An ongoing adventure of travel and living while using a wheelchair. Tim has been disabled from birth. Darryl is his father and caregiver who travels with him.
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Well, we landed in Nassau with little to do and really nothing planned. The one, good wheelchair accessible shore excursion...a glass bottom boat tour...was cancelled due to lack of interest. We were offered a tour of Atlantis, the giant resort and waterpark nearby, but that would have cost us almost $500. But, when the world gives us lemons, we make lemonade. Nassau is a wonderful place for a pub crawl.
Watch the Video!
Our first stop was a hot, uphill hike to John Watling's Rum Distillery.
This old plantation sits on parklike grounds up above the town. A great house commands the land, with the distillery in a barn out back. We take a little self-guided tour before going into the bar to sip the very tasty and expensive rums.
The rum is good and gives us the inspiration to hike back down the hill to the water where we find the Bamboo Beach Bar and Tiki Bikini Hut. We're hot and hungry from the long walk so we split an order of fries. Tim has a lemonade, a local Kalik Radler beer for Letty, and a Kalik Gold for me. I'm not one for the super sweet tasting radlers (like a lemon shandy in the States) but the cold Gold really hit the spot on that hot day. Next, we walked down to a better part of the beach and had delicious Bahama mamas at Gloria's on the Beach, a little bar shack on the sand that had a wooden deck I could get Tim's chair on.
They also had a drink called the bitch slap, which was advertised as the "strongest drink on the beach." Letty strongly suggested I should skip that one. Our last stop was the Pirate Republic Brewery and pub back by the cruise ship dock. Here, we had a very good mug of cold kolsch beer, brewed on premises. The server, seeing that my wife wasn't really having a great day, treated us to several shots of John Watling's rum on the house. Nicely liquored up from our day in Nassau, we wobbled back on the ship to rest off the buzz before our nighttime activities. Cheers! Darryl Musick Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved
Last night, Tim and I went to the excursion counter on board Royal Caribbean's Enchantment of the Seas to see if we could find a wheelchair excursion for today's port visit in Nassau. We were waiting to talk to our new friend from Chile but he was stuck trying to explain to a woman why her 16 and 14 year old kids could not be turned loose on an excursion in a foreign country without an adult chaperone.
She was having none of it and the conversation was growing more heated...on her end...by the minute. Another crew member came out to help us.
Watch the Video!
Four Days of Cruise in Ten Minutes
As we'd suspected, out of the dozens of excursions available, none were wheelchair accessible. Except...! Yes, a tour of Atlantis and it's waterpark could be arranged at $45 per person. We were about to go ahead and sign on the dotted line when he added "we just have to arrange for a wheelchair accessible van. That will be an extra $199."
We'll just have to see what kind of trouble we can get to by ourselves.
After yesterday's pandemonium at the breakfast buffet, we decide to take our morning meal in the main dining room. There's also a buffet here, a much quieter one, plus you can order from the menu.
It's good, not outstanding, but will get us a good start to the day...whatever shape that will take. We don't know, yet, what we'll be doing in the Bahamian capital of Nassau.
Nassau is a docking port so the tender issue is not an issue here. We roll off the boat and are soon walking out of the terminal into the heart of Nassau. There's a park nearby, across from the legislature building, where we find a shady bench to check out our map of the are.
There are a lot of shops, restaurants, and bars here. I see an ad for an historic rum distillery so we strike out in that direction, which at least gives us a destination to reach, while seeing what lies along the way. The answer to that question is not much. We do browse a couple of shops but quickly lose interest in that.
It's Sunday morning May 13th, though, and the distillery is about a half mile away, up a hill. The Bahamians are a friendly bunch, I'll give 'em that...many cars would go by, see us walking up the hill, and yell out a hearty "Happy Mother's Day" to my wife.
The first time, she didn't understand what was being said through the thick Bahamian accent and you could see the look on her face that she was about to take offense. I explained to her what the gentleman said and she quickly corrected to give him a sincere thanks.
As we walk up the hill, a couple of churches have just finished their Sunday services and the parishioners are heading down the hill. Choruses of "Happy Mother's Day" are showered on my wife as they walk by.
The streets are narrowing, the heat oppressing, the hill steepening, and...just when my family is thinking I've completely lost my mind...the sign to the John Watling Rum Distillery.
We walk into this old plantation with it's great house fronting the distillery barn. There's a 75 foot deep well, dug by slaves hundreds of years ago, that provided the company with fresh water.
A staff member comes out and gives us a little shot of frozen pina colada which really helps to cool us down. We head into the bar to do some tasting but the rum itself is way too expensive to take home. You can read and watch all that in our Nassau Pub Crawl post and video (coming this Sunday).
One of the staffers told us of a quieter street to go down since the one coming up was getting pretty busy. We file out of the distillery just in time...four large tour buses are now disgorging their passengers as we leave.
As we head back downhill towards the water, we come across an old cemetery.
We wander around, it's seen better days, and take in some of the tombstones while a lone gardener takes on the unruly vegetation with a weed whacker.
Some potholes, a few stray dogs, and some piles of rubbish later, my wife is getting that look on her face, "this place is not what I expected." True. Central Nassau has a pretty run down quality about it like some of the border towns in Baja.
We have a light lunch on the beach and I'm hoping our little pub crawl will brighten her spirits. She soldiers on but is not really enjoying this port of call.
Later, back on the ship, she dives into packing the bags to get off this boat..we've taken to jokingly calling it the 'rust bucket' because of maintenance issues this ship does have...and won't consider the evening's entertainment.
Tim and I let her be and we head to the ship's atrium where, on this final night of the cruise, the crew has a parade of flags honoring the many, many countries the staff here hail from.
It's quite a sight and you can tell the crew really puts their heart into it and are proud of their homelands. A real celebration of the human diversity that we all share.
It was a wonderful way to end what would really end up being a fairly mediocre cruise.
As we wait the next morning with our duty free rum box (an order the duty free store screwed up, causing me to work to get a refund with the line when I got home) in the forward lounge for our call to disembark, Tim is eager to exit his first and probably last cruise.
Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved
Photos by Letty Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved
Thankfully, after the hassles and fiascoes of the first day of this trip, we got a good night's sleep. Morning found us still at sea. Soon, an island came into view along our side of the ship. This must be Coco Cay, one of the Bahamas' Berry Islands, Royal Caribbean's private island. We are to spend the day here. First, we must eat breakfast and the buffet is at the bow of the ship. We're eating there because the dress code is more relaxed. Tim and I are dressed in swim trunks (I want to change his clothes as few times as possible) so we're skipping the main dining room for today and hitting the buffet instead. The buffet is a zoo, with everybody cutting in line, butting their way in to grab some bacon, being wide to scoop up some scrambled eggs. There's no rhyme or reason to how people should line up or what direction to go in. I finally grab some food for Tim and I...Letty's on her own for this one. The announcement comes over the PA that the boats to the island are now in operation and to make our way down to the bottom deck to go to the island. This is the great unknown for us. Coco Cay is a tender port, meaning that there is no pier for the ship to dock at. Smaller boats...tenders...shuttle passengers back and forth to shore all day long. Tenders mean that there is no guarantee that wheelchairs will be able to disembark, it's strictly at the crew's discretion. I had tried to ascertain with Royal Caribbean before we left on if a wheelchair would be able to go on the tender. All I could get was "we can't guarantee it," but browsing through people's reviews and trip reports online before we left suggested that it could be done so this will be a gamble for us. (NOTE: Royal Caribbean is in the middle of a massive construction project on the island. A new pier has opened for the ships to dock at, making the tender transfer obsolete. There is also now a large water park on the island)
No need to worry, though, there's a ramp to the tender (after going through security to get off the boat) and a flat area up front where wheelchairs are allowed to sit during the short journey. The crew graciously lets me stand there with Tim, although Letty is told she must sit in the seats inside with the rest of the passengers.
A shore excursion specialist is standing next to me for the trip. He tells me he's from Chile and we talk about all the things to see and do there, also telling me what destinations I should see, where to fly to, and more. A font of information for a future trip...I'm putting his suggestions into the memory bank for that distant vacation. We talk about shore excursions and I tell him that in Nassau, we plan to take the glass bottom boat because that's the only one that was listed as accessible. "Oh, that excursion's been cancelled to to lack of bookings," he tells me, "but we have one on the island today." Once on the island, I follow him to the excursion office to sign us up, "be back here at 1:15 this afternoon." I should also mention that when we left the tender, Tim's power wheelchair was traded for a beach wheelchair with fat tires for the sand. We'll exchange them back when we leave (NOTE: although special needs passengers are advised to get on the island early because beach wheelchairs are first-come, first-served, we noticed that there were a lot of beach wheelchairs, much more than the demand for them). With that taken care of, the three of us head to the sand where we have an easy time finding some lounge chairs to relax on. The Bahamas, while usually uttered with the word "Caribbean," are not part of that tropical sea. Rather, it lies just outside of the warm Caribbean east of Florida. This is readily apparent when I go for a swim and there is a definite chill in the water.
It's clear. I can see the coral, some fish swimming around, and not a trace of cloudiness. It's just not warm. I do my best to get used to it but a half hour in that chilly ocean water is really all I need. It actually feels warmer when I get out and back into the air.
I go to get some snacks. I went healthy for Tim and I, mostly because the more 'junk' food stands at the Island buffet were overrun just like the breakfast buffet. The salad and cold cut bars were mostly untouched. Letty went to get a bucket 'o pina colada from one of the bars. I had a beer and filled up two of our soda glasses. Then is was time to go on our glass bottom boat ride. Arriving at the counter, we're given the bad news...the weather's not good enough to go out so it's been cancelled. We've pretty much done all we wanted to do so we trade back for our power chair, go through security, and get back on the tender to the ship. About halfway back, cool drops of rain fall on Tim and I...exposed on the bow of the tender...while we wait to get back on the ship. Since Tim won't go in the ocean, I take him up to the pool deck. There are a couple of lifts for handicapped people. He usually floats around in an inner tube we bring along, The ship also has a variety of swim vests, intended for children but some of the larger sizes looked like they'd fit. We ask the lifeguard...who's Russian...what we should do for Tim. He says to go with our inner tube.
After we get it inflated, the lifeguard along with a pool attendant comes over to operate the lift. We get Tim in the chair and I jump in to get him out and ease him into the inner tube. That's when I found out that the ship's pool is not heated. Tim is eased down and is also a bit shocked at how cold the water is but he's still game and in he goes. I figure we'll get used to it...which we do for the most part...and float around for an hour before moving on to something else.
About 20 minutes later, the lifeguard comes back up..."you done with swim?" "Well, no, I figured we'd stay in for awhile longer to make it worthwhile," I tell him. "That okay but you know rain coming. Lightning." "Oh, I understand, let's get out then." We get out, drops start falling so we move under shelter near the side of the ship. Then, a deluge hits. Lightning, thunder, and buckets of water. We're fine under the roof but many out in the pool and lounge chairs are caught out. I also think of the hundreds of passengers that are still on the island and have to make their way back. I see that we're next to the Windjammer buffet's side door, which I can get to without getting too wet so I go in to grab some hot dogs, fries, and fruit for Tim and I. I also take our soda cups to their machines...which are out of everything except Diet Fanta. That's when I find the only other soda machine onboard is in the middle atrium, on the 6th deck. So, get cups good for unlimited soda on the ship. There are only three machines...two in the buffet and one in the center...for 2,400 passengers. You can see where the math gets dicey. You can also get soda from the bars and main dining room, but the cups are specifically for the three machines on board. To fill 'at your leisure.' Well, the food's still good so we relax here until the storm passes then we go to our cabin until dinnertime.
Dinnertime comes and, true to their word, we have a more accessible and appropriately-sized table assigned. The food is good, the waiter is very good if a bit on the talkative side, and it all goes off without a hitch. We do a little shopping in the duty-free mall onboard but Letty and Tim aren't onboard on with seeing any of the ship's entertainment that night. All in all, this was a much better day than the first day. Still a few issues here and there but even Tim said he had fun today. After a couple of cocktails in the quiet mid-ship bar, we call it a night and head back to our cabin to relax until bedtime. Darryl Musick Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved Photos by Letty Musick Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved
It's been a frustrating day getting into Miami, returning the rental car, and getting on board our ship. Now, two out of three checked bags have arrived in our state room. I also notice that we have been given two soda cups... (Here is where I need to take a little side trip to explain that on Royal Caribbean, if you want more than juice, generic coffee, tea, or tap water, you have to pay for it. Now, the thing is to buy drink packages...all inclusive bar tab is $55 per day, per passenger. I don't see the three of us racking up $165 in drinks, especially since the first and last days are very short. We choose the all you can drink soda package where the ship gives you special souvenir glasses that work in the soda machines at a more reasonable $8.50 per day. If we want a cocktail, we'll just purchase them one at a time. Now, back to your story...)
...where there are three of us that should have them. I tell the room steward, he says it's not his responsibility, we have to go to guest services but he'll try to remember to tell someone. Next, Letty has changed her mind and wants to stay connected while we're on the ship this weekend...so does Tim...so I buy a package so the three of us can connect our devices but only one will connect at a time. It's almost time for our dinner seating so we first head over to guest services where there is a long line of people waiting to complain. It seems that most of them are here to try to wrangle an upgraded cabin. Finally, one of the staff works the line to see if there are easier problems to solve to get people through faster. When he gets to me, I tell them about our missing soda glass, suitcase, and our internet problem. He says we must wait until 8pm to see if the bag arrives before we complain about that. He'll check into the glass. We must go up to the deck above to see the IT guy but hurry, he's only there for another hour (for a total of two hours a day of IT help). We stand in line upstairs with our devices, finally get to the front, and the IT guy changes our account so that all are able to connect now. We get to the dining room, a waiter has us follow him in. He takes us to the center of the room, and says to follow him...our table is right over here. "Here" is a table where we'd have to navigate a path of about twenty inches wide, and that's with no people sitting at the tables between us and the one assigned to us. Tim's wheelchair is a bit wider than twenty inches. We bring this to his attention that we can't fit. "No worries, we'll move stuff around to get you in." "What about when we're done and people are sitting in these other seats? There will be even less room," my wife tells him. "You don't want to sit here?" he asks. "It's not accessible," I tell him. "We need to sit somewhere else." "OK, come with me and we'll take to the head waiter." I follow him to the podium. There is a man in a tuxedo there and a line of about 40 people waiting to talk to him. "Just stand in that line and he'll take care of it." Just to recap...Letty and Tim had to stand in the sun for almost two hours before they let us go into preboarding security. We had to navigate a crowded line to find someone to tell us where our cabin was. We had to wait in an even longer line to get an elevator to our room and, a little later, again to go up to the deck for lifeboat drills. We just had to wait in another line to complain about our missing luggage and soda glass then another to get our devices connected right. Now...when we're assigned an inaccessible table (when we were explicit during the whole booking and checkin process that we have a wheelchair)...I'm told I have to wait in yet another long line. That, my friends, is where my rope ended. "I've been standing in lines all damn day ever since I boarded this damn ship. I will not stand in another line, either get us a decent table or I'm leaving!" I exclaimed, a bit more forcefully than reading these words suggest (that quote may have been sanitized a bit for our reader's protection-Ed). "Please, it's ok...we'll work something else out," the waiter said. He went off to get someone. In a little while, another man in a tuxedo showed up and took us to a table that would hold a dozen people and said to sit here and tomorrow there will be a better table that we'd be assigned to for the rest of the cruise. Seated, our order was taken. A minute later, a family of about twelve showed up. Guess what? This was THEIR assigned table. Of course, they complained and we were moved yet again to a four seat table across the aisle. Why not this table in the first place? Ah...you're thinking too logical, at least more logical than the dining crew of the Enchantment of the Seas.
Finally, fed. We leave after dinner, have a couple of cocktails in the uppermost bar before calling it a night where Letty and Tim snoozed in their comfy beds and me on my little bunk at the ceiling where it seemed like I was a larger than life elf on a shelf.
Tim said one thing before turning in..."If I could, I'd get off right now. I never want to go on a cruise again." I really could think of no argument against that after this long day so I just said goodnight and went to sleep. Here's hoping tomorrow will go a bit better. Darryl Musick Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved
It's about four hours from our hotel in Saint Petersburg to the Port of Miami. Leaving town, we climb over the impressive Sunshine Skyway Bridge. It's a fairly easy drive, with a couple of sightings of alligators in the freeway median. A stop for gas to fill up our rental before turning it in, and then straight to the port. We arrive at 11:30am. We also have a reservation at 12:30pm to check in for a three night cruise to the Bahamas on Royal Caribbean's Enchantment of the Seas. Dropping Letty and Tim at the curb and assigning our luggage to a porter, I head over to the Hyatt Regency in downtown Miami where I'm supposed to drop off our rental car at the Enterprise counter there. Sounds easy, doesn't it? Nothing's easy in Miami...once I get off the port bridge into downtown, the traffic is at a standstill and there's construction everywhere. My phone's GPS is lecturing me to go straight but the road is closed with a huge hole in the middle. Horns, like in midtown Manhattan, blare constantly. I'm turning down a street at random, hoping my GPS will adjust accordingly. I have to look at the map at the next stop.
Finally, I see the hotel ahead but the driveway to the lobby is stuffed with construction vehicles, taxis, and the occasional passenger car. It's a dead stop, I'm not going to get in there. I see a parking structure labeled "Hyatt self parking." I turn in there. I find a spot, lock the car, and walk over to the hotel. I see the Enterprise counter and walk up with my keys, "I'm dropping off my car." "Where is it?" the agent asks. "In the parking structure." "No, you have to bring it up to the lobby." I point outside..."look, there is no way I'm going to get a car up there." "You have to take it there anyway, give the keys to the valet when you get there." Sheesh... Hike back to the parking lot, whose main, hotel adjacent exit is closed. I have to exit out via another street, that's one-way...the wrong way, coincidentally...and navigate a jammed up four blocks back to the hotel entrance. A half hour later, with my phone buzzing because my wife's calling wondering where I disappeared to...I make it back to the hotel driveway. Somehow, I find an opening and jam myself in. Eventually, I see a spot open in front of the door. I pull in and hand my keys to the valet. "Checking in, sir? he asks. "No, I'm dropping off my rental for Enterprise," I reply. "You cannot do that." I point over to the counter, which is visible from here..."that guy says I can"...and I walk off to the counter. "Did you drop off the car?" the Enterprise agent asks. "Yes but the valet says I can't do it." The agent walks over with me, explains something to the valet, and it's good. I ask if I can get a ride back to the port and the agent, working for a company who's tagline explains how they'll give you a ride, says no. Finally, I get him to hail me a taxi and a $25 dollar ride later, I'm back at the port. At 1:15pm. Yes, that is 45 minutes later than our appointment and almost two hours after I left Letty and Tim in front of the checkin building. They are still there. Royal Caribbean would not let them into the air-conditioned building until I got back so they basically had to find a scrap of shade somewhere in the blazingly hot and humid front porch of the building until I got back. All together again at last, we head in to get scanned and search through security. Upstairs, we get our cabin assignment and room cards...which also act as ID and charge cards on the ship...and a nice gentleman escorts us to the boarding ramp of the ship. Inside, a narrow passage way is clogged with passengers who are just standing there. A photographer is blocking the way, taking everybody's picture to sell as souvenirs later. We finally get there and my wife is not having a good hair day anymore, is pissed about waiting in the heat, and doesn't like her picture taken in general.
"I'd rather not have a picture, thank you," she tells the photographer. "You have to have a picture to remember your cruise!" "No!" she says a little more emphatically. "Everybody gets one," the photographer says. "We're not taking any pictures," I tell him.
Finally, they let us by and now we're on our own in the crowded atrium with no idea what to do or where to go, still carrying our smaller bags. It takes awhile to flag down a crew member who must scuffle off to find an English speaker. "Where is our cabin?" we ask when they come back. "Take the elevator down two decks." The elevator. Where there are about two hundred people waiting on six cabs that can hold maybe ten people. About ten minutes later, we're finally able to force our way onto one and squeeze in. We find our cabin easily enough. This is an older ship and the cabin smells a bit musty but we can live with it. It's just large enough and has a roll-in shower in the bathroom, where an airplane style toilet is also located. Our room steward tells us another bed is lowered from the ceiling, like a navy bunk, and the now king sized bed can be split in two for two twin beds. We go with that option because I'll never get Tim up into that bunk so I'll sleep up there and the other two will have their own twin sized beds. While we wait for our luggage to be delivered, we're going to go to our lifeboat drill. Every cabin is given a location of a lifeboat to go to. As we head...up the crowded elevators again..to deck 5 and over to our station, a crew member intercepts us and herds us into a bar midship. This is where the mobility challenged passengers will muster to in a drill and then be helped into lifeboats in an emergency.
Afterward, we make our way up to the upper deck where we have a cocktail as we watch the ship cast off. Soon, we see the last condos on South Beach glide by as we head out to the Atlantic. It's been a hectic afternoon so far, will it get any better? For now, we'll head back to our cabin to get ready for dinner. We'll let you know how the rest of the day goes in our next post. Darryl Musick Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved Photos by Letty Musick Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved
We're not really hard-core points warriors (those who live to exploit every advantage to accumulate rewards points for traveling) but we're not ones to shy away from opportunities to collect points. Over the years here at The World on Wheels, we've been known to cash in points for a free flight or a night in a hotel here and there but have not really made a great effort to accumulate a lot of points to cash in for a big vacation. Until now... The last couple of years worth of travel have involved a more concerted effort on our part to accumulate points for one of our biggest vacations yet...a multi-week blowout covering two southern states with a cruise to the Bahamas thrown into the middle just for the heck of it.
I retired from my job in March after 30 years of service (that's a picture from my retirement luncheon) and we had longed to take a long trip through the south once that happened. The original plan was to take a month, start off in Key West and slowly make our way through the southern states heading back home. Over the years, pieces of that trip were whittled away with our adventures to Tennessee, Texas, and the Florida Keys. Plus, a month might be pushing it now, so we've cut the time down a little bit and narrowed the scope some...we'll be starting off in Atlanta and going south from there with the goal of seeing the last remaining unseen baseball stadiums in our quest to visit every Major League Baseball park.
Now, what about the points? A few years ago, our traveling evolved so that Southwest Airlines turned out to be our preferred airline so all three of us signed up for their Rapid Rewards program. All of our trips started out with the question "Does Southwest fly there?" Many times they did (but not always) so we booked them as much as possible.
The last few years, we've flown on them to Baltimore, Nashville, Dallas, Houston, Fort Lauderdale, and more. A couple of years later, we have enough to cash in a free flight for the three of us to Atlanta, so our first leg of airfare is basically free (it cost me an extra $16 for taxes and fees for the flight).
Our Hilton points were enough to get us five nights at a hotel in Miami, so those will be cashed in later on this trip. In the meantime, an old Hyatt rewards account that I'd forgotten about had enough points for a couple of nights so we'll be using that in Atlanta to stay at the Hyatt Place in the northern part of the city. In between, we'll have to pay out of pocket for a couple more nights at the Hyatt, the rental car, and a few more hotel nights between Atlanta and Miami.
Lastly, we use a Costco Citi Visa card for most of our purchases which has a very generous cash reward program. In the last year, we've built up enough rewards on that to pay for the cruise to the Bahamas. Stay tuned...we're off to Atlanta for our mosty-free, big-blowout, post-retirement vacation! Darryl Musick Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved Photos by Letty Musick Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved
This year was a huge year for me. In March, I ended my 30 year career at the United States Attorney's Office for the Central District of California. I made it...I'm retired! And nothing has diminished the joy of that word - retired - since that happy day.
Of course, not having to go to work every day, face the Los Angeles commute, get up early, etc., means there are big changes in life. Not having to work in L.A. anymore means we really don't have to live here anymore, either, so we're gearing up for our own Escape From L.A.
That means travel will be light for awhile while we accomplish this relocation. Our only travel for the next few months will be house hunting and moving trips up to the northern half of our state.
Still, we did do some traveling this year so lets recap some of the highs and lows...
Best Pizza - Tim and I are pizza fanatics and love a good pie. We've had some great deep dish pizzas at Chicago Fire in the Sacramento area and Rance's in Long Beach, California. Our local favorites Joey's Red Devil and Casa Bianca continue to produce top-notch pizzas but the best we had this year was the star pizza at Mister01 Pizza in the Brickell neighborhood of Miami.
A splendid, thin crust pie with pointed handles of crust filled with ricotta making it a tasty and easy way to pick up the pizza.
As for hotels, there were none that were truly spectacular this year but the Homewood Suites we stayed at in St. Petersburg, Florida was a solid hotel. In fact, the Homewood Suites brand (part of Hilton) has been pretty reliable for us in general. The Doubletree Suites we stayed at in Rancho Cordova...just east of Sacramento...is another solid hotel where we scored a two story loft on one stay and a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, sprawling suite on another.
Air travel was light this year, with only two airlines flown. Those were Southwest and American Airlines. While Southwest continues to provide superior service, American is still slowly descending from its once lofty place on our list. I can still see glimpses of the old airline in there somewhere but it's a shame. It used to be our favorite way to fly.
Tim took his first cruise this year, a four day Royal Caribbean cruise to the Bahamas from Miami. And...it was really kind of miserable. Another shame, we were really looking forward to that.
This was also the year that we completed our greatest travel quest...to see every stadium in Major League Baseball. We wrapped it up with visits to the Atlanta Braves, Tampa Bay Rays, and the Miami Marlins. Funny that we had no great expectations of the Rays stadium in St. Petersburg but that was an outstanding place to watch a game. Atlanta and Miami? Among the worst baseball experiences we've ever had.
Fall took us to three California destinations. Catalina Island, Santa Barbara, and another trip to the state's Motherlode region.
It's well known that we like the Gold Country enough to move there.
Santa Barbara had some highs...like the Boz Scaggs concert and dinner at Presto Pasta...and lows like a blocked wheelchair ramp at a restaurant we were looking forward to going to.
Catalina...where I proposed to my wife over 35 years ago and have not been to since...is relatively unchanged. It's a lot more expensive than it used to be but is still a quaint little slice of old-time California beach town.
And that's pretty much been our kind of light travel year. We'll pick this up again next year after we've moved. Thank you for your support of The World on Wheels.
Happy New Year!
Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved
Over the past few years, we've been focusing on tropical destinations in the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico, and more. For now, we're turning the chapter on that particular kind of trip but have come to some conclusions as to our favorites among the destinations we experienced.
Here is our list of tropical beach destinations, from our least favorite to the best.
NASSAU, BAHAMAS - Run down, very little wheelchair accessibility, about the only thing we could do is visit the bars. As the late, great Merle Haggard said, "I think I'll just sit here and drink.
JAMAICA - Yes, it's beautiful and has some amazing beaches. The nightlife is wonderful as can be the food. Wheelchair access at the hotel was extensive but away from it, hardly existed.
Over a quarter century ago, my wife and I went and had a grand time but that was also before we became so wheelchair aware. This time, it stood out in relief as we went to attractions that promised to be accessible but were not when we arrived.
Add to this the incredible knot of trying to navigate immigration and customs upon arrival and the hotel not giving us near what we paid for of what was promised turns us off of the Island of Irie.
Twice was nice but a third time is not in the cards for us.
MAUI - On the other hand, I am willing to go to Hawaii again it's just not high on our list right now. Since it's in the U.S., access is good (not great). Scenery is wonderful as are the many beaches.
What keeps it placing higher is the exreme high prices you have to pay for basics when you get there and a 'barely tolerated' attitude towards visitors when you're there. It's a beautiful place but I can't really call it too friendly. Several trips have re-inforced that feeling though there are a few friendly faces here and there, enough to make me not strike it off the revisit list completely.
COSTA RICA - I want to like this verdant Central American destination better but something's just keeping it from rating higher.
It has wonderful access (better that Hawaii in some cases), enough that wheelchair users can actually take part in some of the eco adventures like zip lining and canopy tours. Public buses and many taxis are also wheelchair friendly and accessible rooms are not hard to find.
On the down side, the beaches on the Pacific side are not at all what you'd expect from a tropical beach paradise...the water's muddy and the sand more like wet dirt. While the vast majority of the people are friendly, helpful, and honest, there's a pretty big slice of people who live to rip you off from car rental counters, zoos, and dishonest tour operators.
The buyer really has to be aware in Costa Rica.
Would I go back? I wouldn't rule it out but instead of a beach vacation, I'd rather go there for the volcanoes and rain forest experiences.
PUERTO VALLARTA, MEXICO - Ah, Puerto Vallarta! Lovely city, great beaches, miles of jungle, wonderful food, a great variety of nightlife, incredible hotels...what's not to like?
Nothing, actually. It's a perfect destination...if you can walk. If you're in a wheelchair, obstacles abound.
We came here almost every year when Tim was young and it was not as big a deal to lift him over the obstacles but he's grown bigger and heavier, and I'm older and more decrepit. It's just not possible anymore.
I hear PV is getting more accessible but from what I can see, it's just not quite where it needs to be to get us to come back, yet. I would really love to go back. It is almost perfect, otherwise.
PUNTA CANA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - This one could be technically a tie between the next entry. Wonderful place, extremely friendly people, gorgeous beaches, excellent service, great food, drink, and nightlife. Accessible where it needs to be.
The only downside is that Punta Cana is rather far from any other parts of the Dominican. Would love to be able to visit the historic sites and go to a few baseball games without having to spend hundreds on a taxi to get there.
ST. CROIX, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS - My personal favorite on this list. What's not to like? Friendly people, outstanding accomodations (especially the Buccaneer Hotel), good (but not great) access...it is part of the USA, after all, and the ADA applies...great food and drink, spectacular beaches, and fun, accessible attractions. While access could be a bit better...we could not find a boat that could accomodate us no matter how much we and the concierge tried and the old Cruzan distillery couldn't be done in a wheelchair...we did find more than at other destinations as far as attractions go. Cruzan couldn't be done but Captain Morgan allowed full access at their facility. The waterfront in Christiansted...the main town...is fully accessible and even the jungle bar with the beer-drinking pigs had an access ramp. The accessible room at the Buccaneer was nothing short of fabulous. There's still a way to go, transit is very spotty and there are very few accessible taxis, but from the incredibly warm people, outstanding service and stunning beauty make this a great destination. And with that, we close out our latest tropical chapter here at The World on Wheels. We're going to point our spotlight at other destinations for awhile but I'm sure we'll be back to a couple of spots on this list at least. Darryl Copyright 2016 - Darryl Musick All Rights Reserved
