Apr. 5th, 2011 | 12:31 am
Another quirky category from the folks at Livejournal. Under interests see Parenting and Pets :-) It's about time! Do you know how many years it took me to convince my friends and family that having a pet did in fact mimic being a parent? LOL Eighteen years of doling out food, medicine, treats, soothing hurt feelings (or hurt paws) Scooping poop, cleaning vomit, it sounds like parental responsibilities to me.
The other side of the coin was kisses and cuddles, laughing and playing and my favourite part? Sharing the too small bed at the end of the day. BEST THING EVER.
God I miss it. :-(
The other side of the coin was kisses and cuddles, laughing and playing and my favourite part? Sharing the too small bed at the end of the day. BEST THING EVER.
God I miss it. :-(
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Princess, not so much...
Apr. 5th, 2011 | 03:06 pm
When I first came up with the idea of writing a journal about my trip, a friend of mine told me that I should write it from a "disabled traveler" perspective. To be completely honest, I had no idea what she was talking about. I mean travel is travel is travel, and I don't go around thinking of myself as a "disabled" person. I know, I know, other people probably do. "Did you see that guy in the wheelchair? Did you see that girl with the walker?" but I can assure you, it's likely the last thing on our minds as we struggle through the day like anyone else with houses, jobs, kids, pets, whatever. My friends don't know me as "crutch girl" they know me by my name. (Although to be fair, when I was rounding them all up on Facebook I kept saying "Do you remember me, the chick with the crutches?" And that was usually followed by "of course I remember you, Cindy." See? :-) Anyway, so I kind of laughed the whole "disability traveler" business off with a wave of my hand and a "What you talkin' about Willis" look.
It turns out; I shouldn't have been so quick to shrug it off. Princess Cruises took it upon themselves to have one of their representatives call my Mom in the middle of a busy work day and fire questions at her about my "level" of disability. Out of the eight or nine tours we booked, two had a "wheelchair assessable" option so we took it. We will have my chair with us throughout the trip, and if I can get a break from going up and down stairs, walking on uneven ground, or just generally trying to make life a little bit easier for the two of us, I'm going to take it. Well as I said, one of the reps called Mom in full-on interrogation mode asking "Well, how is she going on the other tours if she is disabled?” Mom calmly explained that I can do stairs and she can assist me with any other help I may need so yeah, we can do the other tours. This woman's response?
"Well, I'm moving her over to the two "non-accessible" tours; we have a waiting list for the others". Ummm..excuse me? I booked those tours MONTHS ago; other people had the option to do the same. Mom will be calling them back to make sure there is now room for the wheelchair on the accessible tours (something we already did for the others) but I have to tell you, I'm not happy. 1) They contacted my mother to discuss my disability (my number is on file, use it) 2) I got bumped because others didn't have the foresight to book earlier 3) Now we have to worry about wheelchair storage and 4) Both tours are at the end of the trip, if I'm tired from all of the other day trips, a couple of spins around in the chair will really help me save my energy and make things easier for Mom too.
Honestly, if she'd been dealing with me she would have heard all that and more but Mom has asked that I let her do the follow up so I'll leave it alone for now. That said, I'm already composing the letter in the back of my mind. "Dear Princess, here's what I think of your "disability" policy....
They better hope that it gets sorted out with a quick/easy phone call because they may not have my number, but I certainly have theirs.
ETA: So we're on the "normal" tour with "plenty of room for the wheelchair" We'll see how it all plays out.
It turns out; I shouldn't have been so quick to shrug it off. Princess Cruises took it upon themselves to have one of their representatives call my Mom in the middle of a busy work day and fire questions at her about my "level" of disability. Out of the eight or nine tours we booked, two had a "wheelchair assessable" option so we took it. We will have my chair with us throughout the trip, and if I can get a break from going up and down stairs, walking on uneven ground, or just generally trying to make life a little bit easier for the two of us, I'm going to take it. Well as I said, one of the reps called Mom in full-on interrogation mode asking "Well, how is she going on the other tours if she is disabled?” Mom calmly explained that I can do stairs and she can assist me with any other help I may need so yeah, we can do the other tours. This woman's response?
"Well, I'm moving her over to the two "non-accessible" tours; we have a waiting list for the others". Ummm..excuse me? I booked those tours MONTHS ago; other people had the option to do the same. Mom will be calling them back to make sure there is now room for the wheelchair on the accessible tours (something we already did for the others) but I have to tell you, I'm not happy. 1) They contacted my mother to discuss my disability (my number is on file, use it) 2) I got bumped because others didn't have the foresight to book earlier 3) Now we have to worry about wheelchair storage and 4) Both tours are at the end of the trip, if I'm tired from all of the other day trips, a couple of spins around in the chair will really help me save my energy and make things easier for Mom too.
Honestly, if she'd been dealing with me she would have heard all that and more but Mom has asked that I let her do the follow up so I'll leave it alone for now. That said, I'm already composing the letter in the back of my mind. "Dear Princess, here's what I think of your "disability" policy....
They better hope that it gets sorted out with a quick/easy phone call because they may not have my number, but I certainly have theirs.
ETA: So we're on the "normal" tour with "plenty of room for the wheelchair" We'll see how it all plays out.
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