Because the American thinker John Dewey as soon as wrote, “We don’t study from expertise… we study from reflecting on expertise.”

The content material of this web site is drawn from my experiences, which have fashioned my perspective on accessible journey and the vital work that have to be finished to make the world accessible to us all. Annually, I look ahead to the vacation season as a chance to take a break and look again on the yr — now, I share that annual reflection with you, proper right here on this article!

2024 was a particular yr through which I traveled around the globe, flew greater than 100,000 miles throughout 100+ flights, visited 13 nations (together with two new ones — Monaco and Liechtenstein!), and I’m glad to report that the man who robbed me in New York didn’t get away with a lot.

I share my high 10 journeys of 2024 under, with the purpose of inspiring your individual adventures and revealing what’s vital to me as a traveler. The listing is introduced in chronological order quite than as a rating.

Spokane, Washington — 10 Years of Accessible Journey

On January 5, 2024, I traveled to Spokane, Washington to have fun the 10-year anniversary of my first journey and flight as a wheelchair consumer. As I described within the January 3, 2024 Wheelchair Journey E-newsletter, this “flightversary” was considerably impromptu and I used to be centered on making a fast journey to a vacation spot that I had by no means visited earlier than.

Not solely was this my first journey to Spokane, however my first time visiting Jap Washington. Because it seems, Washington is a various state with a wide range of landscapes, and I discovered Spokane to have the kind of “vibe” that I like — easygoing, artful and a bit tough across the edges. I hope to return sooner or later to analysis and develop a extra detailed journey information — however within the meantime you’ll be able to learn my Spokane Wheelchair Accessible Journey Report back to study extra about my journey, how I received round, the place I stayed, and which of the town’s wheelchair accessible actions I used to be capable of expertise.

Dallas, Texas — 2024 Complete Photo voltaic Eclipse

On April 8, 2024, a uncommon complete photo voltaic eclipse handed by way of the guts of the US, and I wished to be there! Readers of the Wheelchair Journey E-newsletter voted on which metropolis I might watch from, and I wrote an article about how I deliberate an accessible journey to see the Photo voltaic Eclipse. Voters despatched me to Dallas, Texas, the place NASA, NOAA and the Nationwide Science Basis hosted an official watch occasion on the Cotton Bowl, which attracted 1000’s of individuals from across the nation.

Complete Photo voltaic Eclipses are uncommon cosmic occasions, and we solely have so many alternatives to witness them in our lifetimes. The following such eclipse is not going to reappear over the 48 contiguous United States for some 20 years! I used to be very excited to be attending the official NASA occasion, which was presupposed to be hosted by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson (he was a no-show), however ended up shocked by the shortage of planning round accessibility.

You may examine what occurred in my article, NASA’s Photo voltaic Eclipse Occasion in Dallas Missed the Mark on Accessibility. Briefly, wheelchair customers who remained within the designated wheelchair accessible seating space DID NOT see the eclipsed solar as a result of the sensible individuals at NASA had not thought-about the expertise of disabled attendees. Nobody from the company has reached out since I printed this story final yr. Regardless of the poor planning by NASA, fast considering on my own and different wheelchair customers meant that we created accessibility for ourselves the place it didn’t exist — and seeing that made the unimaginable eclipse a bit sweeter than it would in any other case have been. Disabled persons are among the world’s finest downside solvers.

Glasgow, Scotland — A promise (lastly) saved

In April 2024, I traveled to London, England for a gathering on the legal guidelines and insurance policies impacting accessibility in air journey and, after the assembly, traveled to Scotland to maintain a promise — a promise to go to one in every of my absolute best buddies on the earth of accessible journey, Emma Muldoon of Merely Emma.

I met-up with Emma in Glasgow, Scotland however, quite than flying from London, I traveled in a single day on the Wheelchair Accessible Caledonian Sleeper Prepare from London’s Euston Station to Glasgow’s Central Station. It was an effective way to journey, and an expertise I look ahead to repeating!

Glasgow is a formidable metropolis, and it provided up one in every of my extra memorable vacationer experiences in the UK. Along with catching-up with Emma, I used to be capable of discover what proved to be a really walkable and rollable metropolis, whereas visiting star sights just like the Kelvingrove Artwork Museum, Glasgow Science Centre and the Riverside Museum, which has on show one of many world’s first wheelchair taxis!

Fort Wayne, Indiana — Energy of Tourism Keynote Handle and a Family tree Breakthrough

In Could 2024, I visited the Metropolis of Fort Wayne, Indiana for the primary time, with the aim of delivering the keynote deal with at Go to Fort Wayne’s inaugural Energy of Tourism occasion, and to develop a Fort Wayne, Indiana Wheelchair Accessible Journey Information. My expertise visiting the town and its world-class vacationer sights led me to label it as my 2024 “Hidden Gem” of Accessible Journey Locations.

Throughout my keynote on the awards luncheon, I spoke about my life expertise, each as a nondisabled traveler and wheelchair consumer, and shared my four-step course of for creating accessible journey services and products. I repeatedly harassed the significance of participating with disabled individuals at each step of growth — enter from these with lived expertise is vital to making sure that bodily areas, services and products are thoughtfully designed and accessible to everybody.

My speech was well-received, and I used to be met by many native enterprise house owners and managers who dedicated to incorporating my solutions into their work.

I’ve in depth expertise chatting with audiences each massive and small about a wide range of matters referring to my life with incapacity and the enterprise case for accessible tourism. Discover ways to rent me to talk at your occasion!

Hamburg, Germany — Competitors for a Wheelchair Area for Airplanes

In 2023, I used to be the primary wheelchair consumer to check out the Air4All prototype, a wheelchair house for airplanes developed by Delta Flight Merchandise. The prototype was unveiled on the Plane Interiors Expo in Hamburg, Germany. It was an thrilling second and an vital first step.

In Could 2024, I returned to Hamburg to see the newest iteration of the Air4All wheelchair securement house — Delta unveiled not solely an up to date model of its preliminary prototype, but in addition a model new prototype designed for the economic system class cabin.

However the true story at AIX wasn’t Delta’s praiseworthy progress, however quite the entrant of a competitor in Collins Aerospace’s wheelchair securement house. Delta Flight Merchandise’ Air4All resolution, unveiled a yr earlier, had signaled to plane interiors producers {that a} new product was deemed viable not by incapacity rights activists, however by a significant business participant — one of many world’s largest airways! With the introduction of Collins’ resolution, a race is actually now underway, and it’s an thrilling step ahead on the trail to a bona fide wheelchair house within the plane cabin.

The Plane Interiors Expo is going on a month earlier this yr, in April 2025, and I’m counting down the times to reporting on the newest developments in accessible air journey!

In case you worth my reporting on accessible journey within the airline business and elsewhere, please take into account upgrading to a paid subscription to my Substack E-newsletter. Due to the help of paid subscribers, I’m capable of cowl vital occasions within the journey business — delivering vital evaluation from a incapacity perspective.

Vaduz, Liechtenstein — 2nd Time’s The Allure to Go to Europe’s 4th Smallest Nation

Simply over 60 sq. miles in dimension, Liechtenstein is Europe’s fourth-smallest nation behind San Marino, Monaco and Vatican Metropolis. The German-speaking principality is situated between Austria and Switzerland and, as a result of it has no airport and restricted vacationer infrastructure, it receives fewer guests than any nation in Europe apart from Moldova. After a failed try to go to the nation in 2022 due a damaged wheelchair that pressured me to cancel my journey, I lastly made it to Vaduz in June 2024.

I traveled to Liechtenstein on a practice from Zurich to Sargans, Switzerland, adopted by a bus from Sargans to Vaduz. There, I used to be capable of go to plenty of vacationer sights, together with the Nationwide Museum, Treasure Chamber and St. Florin Cathedral. Although it was solely a day journey, it was a really packed day full of discovery that I actually loved.

In case you’d prefer to discover ways to plan you personal journey to this stunning principality, try my Vaduz, Liechtenstein Wheelchair Accessible Journey Information.

France — 2024 Olympic Video games

I’m an enormous fan of sports activities, and traveled to the Olympic Video games to see a few of my favourite sports activities performed on one of many grandest levels, particularly tennis and soccer (soccer). However the underlying goal of the journey was to evaluate the accessibility of these video games, within the hopes that I would deliver again data and expertise that would profit the key worldwide sporting occasions that may quickly be hosted by the US: the 2026 FIFA World Cup, 2028 Summer season Olympic and Paralympics in Los Angeles, and the 2034 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Video games in Salt Lake Metropolis, Utah.

I discovered rather a lot throughout my journey, and actually loved the sports activities — together with watching the U.S. Ladies’s soccer staff finest Brazil, 1-0, in an exhilarating gold medal match, and seeing a number of gold medal tennis matches on the iconic Stade Roland Garros, web site of the French Open.

I hosted a small meet-up with Wheelchair Journey readers in a Paris, France cafe, and had many different probability conferences with e-newsletter subscribers — together with on a sightseeing boat in Marseille, and on the Parc des Princes soccer stadium in Paris. It was great to see so many disabled individuals on the Olympics, readers and non-readers alike! These occasions needs to be accessible to everybody and, whereas Paris didn’t get all the things proper, there have been plenty of constructive enhancements to be happy with.

Denver, Colorado — Gregory Alan Isakov at Crimson Rocks Amphitheater

The long-lasting Crimson Rocks Park and Amphitheatre is broadly thought to be among the best out of doors live performance venues, and seeing a efficiency there has lengthy been on my bucket listing. Situated about half-hour’ drive from Downtown Denver, getting there’s a bit tough as there isn’t a public transportation and the shuttle bus corporations illegally refused to present me a experience. Fortunately, a neighborhood Wheelchair Journey reader gave me a raise, and I used to be capable of see one in every of my favourite musicians in live performance underneath the attractive Colorado evening sky.

The live performance was unimaginable, and I can say that the venue will not be overrated — my seats in row 1 have been spectacular, and the environment was mesmerizing. The 70 rows of seats chiseled into the facet of an historical rock formation, the Metropolis of Denver’s colourful skyline seen from the higher rows, and its unmatched acoustics all contributed to a improbable evening.

Barcelona and Madrid, Spain — 2024 Wheelchair Journey Group Journey

Readers from across the nation met me in Spain in September for what proved to be a very memorable journey. It was my first group tour in Spain, and I used to be desperate to share the unimaginable cities of Barcelona and Madrid with a very great group of individuals — together with some returning vacationers who had joined me on previous group journeys!

We visited iconic locations, together with the Benedict Sanctuary of Montserrat, based in 1025 and constructed atop the mountain of Montserrat, which reaches a top of 4,051 toes (1,236 meters) above sea stage. There we loved a efficiency by the Escolania de Montserrat, one of many oldest boys’ choirs in Europe that has existed because the 14th century.

One other of the various highlights of the Spain group journey was the gastronomy — we loved distinctive meals all through the tour, and tasted native dishes like paella, served in a centuries outdated household restaurant that produces its personal olive oil. Group journeys have completely change into my favourite a part of the yr, and I look ahead to assembly you on a future tour!

If you want to get early entry to future group tour itineraries, please take into account upgrading to a paid e-newsletter subscription. Paid subscribers are the primary to obtain tour bulletins, and journeys usually promote out earlier than being made accessible to free subscribers. Your readership and help are instrumental in supporting my work in accessible journey.

Lisbon, Portugal — 2024 Wheelchair Journey Group Journey

In October 2024, I traveled to Portugal with a bunch of Wheelchair Journey readers — it’s my most visited group tour vacation spot, and I used to be thrilled to share it with much more vacationers!

We visited unimaginable cities like Lisbon, Sintra and Nazaré, toured the Ajuda and Monserrate Palaces, and loved among the finest in Portuguese delicacies.

These excursions imply an important deal to me, and I’m seeking to develop them sooner or later. What continues to amaze me are the unimaginable friendships that type out of those journeys — individuals from across the nation and world who change into quick buddies whereas exploring locations that excite and encourage. I hope you’ll be a part of me on an accessible group journey sooner or later!

Ultimate Ideas and Plans for 2025

The ten journeys listed below are highlights from a whirlwind yr of accessible journey, however they don’t present the total story. Journeys to Washington, D.C. to advocate for elevated funding in accessibility, to Cambridge for the All Wheels Up International Discussion board on Wheelchair Accessible Air Journey, to San Francisco for the TravelAbility Summit, and to so many different locations have been critically vital. A lot of the work I do isn’t flashy and would possibly sound boring, however advocating for a extra accessible world — and exhibiting you how one can navigate the one we have now — is my mission and goal.

Within the New Yr, I hope to deliver extra of that work into focus, offering alternatives so that you can become involved in advocating for the accessible world we dream of, whereas persevering with to encourage disabled individuals to journey, transfer and discover.

Look out for some large information to return and, in case you’d prefer to help my work, you’ll be able to be a part of the staff by subscribing to the Wheelchair Journey E-newsletter. Your help makes all the things that I do attainable, so thanks!