Your accessibility needs will depend on the type of disability that you have but here are some aspects you may want to consider and a good travel agent would mention:

• Accessible hotel room – Are there steps at the entrance?  How wide is the elevator?  How wide is the bathroom door?  Can a wheelchair be rolled into the shower and positioned next to the toilet?  Don’t trust a travel agent that only tells you they have arranged for an “accessible hotel”….if they can’t give you more details than that, you run the risk of arriving at a hotel that does not meet your needs!
• Getting to the hotel – Will you be taking a normal taxi?  A taxi with a wheelchair ramp?  An accessible bus?  An accessible train?
• Accessibility at the tourist sights – Which museums have steps to enter?  Which palaces have no elevator to get upstairs?  Which ancient ruins have uneven ground that is too difficult for people with wheelchairs or canes?  If the travel agency can not answer these questions for you, you might spend a lot of energy getting to a tourist attraction that you can’t actually visit.
• Getting around the city – How hilly is the city?  How prevalent are cobblestones?  Are they mild cobblestones or severe cobblestones?  How far are the tourist sights from each other? Which Metro stations have elevators?  Which bus routes have busses with wheelchair ramps?  Where can you find taxis with wheelchair ramps?

If a travel agent does not mention these details from the outset, you will probably encounter some difficulties on their trips.

Other disabled travel agents are very knowledgeable about planning accessible holidays, but may know very little about the destination you want to visit.  Consequently, they won’t be able to make helpful recommendations on what you should do while you’re there. Your best option for selecting a disabled travel agent is to find someone who understands the needs of disabled travelers, can customize the trip, and is knowledgeable about the destination.

If you are interested in traveling to Australia, consider using the Last Minute Flights.  Our agents have traveled extensively through Europe and understand the accessibility challenges you are likely to encounter.  We will customize your trip to take into account your particular interests, abilities, and energy level. You will see the sights that you want to see at the pace you want to move at.

Perhaps a spouse can’t travel any more and you have no one with similar interests to travel with? Or perhaps you’re concerned about safety and health or problems with unfamiliar languages and cultures?

If it’s too scary to think of heading off alone, try joining a tour group the first time, one where you’re likely to meet people with similar interests. Find a group that allows for free time to explore on your own and follow your interests. Being alone in a group combines the best elements of solo and accompanied travel. You always have people in the group to talk with and eat with, but you can also explore on your own, close your door, and savor your privacy.

Solo travel arrangements usually require paying some penalties in the form of financial supplements. If this is a deterrent or you don’t like the idea of going with a group, look for an organization that will supply you with a companion of your age and gender (see Solo Travel Resources box on next page). The risk is that you may not “click” with that person. But think of it as a short-term commitment: you’ve at least got to where you want to go and you may even have found a longer-term friend.

Real solo travels—where you decide the destination, read up on it, get your own tickets, and head off alone—is another matter. This is where you weigh concerns for personal safety and where women feel especially vulnerable (nearly all the solo travel advice is directed at women). While it might not be wise to strike out on your own to, say, Burundi, a shake-down visit to a more familiar culture like Mexico will get you started.

Perhaps the most important goal to keep in mind is to learn as much as possible about the people and places you’ll be visiting before you leave home and go out of your way to meet the locals when you’re there. You can do this in small ways: by admiring a gardener’s work, offering to take someone’s picture, asking for information about local landmarks, accepting an invitation into a family home for a meal, etc.

People everywhere, travelers and locals alike, are more willing to take up with singles than with pairs. So leave your shyness at home, pack your bag (preferably a rolling carry-on), and go for it!

People remain more vulnerable if they still operate on the premise of the days when they left the key under the mat or the house unlocked. Recently, I was visiting relatives in the US Midwest and was alarmed at their crime prevention attitudes. They routinely left their 3000 square foot home unlocked with patio doors open. Their opinion is that if someone wants to break in, they will. So why make it difficult; they will only damage locks and/or break windows. This is very foolish thinking. Criminals are basically lazy. If there are two houses side-by-side and one is locked and alarmed, even if they are high on drugs and looking for an adrenalin rush, they are more likely to choose the easy target!

Arm yourself with the latest information from the local police department, and try to think from inside a criminal’s mind-set – don’t make yourself a target. Start by removing all keys hidden outside your home. Let’s face it – there are only a few good hiding spots outside a house and if you think it is a good hiding spot, you are probably wrong. It is likely to be the same spot as most people use: under a mat, in a flower pot, in the mailbox, on the top of the door jamb, under a bush—how predictable is that? Install secure dead-bolts, and proper locks on windows. Place screws in the top window tracks on sliding windows, so windows cannot be easily lifted up-and-out from outside.

Get a monitored alarm system. It is affordable and can minimize damage if thieves do enter. Most people who have never experienced a burglary fail to fathom the damage and vandalism that occurs in the process. Install light timers and use them. Ensure that mail, junk mail and newspapers do not accumulate, leaving tell-tale signs of your absence. Arrange to have the lawn mowed and watered and make arrangements to secure the safety and care of your pets.

Next, build a “what-if” plan. Leave your travel itinerary with a trusted neighbor or friend. There are many reasons for staying in touch. Not only does it protect your home. It enables family/friends to reach you in case of a family emergency. It also secures your safety. Recently a retired couple was buried alive in a mud slide in BC and it was nearly a week before they were even announced missing. They were in the habit of not staying in touch, so the family simply didn’t think anything was wrong – until it was too late.

Given the circumstances of the slide it is unlikely that earlier notice would have saved their lives, however it would be a relief to a family to never have to question that. Set up a travel about to keep your family and friends involved with your trip. It will create a great diary and memory of your trip and gives a meaningful way to maintain contact.

Keep personal records, both with you and at home of your credit cards and travelers’ cheque numbers. Keep a back-up credit card and/or travelers cheques secure but separate. Keeping everything together could leave you stranded. Notify your credit company that you will be making more expenditure and that billings will come from your travel destination.

One week into my daughter’s trip around the world her bank phoned me and asked for her. When I said she was unavailable, they asked when they would be able to reach her. I stated she was on a lengthy trip and would not be accessible for some time. They asked me where she went and when I expected to have contact with her.

It was at that point that I became aware that the call had been triggered by the flurry of charges coming from Tokyo, Hong Kong, and China. If she had not been living with me, or had my response to the bank been different, they would have frozen her cards assuming she was being victimized by fraud.

Most travel by air has been affected by the World Trade Center attacks, and security criteria is constantly changing and becoming stricter.

Many of the things you could carry even a year ago are now prohibited. Simple things we could carry such as a bottle of water, now can only be carried on if it has been purchased beyond the check-in gates. Keep your luggage in sight at all times. You become liable if someone plants anything in your luggage. Remove all previous destination tags to prevent your luggage from going on its own vacation – alone. Place tags that list your name, address and telephone at the next destination point – making it easier for the airline to reunite you with your luggage if it becomes lost. It is wise for these tags to be somewhat private, so they cannot be easily read by the wrong people. Keep a list of the contents of your luggage and carry-on items so you will be able to tell the airline what you are missing if it goes astray and is never found.

Use a unique method of tagging your luggage for quick, easy identification when it comes off a carrousel. The more times your luggage goes around the circle without you grabbing it, the more likely it is to be lifted willfully or accidentally by someone else.

When there are 500 black suitcases going around and around, unless yours has some quick identifying feature it becomes unrecognizable. Beautiful expensive luggage is often targeted more than ‘tacky tourist’ suitcases with large pink daisy designs. The assumption on the part of the thief is “if that is how bad their taste is in luggage, what is inside is probably equally as unappealing”. Exercise your sense of humor – they will never know.

At your destination, do not leave cash or valuables in your hotel room. In fact, it is a good idea to leave all expensive jewelry home. Wearing expensive jewelry is like hanging out a sign – “I have expensive taste and my luggage may be worth going after”.

Lock your suitcases when leaving them in your room. It makes them more secure from unscrupulous housekeeping staff and also prevents the possibility of the suitcase being used to carry things out of the room.

Never open your door to an unexpected person or stranger. Look through the door viewer and use the security measures provided by the hotel for your protection while in your room. It is also possible to purchase an inexpensive motion sensitive alarm to hang on the inside of your room door. If an intruder enters, it will alert you. It is a terrible experience to wake up to a stranger in the room with you. We were once victims of a home invasion, and although we were unaware of the burglar’s arrival and departure – it took a very long time before we could sleep without feeling we were being watched. Protect your calling card numbers or pin numbers from people who may easily watch you, or snap your picture with a camera phone.

Missing home and the various other things that were important to you before you left is normal and is part of the transition into a new country and new culture. It can be especially hard if the culture of the country you have moved to is really different to what you were used to.

In the first few months or even the first year, you may feel as if you have lost your identity. Having this state of mind can amplify the feelings of missing home. Back home, people knew you and knew your personality. It may feel like you have to rebuild your identity. In some respects you have to, but it is important to remember why you moved to a new country in the first place. Maybe you wanted a fresh start in life. Grasp the opportunity this fresh start has given you. You could even give your personality a makeover and be someone new.

Dealing with missing home, friends and family can be made that much easier, but it takes effort. One of the important aspects you can do is to plan. Plan to make calls to friends and loved ones. Plan not to be alone. Don’t let yourself be alone too much as this is not good for your morale. Invite the new friends you make to spend time with you. Arrange for your family and friends back home to come and visit as much as possible. By being proactive and planning, you will have something to look forward to and this helps with the thoughts of missing home.

In this modern age of communications, there are many ways to keep in touch. Telephone, email, Internet chat and even via web cam video. Grasp the technology and get it working in your favor. You may feel that you are missing out on things at home, but imagine what a video of your nieces birthday party would do for you. Sure it would probably make you miss home, but you would still feel very much a part of what is happening back home and have not been forgotten.

Learn to fit in with the new culture you have found yourself in. Forget that back home you would celebrate Christmas like this, or would eat this on a Sunday. You are not at home so learn to live like the locals. Once you accept that the world around you is different, maybe then you will learn to live with it and feel part of something again. Perhaps that is when you can start to deal with missing home.

Missing home is difficult to overcome, but with effort, friends, a social life and enthusiasm to fit into this new life, it can be easier to deal with.

1 – Your Passport

Of course, but if you like to collect stamps in your passport, you’ll have to ask…

2 – A Little French

Yes, it is true that many Europeans speak English… But you’re in France, after all, and you’ll go a long way in avoiding the famed “snootiness” of the French if you learn -and use – some basic French phrases… They’ll love to help you as you stumble along in really bad French!

3 – A Map…

If nothing else, you can stand there, hopelessly lost on a Parisian street corner, and stare at your map… someone is sure to offer to help. Make sure you say “Bonjour and Merci…”

4 – An Umbrella…

“April in Paris” sounds romantic. It’s an American myth that April in Paris is the loveliest time to visit. May is better, but always expect some rain and always be prepared for changeable weather! The sun might be shining when you leave your Paris Hotels, but it might start raining any time!.

5 – Something besides jeans and sneakers...

That’s fine for walking around and seeing the sights of Paris. But when dining out, show respect for the dining experience that the French take so seriously. Dress for dinner, and you’re likely to get treated a lot better (remember those few French phrases you learned on the plane ride over…)

6 – Your Cigarettes…

Are you a smoker? Then you’ll love Paris! Smoking is allowed pretty much everywhere… If you’re not smoker, then you’ll just have to put up with the second hand smoke… Don’t even THINK of complaining about it!

7 – A Sense of Adventure…

Ahh… Paris, the City of Lights; the City of Love… All around are wonders of culture and history. Be a little curious and adventurous and you’ll find no lack of wonderful things to see, do, and enjoy. Paris is arguably the most beautiful city in Europe; enjoy its wonders with a sense of adventure…