Prepare For Your Family Trip When You Use A Wheelchair
When you depend on a wheelchair for your mobility, you need to take this into consideration when you are preparing for a trip with your family. You are going to want to make sure you have everything that you are going to need before you leave your home and that you are as prepared as possible. Here are three things that you are going to want to make sure you do in order to be prepared for your trip:
1. Rent your travel vehicle ahead of time
If your family is renting a vehicle for your trip, then you need to be sure that the vehicle can fit the whole family, everyone's luggage, and your wheelchair. When you have a wheelchair, you can't go with a different type of vehicle at the last minute if the car rental place doesn't don't have what you need when you get there. This is why it is important for you to make your reservations ahead of time. Also, you want to make sure that nothing goes wrong on the car rental place's side, so it's a good idea to call one business day ahead of time just to make sure everything still looks good for your vehicle. If something has gone wrong, then this will give them enough time to make sure they have the vehicle you need by the time you need it.
2. Take care when reserving the hotel room
When reserving a hotel room, you should handle the reservations with a person over the phone instead of booking online. Let them know that you need a wheelchair-accessible hotel room. Verify it has a door wide enough for your wheelchair and a bathroom that is large enough for your wheelchair. Also, make sure that you get a room that has space on the side of the bed that you'll need in order for you to transfer easily and safely to the bed. You never want to assume they know you are in a wheelchair when you ask for an "accessible" room because many times they will say a room is accessible because it has grab bars in the bathroom and a comfort height toilet. You need to specify that you need "wheelchair accessible" when you are depending on a hotel to accommodate you and your family when you are out of town so you don't find yourself dealing with a major issue regarding a place to stay.
3. Get a folding wheelchair ramp
You should also purchase a folding wheelchair ramp to take with you if you don't already own one. In fact, you may want to purchase two of them, a longer one and a shorter one. Since you don't know exactly what length you may need while you are traveling, it's a good idea to be prepared with two. The good news is that they will fold up so they don't take up much room in the vehicle, so fitting them somewhere should be simple. If you can only purchase one, then you may want to opt for a longer one.