Intro and hello

The writer in more mobile times at The South Pole (I told you I liked travelling)

I used to love travelling. Even the journey, getting there was part of the fun. Delayed, haul out a book, look around and attempt to conserve your stock of jellybeans.

Nowadays its easier than ever. Thanks to modern technology I travel with one less rucksack, books and music go into a mini iPad in my pocket. (all you have to remember is pack the cables and chargers)

As my condition deteriorated I grew to hate it, too much trouble, not enough time and even a place as pretty as Barcelona could lift my sprits.

It wasn’t great, not the cities fault. I was just wearing out. Now I go travelling. A walking stick for dire emergency. Either a Self propelled wheelchair, a scooter or a power chair.

Plan A is take the scooter with you on the plane and rent an SPW (Manual wheelchair) when you get there. Its a lot less expensive. (Don’t forget the charger). It means you tootle about on the wheelchair while the scooter’s charging.

Plan B. SPW on the plane and scooter or power chair when you get there, sourcing it might be difficult, And it will be expensive, but, its personal preference.

Why the SPW, well it’ll fit in a taxi or a bus. A power chair won’t. My scooters were pretty good, comfortable for eurostreets (cobbles) and folded to fit.

I’ve a wheelchair for home and one for travel. The one for home is a nice one, but wheels, sides, and footplates come off, the very things you don’t want to get lost in the hold of a plane.

The travel one, folds, thats it. Nothing comes off. Just as we were congratulating ourselves on having a travel proof piece of kit. There was something badly wrong. One of the brake locks was jammed against the tyre. Alloy is great, but it’s bendable by an idiot. It was unbent by judicious use of a hammer.

An SPW (Manual wheelchair. Yes I know, pretty sporty but still)

Thats mine there, the deliberate mistake on that. No anti tip bars. They’re either being retrofitted or a hand cycle attachment going on the front. (Kuschall KSL G2)

Otherwise I may as well  have it done in WW2 Kamikaze colours.

The other one, a folding TiLite  to be fitted with an E35/36  setup.  (More on that later). Used for travel. The idea was for rail travel. Get it on to the train, fold it up it means you can get the wheelchair down the carriage.

The current scooter is a liteway 3 which comes apart, tubular framed. tight turning circle and it all comes apart. So it will fit in a taxi boot. Especially if its a Skoda Superb which seems to be hugely popular these days.

My previous was a Shoprider Napoli which was great for kerbs and cobbles. I looked like a big kids trike and considering where it went. It was.

Tiller folds, seat comes off, battery comes out. So it comes down to three major components. Do not tell the airplane people, they will leave a bit on the plane. And take the key, better still take two (keys).

Scooter also pretty hot poop for getting around. The one at present went to Belgium and had a great time. See the Ypres post

Thats a Liteway 3. It does all that and goes back together again I personally tend to dump the armrests. They get battered on doors and catch on everything. And its just something else to lose. A nice sized floorpan so you can shift about a bit.
It all goes into the boot of a decent sized car. So it should fit into the rear of a taxi at a push.

Standard walking stick, I usually gaffer tape a folder to my scooter after getting a wooden one caught between a train and platform in Berlin. I thought I’d broken the train. The under seat basket is handy. The front one something off an embarrassment.

On the WTF is that. May I recommend the Flexyfoot , check it out at @flexyfoot.com. The clever bit is the ferrule (thats the bit which contacts the ground, unless you have it upside down)the flexyfoot.

The design means that the maximum amount of tread is on the ground at any one time.
Great for wet and rough terrain.
And it works. Available for various stick circumferences. Ive an original flexyfoot and the ferrule on an Ossenberg for weddings and formal occasions.

Crutches, I don’t use them, death traps and those three wheeled walker things, not at all.

Wheelchair gloves, use the full finger gloves, you really don’t want to look like a failed Egyptian weightlifter.

Something which has proved really useful on my travels has been lights on my scooter or wheelchair. I used mini maglites and sticky tape Bicycle lights and reflectors. white on the front, red on the back.
Ebay, horribly cheap or wickedly expensive. take your pick. `not so much to let you see where you’re going but to light yourself up for others.
You think this is overkill, you need to get out more.

Using a chair or a scooter Ive gone from 6 foot tall to around 4 foot and people really don’t look where they’re going.

Its nothing to do with race, age or nationality. Stupidity is global

Ironsidetravelbureau