Able to Travel - Travelogues

Italy Su Ruote (On Wheels)

From mouthwatering pasta to awe-inspiring palazzi, Italy has been delighting tourists since the Roman Empire. But its ancient cathedrals and cobblestone streets — not to mention the canals of Venice — don’t exactly sound like anybody’s concept of accessibility for travelers in wheelchairs, right? Wrong, says Denise Ann McQuade, vice chair of United Spinal Association’s [...]

A True Taxi Tale

On June 19, 2007, my spouse and I boarded an Air Canada flight at New York City’s LaGuardia Airport for what we thought was a day trip to Montreal. I’m a quadriplegic and my injury is at the sixth cervical vertebrae. The purpose of this trip was my delivery of a presentation entitled “Advocacy for [...]

The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial

There is an exhilarating energy about the gateway arch that’s best felt sitting under the six hundred and thirty feet tall reinforced concrete and stainless steel structure. It’s the tallest monument in the United States, and some may argue the most stunning. The smooth graceful lines of the arch leap from the banks of the [...]

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando Resort was not only magical for the ABLE to Travel Muggles and United Spinal Association board member Michele Leahy but accessible as well. You enter the gates and to your right you see the train engine that left Platform 9 ¾ a short time earlier. As [...]

The Ledge at Chicago’s Willis Tower

We all love the satellite view on Google maps. It’s spectacular to look down on earth from above and see the geometry of city streets and to play the fun game of identifying buildings from their roof lines. In 2009 Chicago’s Willis Tower opened “The Ledge” which gives a new meaning to “satellite view” and [...]

A Few Testimonials

“We have returned from a wonderful vacation in Costa Rica! And we’d like to thank you very much for your help in making arrangements that worked out perfectly! The tour that [ABLE to Travel] set up…went off without a hitch…We did not encounter any really big problems traveling with a wheelchair.” –– Agnes & Herb [...]

Bon Giorno. Italy was great!

We traveled with two wheelchair users and total of eight people. I, a wheelchair user, but can walk and climb stairs short distances and Renee must always use a wheelchair. Our experience was as follows: JFK boarding we used our own chairs to the plane. The bulkhead seats worked perfectly for us. Arrival in Rome [...]

Everything Worked Out So Well

Dear Mary, Thank you so much for the arrangements that you made for me going to Orlando, Florida. Everything worked out so well that my stay in Florida surpassed

New Orleans on Wheels, with turkey

“I’m not cooking Thanksgiving dinner by myself,” my wife said. “Let’s go to New Orleans.” So we did. We went to New Orleans for Thanksgiving because 1) no relatives were visiting us, 2) our relatives live too far away for us to visit them by car for such a short time, 3) we used to [...]

Made It To Edmunton

Thank you for all your assistance on my trip to Edmonton. Without your help, I don’t think I would have made it. Well I promised you an article on my trip along with pictures so here it is. I went to Edmonton, Canada at the end of August 2006. I wanted to see the West [...]