Chelsea Bear

Being in quarantine certainly has me reminiscing on all of my travels. Especially this month, because exactly one year ago I was preparing to venture off to Europe for the first time ever. I was definitely last minute ordering the necessities from Amazon right about now. 😋

I was also experiencing an array of mixed emotions, primarily excitement and nervousness. I was really looking forward to a once in a lifetime trip but had hesitations about the unknown of what accessibility was like overseas. Anytime I go to a new place I have concerns about my ability to navigate through a new city with my scooter, but being in a new country thousands of miles away from home, brought another layer of those concerns.

Why was I going? Because I never turn down an adventure and one of my best friends (Caitlin) was planning the trip to celebrate her birthday. It was just the two of us, and I hate to rely on another person to lift scootz in taxis, up steps, etc.! but, overall the trip rarely came to that, was seamless and I honestly was blown away by the accessibility options. We travelled to London, Edinburgh and Barcelona!

Going to spotlight each country in a separate blog post to recap my experience: so for today’s Travel Tuesday blog we’re back in London Town with the royals! ‘Twas our first stop off the plane from Miami. Direct flight, FTW. *Disclaimer, I’m writing these one year after the trip, so some details may be fuzzy. Going to try to include the highlights!*

We arrived first thing in the morning so had a full day ahead of us – jet lag and all. After taking a train from Heathrow into the city, we had to find a taxi. I was fully in panic mode expecting not to fit into a taxi with scootz and our luggage! But after like five minutes of waiting, a regular sized cab halted next to us and insisted he could fit us and our baggage. I was in disbelief. But sure enough the taxi was fully equipped with space and most importantly, a ramp! I literally took a quick scoot up the ramp and was in the taxi. Boom. This as my first experience in London had me feeling immediately at ease about the future of this trip. Ubers/Lyfts in Florida are not accessible unless they’re an XL so this was an unexpected surprise.

Fast forward, we checked into our *AirBNB* flat and started to explore. Kicked off the day with a river tour of Thames and then a loop around the London Eye. This really set the groundwork for the trip, matching history with landmarks in front of my eyes! Then we were off to the pubs because ~priorities~.

London was incredible. We hit all of the hot spots, historical monuments and even had some incredible friends to meet up with who were able show us the local spots. So much history, beautiful sights, welcoming people, and unforgettable memories were made in just three quick days. From an accessibility standpoint, I never have the opportunity to take the tube, but was frequent to the famous red bus – which also had ramps and were super easy to flag down!

I miss this city and know there’s still much more I need to see. And I hope one day I make it back! But in the meantime, especially on lockdown due to COVID-19, I’m so grateful to have had the time I did to see the sites and experience the atmosphere. I wouldn’t trade one moment (even my scooter dying while touring the Tower of London, sorry Caitlin 🙃) of this trip.

There’s my compact recap! Looking forward to going down memory lane of my other travels very soon.