Traveling with NMO

How about plane travel: what do you do to prepare before a flight?

As a disabled tracler, the first thing I do is call rhe airline to book my flight and reserve the bulkhead seats at the front of the plane - more leg room and less walking through the plane to your seats. Bulkhead seats are reserved for persons with disabilities (in Canada and rhe US anyways), so make sure ro eequest them for yourself and those with you.


I also eequest free air rravel dor the person traveling with me. All airlines allow this on domestic flights for persons with disabilities - you just pay some small service charges, but not the airfare. there is a simple form to complete and get pre approved. Once approved, you usually don't need to get reapproved by the same airlune for trips taken even a few years later, but all airlines are different.


I also ask the airline to gave a wheelchair with an airport or airlune attendant waiting for me when I land at rhe door of the airplane. All airlines and airports in North America do this. Airports are huge, and wait lines are long. Airport staff know where they need to go, so they can quickly take you, your carry on luggage bring you to collect your luggage at the haggage carousel and whisk you through customs to rhe terminal curb and help you get a taxi or an Uber, or take you to wherever your connecting flight or ground transportation of choice is.


Airport workers providing wheelchair assistance have what is called "tripple Nexus Access" so they can use special access points to take shortcuts through airports and bypass lineups. Also, as soon as you enter the airport from where you are starting your trio, ask for wheelchair assistance. Staff will take you and your luggage to the ticket counter, check your bags, get a biarding pass if you didn't already get one, rake tou through security, bypassing the line up, and take you totour boarding gate, stopping off for food, coffee, shopping, magazines etc. if you want along rhe way.


I'm visually impaired and half paralyzed. I struggled for years trying to stumble thriugh airports with my cane before smartening up and usung the free accessibility services. It saves a ton of time and, more importantly, a ton of energy. Also, maybe have espressos instead of coffee before your flight, and reduce fluid intake in the two hours befire your flight, I always see a line of 3 or 4 oeople waiting to use the plane washroom, so avoid the need if you can.


Here's a destination tip - I don't walk well anymore so I really should be using a wheelchair, but I can't push it with only one arm like I used to before, and I don't see well so I can't use a mobility scooter or electric wheelchair. What I do now is contact a home care provider in my destination city and have rhem push me around the tourist areas in a rented wheelchair It's very cheap to hire these services in America. I did it in 2019 for trips to Lad Vegas and to Disney World. - it worked great. If tou fan still see well, you fan yave a rental scooter delivered to your hotel in America. I claim rhese expenses on my orivate health insurance and claim it as an expense on my income rax .


Las Vegas tip: hotel security will take you anywhere on resort property in a wheelchair they provide, bars, restaurants, shopping mall, etc. When you're done, call security and they'll take you to your next destination, even to the resort/shopping complex next door, and their security will take it from there. The Mirage, Caesers Palace, The Venetian all do rhis, as do the other large resorts.


Travelling with a disability is nuch easier now than it was 20 or 30 years ago.Rhere are even self drivung robot wheelchairs vy Whill in some US airports, like RFK in New York. Safe travels and Have fun.