The MS Wire

News, info and tips for living with multiple sclerosis

Category: Travel

Real people at the check-out make things easier for me

Illustration of person with crutches in front of a wheelchair

My thanks to my neighborhood supermarket and all of the other stores that still have real people at some of their check-out aisles. It’s a lot easier for folks like me, who have a handicap like multiple sclerosis (MS), when we don’t have to be our own check-out clerks. It’s one of the little things that make a big difference when you’re riding a mobility scooter, using crutches, or even…Continue Reading

Travel, stress, and my MS

Travel in airport with boarding pass

Travel with my multiple sclerosis can mean super-size stress. But some advance planning can smooth the ride. I’ve always taken pride in my ability to travel the world using my little scooter, but this trip – flying from Florida to Washington, DC and back over the Christmas holidays – worried me. My wife and I hadn’t flown in five or six years and, since our last flight, Laura had begun…Continue Reading

Expedia ad aims at disabled travelers

expedia commercial

I nearly jumped for joy — well, I would’ve if I could’ve — when I saw a new TV commercial for the Expedia travel company the other day. It shows a woman who’s obviously had enough of winter’s cold, ice, and snow. She is desperate to escape to warmer climes — and needs to take her wheelchair with her. Been there, done that? I have, but I’d never seen an…Continue Reading

Putting wings on your power wheelchair

Wheelchair in Air4All seat in aircraft

I’ve done quite a bit of flying, for business and pleasure, over the 42 years I’ve lived with multiple sclerosis. It’s not easy traveling by air with my electric scooter, and I can’t imagine trying to fly with a 450-pound power wheelchair. Actually, I don’t have to imagine. I have some friends who use power chairs and they’ve shared some stories. Michael Morale tells me that, on a trip to…Continue Reading

Should disabled flyers board the aircraft first or last?

disabled flyers, wheelchair

Boarding an aircraft before others is a small benefit to being a disabled flyer. For years, giving me a small start to get down the jetway ahead of even the most frequent of frequent flyers has given me time to get off the little scooter I use due to my multiple sclerosis, remove its battery, and hopefully snag the attention of the flight attendant to help with carry-on luggage and the…Continue Reading

Travel With Medications? Know Before You Go

Travel with medications

The case of Women’s National Basketball Association star Brittney Griner is an important reminder for all of us who travel with medications: What you might be able to do in your home country, might not be the case in another. And the penalty could be severe. Griner was detained by Russian officials at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport on Feb. 17. Russian authorities claimed she was carrying vape cartridges in her…Continue Reading

Florida to Maryland With no (Bladder) Accidents

Home with no bladder accidents

I’m back in Maryland. After two days — 16 hours of it spent on the road — and 1,104 miles, not a single accident. My bladder control meds must’ve worked. The semiannual trip my wife and I take between Florida’s southwest coast and the suburbs of Washington, D.C. is never easy, particularly because we travel with a cat and a dog. Getting in and out of hotels with two pets,…Continue Reading

Flyers With a Disability May Get A Break if These Changes are Adopted

Airport terminal

Flying isn’t what it used to be, as everyone who’s taken a flight in the past 15 years or so knows. Flyers with a disability can have a particularly challenging time dealing with airports, airlines, and aircraft. Airports are crowded and stretch forever. Airplanes are crowded, their seats are small, and bulkhead seats are hard to nab. If you’re traveling with a scooter or a wheelchair, you look out the…Continue Reading