4 Travel Wheelchair Bloggers to Know
There’s nothing like leaning on the experience of others — especially when it comes to travel. Whether coordinating your daily itinerary or researching which hotel is the best fit for you and your family, relying on feedback from fellow travelers is an essential step in the planning process. This is especially true for those travelers with limited mobility.
Luckily, a thriving network of travel blogs written by bloggers with limited mobility makes finding information on the accessibility of destinations, hotels and overall trip plans easy. Below are four bloggers to follow.
We’ve previously written briefly about Cory Lee’s blog, but it’s worth bringing up again. Diagnosed at the age of two with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, Lee has spent most of life in a wheelchair. Despite limitations to his mobility, he refused to let this douse his desire to see the world, and his blog chronicles his many travels.
Along with some great travel tips and recaps of Lee’s own travels, you can also find interviews with fellow limited mobility travelers — many of whom run their own blogs — opening readers up to further travel insights.
Having traveled on six continents (Lee notes he plans on making it to Antarctica eventually), this blog is an excellent resource for anyone interested in learning about someone else’s firsthand experiences traveling with limited mobility, or anyone looking for some inspiration to accomplish things others may not think possible.
Simply Emma is written and maintained by a disabled woman from Scotland who primarily focuses on accessible travel. As a frequent traveler, Emma shares reviews of hotels and attractions, while also providing a wide range of lifestyle focused content. These include beauty tips, concert recaps, wheelchair fashion and general snapshots of Emma’s life, from ski trips to tips on how to go out and find new things in your own location.
It’s this diversity of posts which make Simply Emma stand out. The reviews of locations and hotels are great for prospective travelers, but Emma’s other posts really help a reader get to know her and put themselves in their own travel mindset.
Jeri with her daughter, Carrieanna.
This blog follows the travels of Jeri and her “frequent travel companion” and daughter Carrieanna, who due to Multiple Sclerosis relies on a wheelchair for mobility. Focusing on accessible travel and serving as a kind of running diary for Jeri’s many trips, this blog is an excellent resource for those traveling with limited mobility companions.
Relying heavily on images to tell the story behind each of her trips, Jeri takes the time to illustrate exactly what the accessible accommodations on each trip look like. It’s one thing to read about these in a brochure and another to see it for yourself, Jeri realizes. Her posts are thoughtfully written and provide plenty of tips for how those traveling with limited mobility companions can help make the trip as easy and free of stress as possible.
This blog came directly from an observation creator Jeanne Allen made once her diagnosis of multiple sclerosis necessitated the use of a wheelchair — it’s more difficult than it should be for limited mobility individuals to plan their vacations.
“In planning a trip to Chicago where I would be using my travel scooter for the first time, I did extensive research to find places that would be scooter-accessible, and found that accessibility information was limited. After spending hours researching my trip, I wanted to share my newfound knowledge,” she wrote.
Incredible Accessible sets itself apart from other sites by primarily using social media to tell its story. By following Jeanne on her Facebook and Twitter pages, you’ll receive valuable, in-the-moment updates on her many travels around the world. Along with plenty of images, Jeanne also posts videos explaining quick tips for how to make travel more accessible friendly. With the blog serving as her main hub, the connected social media pages allow readers to live these experiences along with Jeanne, breaking down some of the fear people might have around travel.