My wife an I recently went took the Princess Lines on an Ocean Cruise to the West Indies.

Traveling for us starts with the dread of the burdensome extra  packing. It kind of takes the fun out of going.First you have to have all your med's? Is there enough,bring some extras,( just in case). Pack up your slide board and 15lb battery. This is all planned in advance but since I have to use them daily before the trip I have to live  out of a traveling case until the day we leave. Oh we also have to carry a heavy duty orange extension cord in case the ship doesn't have one, or when we get on board we find that our arrangements with the cruise line she somehow  been forgotten and they have no appropriate extension cord.

My wife starts getting ready in March for our cruise in June. She packs for herself, which is laborious effort by itself,  but then she has to pack for me. Strange how in one year, clothes that fit me perfectly well somehow have shrunk. I pointed out to her that nobody notices what cripples wear any way.. But with her calm wifely insistence and long monologue on personal value; I feely justly chastised. I buy clothes that  fit me.They're all extra large  so that I can get them on by myself, any  smaller and I have too too much pain in my neck, shoulder and arms to put them on by myself. So looking good means wearing clothes probably 2 sizes too large. Forget about winning the best dressed of the year award. Finally having appropriate tent-size clothing , My wife as packs them as perfectly arranged coordinates. God forbid, I don't wear them as planned.

Now I have skipped all the good parts.My wife now has to  coordinate dozens of calls if not more , She has to be sure the room will be large enough for my wheelchair.. She get precise dimensions the wheelchair and the room then checks that the bathroom is large enough for the wheelchair. She ask about the toilet and for as seat riser ( the seat riser was great until in a bit of turbulence it disengaged quite gracefully from the toilet with me on it and we slid across the bathroom floor kind of sounding like a tire breaking on wet pavement. Luckily with the exception of a red bottom, I was no worse for wear. Needless to say I did not use it again.

My wife did not miss checking out the shower for accessibility . This is vital on any trips-no lip on the floor and a place in the shower that you can seat on and get easily in and out. Always be aware of a slippery floor. One day trying disembark from the shower I suddenly realized my feet were moving without me. My wife was ready though and she grabbed me, We did a little tango before the momentum I had achieved brought us both down. It wasn't a pretty sight  but we disentangled and all was well-the injuries I sustained were minor!

Well, I'm too tired to tell you more now. I fill you in on the cruise in my next poetin.Meanwhile writ bout your traveling experience, especially obstacles and how you enjoyed yourself  despite them.