Page 6 - The Mobility Project, 2022

New Horizons
“To find out about accessibility information in destinations,
I rely on other accessible travel blogs and Web sites, including LiveQuickie.com, and Facebook groups. One of my favorite Facebook groups is Accessible Travel Club, because it has over 13,000 members and for almost any destination I want to visit, some other wheelchair user has already been there and is willing to share their input in that group.”
Sylvia Longmire has not only traveled the world while in a wheelchair — she frequently travels solo, and she’s worked as a travel agent, specializing in accessible travel. Her newest book, What Happened to You? A Solo Wheelchair Travel Memoir (available for purchase on Amazon.com), is both an official record of where she’s been, and a deeply personal account of the people she’s met and truths she’s learned from traveling.
While criss-crossing the globe — more than 50 countries visited, more than half of them while flying solo — Longmire, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2004, has had plenty of opportunities to hone her travel-planning skills.
“The sad part is that it takes me probably three to four times as long to plan for a trip as it does for a non-disabled person,” she said. “I often work in reverse. Some people do the flights first, then they’ll do the hotel, then they’ll do the reservations for sights and attractions. I have to work backwards.”
That means starting by checking our her destination, Longmire noted: “Let’s say, Paris,” she said, as an example. “The first thing I’m going to do if I want to go to Paris is to research: Is there anything for me to do there? Is the Louvre accessible, is the Eiffel Tower accessible? Is there enough there that I can do to make it worth the hassle of getting there?
Sylvia Longmire in St. Mark’s Square, Venice, Italy.
“Some people say it’s not the destination, it’s the journey. Nope! For me, the journey sucks; it’s all about the destination! If there’s a lot to do, awesome.”
Step two: “Is there a way for me to get to those places? So, transportation is next. I can have accessible things to do, I can have a great hotel room, and I can have an easy flight. But if I don’t have a way to get from the airport to the hotel, or the hotel to these sights, then it doesn’t do me any good to go there. So transportation is #2, and that can be accessible taxis or public transportation. It could be an accessible tour company that has a van. I have to find one of those things.
“Then the next thing is the hotels. Is the hotel within rolling
Travel Q&A with Sylvia Longmire
Name... one non-essential item you always travel with.
I’m a very lightweight, stream- lined traveler. And I’m not
an especially sentimental person. Because I travel alone, I need to travel with the bare minimum of things. It’s rare that I have anything with me that is non-essential.
...your favorite city if you have just one day in town.
Venice. My favorite city is Vienna, but I was able to do Venice in a day, and I wrote a lengthy blog post about this. I was there as part of a cruise, and I did it, and it was phenomenal.
...your favorite recent meal.
I live in the Orlando (Fla.) area, and Columbia Restaurant — it’s
Spanish food — has tapas and full plates. But their Spanish chorizo and their garlic shrimp and their gazpacho... their gazpacho is so good! There’s
a location about an hour from me, in Celebration (Fla.). But I’ve been to all their locations.
...your favorite thing to do when you’re visiting a city, but the weather is bad.
I’m a total museum geek, and I will fly somewhere just to go to
art museums. I prefer contempo- rary, modern art. I did the Met [in New York] in two hours, and
it wasn’t nearly enough [time]. But that’s how I felt in the Tate Modern [in London]. I was in the Tate Modern for three hours, and I felt I could have spent at least the entire day there.
...the friendliest country you’ve visited.
Dublin, Ireland, was amazing
as far as people being friendly.
I can’t say enough about the Irish. Sydney [Australia] is a close second.
...your favorite way to travel.
Cruises, hands-down.
...a travel habit you’ve picked up.
I’m a huge chocolate fan. In
every country I visit, I buy choc- olate made locally for myself, my mom, and my neighbor. I think I’ve been able to get chocolate from 20 or 21 countries. And when I get back, the tradition is we sit around a table and try the chocolate, and we compare it to past chocolate. That’s my tradi- tion for pretty much anywhere
I go. Sprüngli from Switzerland has been the best so far. m
6 2022 | THE MOBILITY PROJECT MobilityMgmt.com
VENICE: DEPOSITPHOTOS.COM/BOROJOINT. CHOCOLATE: DEPOSITPHOTOS.COM/TILOLIGO