Travelling (accessibly) in a COVID world...

During a lazy Sunday breakfast Mrs S proudly told me she now had 2000 followers of her blog on Twitter.  She then went onto tell me that she thought it would be good to write about how we think we are going to travel in this new COVID world and that it would be good if I (Mr S) wrote it; that will teach me to talk about this sort of stuff over breakfast!

Over the period that we have been in lock down, we have continued to dream and plan future trips, but it’s fair to say that as this pandemic has evolved, so has our thinking about where and how we want to travel. We have moved from trying to take our first long haul trip as a family, really trying to put the airlines through their paces to support Miss S and her needs, to accepting the reality that, until a vaccine is developed it is likely we will be travelling in a ‘socially distanced bubble’.  

Our initial thoughts are, that as we have our first cruise booked for summer 2021 (and although we are not changing our plans...yet), we are now closely watching what the cruise industry (and specifically P&O) do to adapt to this 'new normal'. Cruise lines were early examples of how travelling in close confines caused the virus to spread extremely quickly, with the knock on effects being live streamed on our screens. We hope that the cruise industry can recover and thrive in this new world.

So what do we think our future travel plans look like travelling as a family with additional needs?

1.     Travel.  We will look to avoid spaces where it is difficult to socially distance.  For us this means flights and potentially ferries (Brittany Ferries appear to be working on social distancing, by enforcing the booking of cabins on their sailings). We will look to make use of our new Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle and if we are wanting to get to mainland Europe, we will be booking on Le Shuttle.

2.     Accommodation.  We love great hotels.  There is nothing better than checking in and being thoroughly spoiled, however we are unlikely to feel completely comfortable staying in hotels where social distancing proves difficult.  We are hopeful though! In the mean time we will definitely be looking to enjoy self-catering accommodation such as cottages in the UK or Gites in France. We had already been considering a stay in one, using either Air BnB or Accessible Holiday Escapes. Both have excellent advice and guidance on accessibility on their websites and these sort of holidays seem likely the obvious choice now.  We have yet to book through these companies so are not able to vouch for them personally, but hopefully like us, they will give you a sense of what is out there.

3.     Activity.  Space and lots of it!  In lock down we have all felt a bit cooped up at times and we will definitely want to get out there, travel, experience new cultures and importantly do all this with plenty of space.  Be it touring the Scottish Highlands (and tasting a ‘’wee dram’’) or heading down to the South of France and lazing by the pool in our very own Gite, space to relax will be a must.

So our plans, like everybody else, are going to change in the coming months, but rest assured it wont stop us adapting and overcoming these challenges to keep travelling and seeing the world as a family.