heart when you wanna share the joy something brings to your family and encourage other families in the process that's in my book.

Julie Jones (24:24):

I think we all have to remember that we are very busy with therapy and with doctor's appointments and sort of trying to achieve milestones and goals and things like that. And as parents we sort of take on this role of admin and therapy provider and because you know, go to an hour, hour of therapy, but then they send you home with all the homework that you have to do. So I think when you go on a vacation or a holiday as we call it here, you can take those hats off a little bit and put on the hat of being a parent. And I think it's really important to remember you're a parent first and those memories that you make on a trip away are something that you all live on for all those other times when you're doing therapy and admin and whatever. And I also think if a child with a disability has a sibling, it's super important to have those bonding times of a vacation. So that's why I'm such an advocate for it because I do think it's very easy to forget being a parent first.

Marsh Naidoo (25:34):

I was gonna ask you, are there any words you wanna end off with, but I think you nailed it with that

Julie Jones (25:39):

<laugh> <laugh>. I'm

Marsh Naidoo (25:42):

For parents that may wanna reach you, tell them again how they can Julie.

Julie Jones (25:48):

So we're at have wheelchair world travel.net and there's a contact page there. So if somebody has any questions, but we've got lots of information on there about equipment day to day not just travel because let's face it, I think travel is a sometimes activity that's Cookie Monster would say <laugh> it's not an everyday thing. So I think it's really important that as a family, we also share things like during Covid we built a home gym for Braden so he could continue his therapy at home and we wanted to share that with other people in the hope that it would help them. So I think if there's anything you can do when you're further along in the journey to help a parent who's coming out through the process or somebody who's just got an injury or a diagnosis, if you can just share something positive for them to hang onto at that moment, I think it's a really good thing.

Marsh Naidoo (26:43):

Well said. As always, thank you for listening to the Raising Kellan podcast and guys, feel free to share this episode in preparation of getting ready for some summer fun activities, share your summer adventures with us if you would like. And if you would like to be spotlighted on the podcast, we would love to hear from you at raisingkillengmail.com. So until we speak to you guys the next time, as always, remember, get to the top of your mountain. This is Marsh Naidoo othe is ,signing off.