Travels with a Scooter and Broken Ankle

I injured my foot about 2 weeks before we were supposed to leave for a cruise to the Virgin Islands and Bahamas. We had this trip planned since August. It was friends trip. There were 10 that were supposed to go on the trip.

In the first few days after hurting my foot, I really just hoped it would start getting better. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. After finding out that it was most likely a Lisfranc injury and that I would not be able to bear weight for at least 12 weeks, we really considered cancelling the trip.

Patrick and I bought insurance when we originally booked the cruise. The week of the cruise, we called the cruise line to ask how late we could cancel. They only needed 24 hours notice and a doctor's notice would be needed in the next week or so. If Patrick and I had been going on this cruise alone we probably would have done this, but we had other factors to consider. We could reschedule our trip, but not the people going. We would miss out on the friends trip and I would be sitting at home pissed that I wasn't experiencing everything with them. We would also lose hundreds of dollars on flights and a hotel room in Florida.

A week or so before the cruise I bought a scooter, just in case I decided to go on the trip. I also called Delta to find out their policy on bringing assistive devices on the plane. They are allowed, they just have to be checked at the gate if they can't fit into the overhead bins. They also set up for me to have a wheelchair at every gate, moved my seats to the aisle and the closest available to the exit, and even switched one of our flights so I could have a longer layover (it was originally only a 30 min layover).

Two days before we were supposed to fly out, we decided we were going for sure. I finally started packing and tried to get re-excited for the trip. One plus to having a foot injury is that you only have to pack one of every shoe--which means you can pack more options, right?!

So let me just say that when our trip started, I had only been on the scooter for a few days. I was not used to it at all.

We got to the airport and checked in. The attendant didn't offer me a wheelchair. I used my scooter which I thought would be fine, but you know what? Airports are big. My "good" leg was incredibly tired getting through. There were a ton of people at security, they wouldn't let me keep my one shoe on--this really isn't a big deal normally, but they also don't have chairs. I had to sit on my scooter to be able to get my shoe off. They then tried to take my scooter from me. Yo, I'm not going to hop to the xray, balance on one leg for a minute, and then have to hop out. Not happening... so I had to be frisked. It took them 5-10 minutes to find an attendant that could do it. I was padded down in front of everyone. To be fair, she asked me if I wanted to go to a room, but I was very done with everything at that point.

By the time we got to our terminal, I was incredibly frustrated. I told Patrick I wanted to go back home. Luckily, he didn't let me.

Our actual flights went pretty well. I had a wheelchair waiting for me at each gate, but I ended up electing to use the scooter. Just a note: I do wish I had used the wheelchair service just for the exit ramps. A lot of them are very steep. It was a lot of work to get up it and to not roll back down. So if you're ever in a situation like mine... use the wheelchair.

We booked a hotel near our cruise terminal a few months before the trip. Handicap accessibility wasn't on my radar when we booked it.  It turns out the hotel was large and spread out. All of the sidewalks were rocky (purposefully). It looked nice and I wouldn't have thought a thing about it if both of my feet had worked.

I had to watch every step I made. The wheels of the scooter do not allow for any bumps. It they hit one and you aren't paying attention, it's very easy to lose balance and even tip the scooter. This was nothing but bumps. I made it though--just very slowly and crankily.

I want to point out that the hotel was very pretty, had a nice pool, a bar, they even a DJ. I just had a difficult time getting around.

Cruise Ships, for the most part, are handicap accessible. A lot of elderly persons go on cruises so accessibility is important. Checking in was very fast for me. I got to skip lines all over the place with my scooter (one of the major pluses of this injury).  Like with the exit ramps at the airport, the ramps to get on and off the ship are steep. Request a wheelchair in advance--even if you aren't sure you'll need it. I was exhausted and had to take multiple breaks on the ramp, using my scooter.

Norwegian's crew was great. At breakfast, I always had an attendant offer to carry my tray and get food for me. They allowed me (and the rest of my group) to sit in special areas at shows. They even got me to and from a beach chair on the private island, using a fancy big-wheeled chair.

I only had a couple issues on the ship.  On the ships there is a a raised portion that connects the 2 floors and prevents a gap. I had to ramp over/pick the front wheels up and over them every time there was one. This was a minor issue. There also weren't many handicap accessible bathrooms. The regular bathrooms
require you to step up into them and all had skinny stalls that the scooter wouldn't fit into. I had to travel quite a bit farther to be able to get to the handicap accessible bathrooms. The ones they had were nice though. The door will even open for you and you just need to press a button to lock and unlock (so fancy :)).  The cruise ship was very large and the elevators are located on opposite sides of the ship. I would often have to go double or triple the distance than I otherwise would have, if I could use the stairs.

My biggest issue was the other people on the ship. I was on a scooter and had a boot on. I had multiple people run straight into my boot, jump in front of me in line for elevators (20-30 something year olds with 2 working feet), and multiples of people cut me off when I was rolling.  I'm still a little bitter about this one--it still happens everywhere.

Some people were fantastic though, including the friends we went with. I was hit with all the elderly cruisers. I think I  had more strangers talk to me on the first day than anyone else did their entire week combined (haha). The friends we went with tried to include me in the most that they could, would often walk longer than they needed to so I could use a ramp, elevator, etc., and kept me in good spirits (this is the most important one--I can often get in my head and bring myself down for not being able to do something or another).

While the cruise ships are very handicap accessible, excursions are not so much. I had the option of cancelling them if I gave 2 days notive beforehand, but I tried to make it work. For the most part, I did.

Our first top was in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. The streets and sidewalks were all a rough, rocky, concrete making it hard to travel on with the scooter. Luckily, we didn't have to go far to get to our boat for our trip to Virgin Gorda. On this excursion, once you get to Virgin Gorda you have to swim from the boat to the island and back. You then go on a walking tour of the Baths. I knew I couldn't do the walking tour, but figure I could get to the beach. The water was rougher than normal and the crew wouldn't let me try to swim one footed to the beach, so instead they offered to swim me there. Really... they swam me to the beach. I held onto a life preserver and a guy took me in and then picked me up and carried me on to the beach. The rest of the tour went on to explore the baths and a staff member swam me back when it was over. On the way back, I helped out a little bit more by kicking with my one foot. After that, I felt pretty confident that I would be able to swim on our other excursions (with a life jacket on, of course). When we got back to Tortola, we still had a few hours before we needed to be back on the ship. Due to the sidewalks being so rough, we ended up going back to the ship.

The next day we went to St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. We took a boat to Turtle Cove and Honeymoon Beach. I successfully snorkeled one-footed with turtles and then just hung out in the water with some drinks at Honeymoon Beach. I never had to get on the beach, which made everything quite a bit easier. The most difficult part was getting in and out of the boat. I had help jumping from land to the boat originally and my knees and shins had some bruises getting back on from the ocean, but I made it. The actual town of St. Thomas was easier for me to get around than it was in Tortola. We were able to have lunch and hangout on the island for a few hours.

Our last excursion was to Norwegian's private island. You ferry from the ship to the island. It's a two story ferry. To get in and off the ship you use the 2nd floor and to get in and off the island you use the 1st floor. When we got to the island, I had to hop down a flight of the stairs and on the way back, had to hop up. Luckily, the had wheelchairs specifically designed for the sand. I don't know what we would have done without these... I probably would've had to piggy back the whole time. An attendant took me to a beach chair of my choice and picked me up at the end of the day. I felt a little bit bad about this one. It didn't look easy.

To actually get to the ocean and back, I was carried or on one occasion had to be held up by friends on either side and I hopped back to the chair. Definitely inconvenient, but better than being stuck on the boat or beach chair. Once in the water, I did fine. We snorkeled for hours. I think I even out swam Patrick being one foot down.

Overall, I'm very glad I ended up going on this trip. Yes, It would have been better if I had 2 working feet, but we made it work. I enjoyed myself, I was able to do almost everything I wanted to, plus I wasn't sitting at home feeling sorry for myself. It took more work on my part, Patrick's, and even some on our friend's, but it was worth it.