Hi Internet!
Starting a travel blog has been an idea of mine for a really long time and I’m so excited that I finally have one now! I’ll start with a little bit about me: I’m 26 years old and I love to travel. Like, I’m kind of obsessed with it. I’ve been in airports since I was four years old - my dad was a pilot and I like to think that I got my sense of adventure from him. This may sound totally odd, but I love airports. I know they cause a lot of frustration and anxiety for a lot of people, but I kind of find a sense of calm in all of the chaos around me.
Oh and also I am 4 feet tall… surprise!
Sometimes I use a wheelchair to travel, sometimes it’s a scooter, and sometimes I use my legs (haha). It really just depends on how much walking is involved.
This blog has a lot of purposes. The first is to be a digital scrapbook for myself. I wanted a place where I can write down my experiences and stories and mishaps and you can only do so much of that on social media. I needed more room! I needed my own space! The second, and maybe the most important, is to show that even if you use a scooter or a wheelchair you can still travel the world. Which is why my tagline is “travel with accessibility in mind”.
I think a lot of people who use scooters or wheelchairs think that there’s no way they can travel or that it might be too difficult. And honestly, that breaks my heart. We all can travel and explore the world but some of us just have to do it in different ways than most.
When I travel I have to think about how many stairs will there be? Is the destination accessible via wheelchair? If not, then how can we make it accessible? (my friend carried me up a mountain in Africa because it, for obvious reasons, was not accessible) How much walking is involved? There’s a different mindset for accessible traveling and I hope that I can answer some of those questions for you if you use a scooter or a wheelchair.
If you’re reading this and you don’t use a scooter or a wheelchair, first of all, hi! and second of all, you’re welcome here too!
One more thing: you’ll notice that when I talk about accessibility I do not use the words handicapped or disabled. I have never liked those terms. I have never considered myself handicapped even though the world does. So those words will not appear on this blog. Those words, to me, are derogatory and condescending. I am a person. I am not a classification of ability. I strongly believe that accessibility and inclusivity are needed in this world -- and how can we do that when we put labels on everything?
Thank you for a taking an interest in my blog and my travels. I can’t wait to start sharing with you!!
xo,
Emma Kay
