On Our Own Tracks

Four women, eight wheels… Next stop CANADA!!!

A dream coming true … like many others, I’ve always had a list of dreams I want to achieve in my life. This list is mainly focussed on the countries I want to explore while involving a bit of skiing. I really didn’t think much of this list until the day I was having lunch with one of my best friends, Sevinc (Sev). In amongst our discussions, we randomly decided that we would go sit skiing in Canada together someday. Surprisingly, this ‘someday’ turned into “Let’s go in nine months.” and then before we knew it, we were off to spend both of our 29th birthdays in Canada.

Both being women in our late twenties, Sev and I wanted to fund, plan and organise this trip as much as possible ourselves. While I created methods to save my money, Sev got proactive and did everything she could to fundraise for her part of the trip. Meanwhile we both also explored every opportunity to pick up as many paying jobs as possible, too. 

Along with saving, we also met regularly on and offline to arrange the logistics, working with both of our professional, fun and very well travelled carers. We also worked with iSCREAM.Travel, which is a travel agency specifically designed for travellers with disabilities. These discussions involved organising our flights, giving Qantas our measurements and details of our wheelchairs, the best way to get ourselves and two wheelchairs on the plane, our accommodation in both Vancouver and Whistler, the activities we wanted to do there and getting an extra carer for me while we were in Vancouver.

Nine months later we – and two of our amazing carers, Heather and Szabina – were meeting up at the airport and getting on the plane. It has been this last process, getting on the plane, that we have received the most questions about. For us, being able to stand up out of our wheelchairs – with assistance from our carers – meant that both of us could transfer into a specifically designed wheelchair narrow enough to fit down the airplane aisles. These wheelchairs were supplied by our airline, Qantas. We took our communication device mounts and whatever we felt necessary with us into the cabin while Qantas staff took our wheelchairs to be loaded underneath the plane with the luggage. Although going to the toilet wasn’t easy, it was manageable especially as we were able to use the toilet cubicle in Business Class with great assistance from the cabin staff.

Finally, after a thirteen hour flight, we were landing in Vancouver. After we got our bags and noticed how freezing it actually was, we went to the taxi rank to ask for two accessible taxis to our hotel. I absolutely loved driving through the streets as I found all the following tiny cultural differences between Australia and Canada so interesting – the colours and systems of the traffic lights, the different shops and how the city functioned and looked like while surrounded by snow. 

Our accommodation in Vancouver was called the ‘Blue Horizons Hotel‘ and we loved it. This hotel was not only in the heart of town but it also had helpful staff in the reception, along with large and equipped accessible rooms, despite the bathroom being a little too small.

As we slowly explored Vancouver in the two weeks we spent there, I found that I absolutely loved just observing its daily life. The sites that we saw included Stanley Park, Gastown, Vancouver Lookout, a hockey game, English Beach (this beach has a sand mat for mobility aids such as wheelchairs), Granville Island and markets. Within the city we found it quite easy to either walk or use the local ‘Compass’ card to catch buses, which are mostly accessible. Personally, this exploration of the city was made even easier by having days with a carer from Vancouver, who was organised through iSCREAM Travel. As well as giving Heather time off, I really enjoyed meeting a local of Vancouver who we all got along well with. I hope to see her one day very soon in Australia when she visits.

Our group was extremely lucky to gel as a team the whole time. This meant that we were all good at solving problems as a unit. As we got closer to venturing up the mountain to Whistler, this teamwork and our problem solving skills became more important. There was literally no reasonably priced accessible mode of transport that could get the four of us, a manual wheelchair, an electric wheelchair, a shower chair and our luggage up to Whistler. Although we did eventually get to Whistler, our transport methods were not ideal as the only way we could travel was for Heather and I to take a Shuttle Bus, with a lot of help from the bus driver as it was up five steps. Sev and Szabina had to pay over $500 each way because an accessible limousine was the only way they could get an electric wheelchair up the mountain. We were quite shocked that these were the only modes of transport to Whistler, so for people wanting to travel there, I would recommend hiring an accessible car until some other options become available.

When we finally got to Whistler we were definitely pleased that we made the trip up the mountain. Whistler was absolutely magical with it’s little village, covered by snow and fairy lights at night, right at the bottom of beautiful ski slopes. We all loved exploring the town of Whistler, with all of the little shops, cosy restaurants and great pubs. We also got to catch up with some awesome friends from Australia. In Whistler, our accommodation was the ‘Crystal Lodge’, which was in the centre of town and reasonably priced for Whistler. While there was a problem with my room not being accessible, this was fixed after the first night and we really enjoyed staying there.

Having the opportunity to go skiing in Whistler was the main reason we decided to go to Canada in the first place, and Sev and I literally made it our mission to explore and ski as much of the mountain as possible. The adaptive program we used while we were in Whistler was called ‘The Whistler Adaptive Sports Program’ (WASP) and I would highly recommend it. Before we could start skiing with WASP, there were a few things that we needed to do, including: registering with and paying WASP a few months before we went over; completing a form informing WASP of details such as our height and weight for our Sit Ski hire; buying equipment like helmets and goggles and packing extra belts and foam in case we needed them for the Sit Ski. We met some fantastic, fun guides through this program including one of my favourite guides and mates from Australia, Tom. Along with our guides, we skied through so many pine trees, from the highest to the lowest point of the mountain, in the terrain park and through so much powder snow.

In the end, the four of us were so happy about how the trip turned out. It literally was a dream come true. Our group clicked and we definitely felt like it was a start of many more overseas trips to come. So if you are like us and have the travelling dream why not do it as soon as you can. There are always ways around any obstacles that may come up as you plan … and it’s definitely worth it.

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