Europe

---

 We are planning a trip to Germany next summer to visit some family. This trip is going to have a lot of obstacles for me. We plan to go to Germany, but we are also interested in France and England. Well, we are really interested in Ireland, Scotland and Italy as well but those will have to be other trips! My husband wants to go to France to visit Normandy Beach and my daughter and I want to go to some museums and the Eiffel Tower. We may have a layover in England if we do we have Buckingham Palace and Platform 9 ¾ on our list!

Air travel with a motorized scooter is possible. I have begun some research and I think I would have to check in my chair, I would not be able to wheel it onto and sit in my chair during the flight.

Renting a handicap vehicle is difficult, even in the US. I have found a company in Austria that rents wheel chair accessible vans and they will deliver it to and pick it up from the airport of your choosing in Europe. It is obviously going to be pricier that a regular rental car, but not by too much and definitely worth the cost to be able to get out and about to enjoy my surroundings. 

I will have to be extra careful when I book hotels in Europe, many of the smaller towns are not going to be ADA. Many of the tourist attractions have made accommodations such as side or back entrances so as not to change or disturb the historic façade of a building. I am ok with this, as long as I can still go in! 

My family members are adding to our list of places we want to go/ places we want to see. As places are added I am researching them on the location’s accessibility for wheelchairs. I have already found some places that we (or more I) can’t go. There is a beautiful church in Koln that my husband wants to go to, but I can’t climb them steps to the top. I did that when I was 18 though, so I will be ok sitting in the square and watching the performers. We want to visit Auschwitz, I know I may not be able to enter the buildings, but I can go and honor the history.

As we make reservations, I will post links to companies and places that have useful information!

Travel Notes:

https://www.paravan.de/beratung-service/paravan-mietwagen

https://www.handynamic.com/renting-a-wheelchair-accessible-van/delivery-all-around-europe/