Travelling with Chronic Illness
Hi everybody!
So I am really excited I am going to London tomorrow for a few days to spend some time with my best friend Louise and to see some plays. London is not the most disabled friendly of cities and I find it can be a case of lots of planning when it comes to making it happen. Thankfully, Louise has lived all her life just outside London, and has suffered with chronic illnesses for most of her life so she is used to dealing with things and is great at navigating the city.
Both she and I suffer with fatigue so we have nothing planned during the days we are going to simply rest and concentrate on the two plays we have booked. Booking disabled tickets for theatres in London I have found to be a bit of a lottery, sometimes you get a free ticket for a carer, sometimes you have a terrible view it is all down to the individual buildings.
Planning travelling around the city can be difficult as well because the Underground system was built so long ago and most of the stations do not have wheelchair access because they do not have lifts. I have however, enjoyed seeing the city through travelling by bus, which can be hard to navigate, but all busses have lift access and wheelchair spaces.
Louise and I however, usually go by taxi, we are both disabled which means her parents do not need to worry about us as much and you can just sit back and relax. I will say though be aware that some taxi drivers can get grumpy when they see that you have a wheelchair so make sure to mention you use one when booking!
The biggest obstacle for me is not so much travelling within the city though, it is the journey to London, which thankfully is one train with no changes! They are easy to book, British Rail has a disabled booking line and you can call to book assistance which will be help on and off the train. Because I will be using my wheelchair they will use a ramp to get me on and off the train and I will get help both ends and both times I will be using it.
My anxiety comes into play because though I have booked assistance every time I have travelled, there has been a couple of times when nobody has come to get me off the train! This is incredibly scary and I get afraid that I will be left alone on the train unable to get off or taken somewhere far away! Thankfully my friend is meeting me off the train in London, and my husband is meeting me this end, I will of course be adding photographs to my instagram and updates to twitter so make sure you are following me for my London adventures which I will tell you all about when I get back!
Namaste xxx
