Chance Meeting

Joe Shonk and I met up at Phoenix sky harbor airport by accident. Not a good picture but fun meeting another "Elizabeth" list person. They were returning from a cruise and I am Enroute to Japan.

Dean Hughson

Trip to the Canaries

Just got back from the Canary Islands after spending two weeks there. This was the first time we have taken our Travelscoots with us. When we left for the Canaries, we checked our suitcases in the night before departure because of expected crowds the next morning. We put our extra batteries in the suit cases, one in each. The next morning we rode our scoots directly to the gate and the personnel there put them on the plane. When we got to our hotel in Grand Canary, we opened the suitcases and found a form letter from Helsinki Security in one that said our battery had been confiscated as it is against the rules to have a battery in the suitcase. The other battery wasn't touched. Both suitcases had built-in combination locks. The lock on the one was still intact so I don`t know how they got into it???? The batteries that were with the scooters, we took them in our carry on luggage. 

The hotel is about 1 mile from the port (Puerto Mogan) and there are wide tiled walkways in between. The scoots came in very handy for the trips in between. 

When we checked in at the airport coming home, we were told that we could not take the scoots to the gate ourselves and that we had to be escorted. Two men showed up with invalid symbols on their jackets. I told them we were not invalid and we could handle ourselves very well. They said it makes no difference just follow them. They took us thru the metal detector ahead of everyone else and put us on the plane first. They really treated us good. I couldn't believe it! After we were home a couple of days, we picked up our spare battery at the airport.

Elford in Helsinki, Finland

Deborah's Travel in Malaysia

Deborah's Travel in Malaysia

My daughter and I traveled in Malaysia for two weeks this summer before my husband joined us for another four.  She loves for me to bring the scoot along because it lets us go much further and longer than my legs will (I've damaged my Achilles tendons) and can even carry her if she gets tired.  In exchange, she helps me carry it up and down stairs, curbs, etc. and onto buses, trains, skyways, etc. since MY is rarely made accessible. You should have seen the expression on cab drivers' faces when they went from thinking the scooter might mean a van taxi at a higher fare and instead I folded the scoot and handed it to the driver of an economy cab with one hand or my 8 y/o picked it up and gave it to them!  Sometimes it saved us using cabs altogether since we could easily and quickly scoot a mile or so between sights.

Also,  on this trip, I finally got bold and started taking it up and down escalator which turned out to be very easy as long as we didn't have luggage.  Occasionally I had to get a man to help us move all our suitcases plus the scoot up flights of stairs.   

Although I was always nervous, both Singapore Air or Air Asia allowed the LiIon battery (I contacted them in advance) though Singapore Air temporarily lost the scoot on the way there when it missed our connection and detached the battery and sent it down the baggage chute "naked" on the way back (it was OK)!

Anyway, we had a great time and the scoot let us go to places like big amusement parks that would have been impossible for me with my seat cane.  People were curious about it.  They assumed, I think, that we just used it for conveience and wanted to know how much it cost, as response I've never gotten in the US.  I usually told them why I use it and they seemed surprised.

I guess everyone else just assumed it was another travel gadget!

Cheers,

Deborah

Frank's "Ferrari"

Frank is a new TravelScoot owner.  He's just returned home from an adventure and has comments and questions.  If you can answer these questions, please post them in the comment section or send them to me at elizabeth@ifisher.com. Thanks!

From Frank in Melbourne, Australia

Well I am home again, after a most interesting trip to Los Angeles, San Francisco and a cruise down to Mexico etc. and through the Panama Canal to Miami, taking in the Everglades, then back to Oz again.

‘twas a really delightful 3 ½ weeks of brilliant sunshine and not too hot weather, although in some places it was very humid.  But to wrap it all up, it was a lovely holiday I could, most certainly, have not done without my trusty Travelscoot, aka my “Ferrari”   by various waiters and coach drivers.  Especially the Yosemite Valley and Muir Woods were fantastic.

I now have my eyes set on further trips overseas.  I am especially interested to know whether any of your Travelscooters have ever been on a cruise up the Rhine or similar Rivers in Germany.  There are some trips from Amsterdam to Budapest, for example,  which I would love to go on, but I am wondering whether the many beautiful old towns and villages where one pulls in are Travelscoot friendly, or whether they are too rough (cobblestones) for my scooter to handle.  I have travelled along some of this route many years ago when I was fit and healthy but my dim memories recall them as being fairly tough on legs and possibly even worse on small wheels, but things may have changed in the past 50 or so years.  Or have they?
Could you please find out if anyone has traversed this part of Europe?

I have another question.  I notice that you, Rhonda and Elizabeth have treated yourself to a new padded seat. (For the Travelscoot, I mean).  Not only do I think that this was a great idea, given that I had quite a “numb bum” after spending countless hours in Disneyland, Paramount Studios and the aforementioned sites in California, but I am wondering whether the new comfort (thickness) of the seat compromises my ability to pack the scooter in its canvas carry-bag, as I always travel with it “packed”.  I prefer to be escorted through the tremendous air terminals by wheelchair.

As a point of interest, I had so many people stop me and ask me about the scooter in America (I referred them to Tony)—from Americans, Canadians, British and other parts of the world—
that I was most surprised that this product was not more widely advertised.  In one instance a whole group of Japanese tourists crowded around me and through an interpreter was asked a lot about it and photographs were taken.

I was very deeply impressed by the care and attention  given to the disabled in your country, and yet I found it interesting that your street corners had very narrow gradients to the roadway, so one had to be extremely careful when crossing, lest one may accidentally run into the back of another pedestrian when crossing.

Hoping for some helpful comments re the cruising in Europe and with kind regards from Oz,

Sincerely,

Frank

An Office Depot Adventure

Today Rhonda, Melissa and I got together at Target to test out mine and Rhonda's newly reupholstered seats.  (We'll get to that topic soon.)  While we were there Rhonda showed us the new shopping cart she'd gotten.  Melissa took it for a test spin and gave it good reviews.  Rhonda also told us there was an even larger size available, and of course we had to leave Target and scoot to Office Depot (three parking lots away!) to check it out.  I'm so glad we did because that gave us a chance to meet Michael, who not only showed us where the larger cart was located, but put one together for us so we could try it out.

This is Michael, an employee of the Office Depot on Millerville in Baton Rouge, 

posing for us.  He was thrilled to hear he was going to be featured in our blog post.
I love his "Office Depot goes Broadway" pose!

This is Rhonda, posing with both sizes of the cart. We both thought the large

one was too unwieldy, but it might work great for a taller person with longer

arms.  The small cart is about $20 and holds 60 lbs. The large cart is about $40

and holds 80 lbs.  You can see them on the Office Depot site here and here.

 

Peter's New Hat

From Peter:

Here is a picture of my new cap. Which I had made up for me. In about 2 weeks time I will be taking my TraveScoot on a boat Cruise for 16 days on the Sun Princess to New Zealand.

An addition to our Rogues' Gallery

Please welcome new TravelScooter Frank!  He's sent me a few pictures for our "Rogues' Gallery."  These are taken in Cetteviccia (Italy), Santorini (Greece) and the last two were taken in Mykonos.

Daniel in London

This is Daniel, from London.  What a beautiful place for a TravelScoot adventure!

Rhonda's Tiger Adventure

This is Rhonda, having a Tiger adventure at the Houston Aquarium

TravelScoot and Hope -- Jen's Adventures

Elizabeth,

A beautiful Monday to you! I've already started my adventures! My best friend and I went to the mall, lunch and more malls- a perfect girls day out! There's no way I could have done it without my Travelscoot.

I was surprised that I could carry it down the stairs- it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I put the seat pieces and battery in a backpack and carried the frame in my hands. I didn't know that it locked shut- that was a huge blessing! I could hold it however I needed to in order to get down the three floors to the car.

The 'cub' battery lasted the entire day and never showed a low signal. It took about a minute to get set up and going. Not bad for a first time! I'm sure I'll get faster as I get used to it. I loved how I could back up and reposition myself without having a loud 'Beep Beep!' accompanying my movements. I'm big enough- I don't want to beep too!

I opened up the throttle to full just to test it out- my friend had to run to keep up with me. The Travelscoot really moves! We had a good laugh over how I'm going to be her trainer now- like in the Rocky movies. She can shut me up if she can catch me on my Scoot!

The only thing that didn't work for me was the seat. I had too much pressure but I also have bad posture and trunkal weakness from my illness so that's to be expected. Hubby is a mechanic so we're going to see if we can fit a special seat on Scoot for me so I don't develop a sore. I took a page from the blog and removed the seat back and that helped get my sitz bones more supported.

I got to shop (found a great formal dress for twelve dollars!), go out to eat and just enjoy being outside. I never thought I would be able to do those things again. The lines no longer mattered because I wasn't in pain. I wasn't afraid that I would fall in public and be embarrassed or even worse- be hurt! It was wonderful!

All that's left to do is to name my Travelscoot. We're using 'Scoots' right now- but that will change. I was thinking of naming her 'Giddy' because that's how she makes me feel. She also gives me my 'giddy-up'.

Thank you again so much for your blog- I never would have thought it was worth it till I read all these adventures!

-Jen

TravelScoots Meet at Sea

Denise and Marlee, onboard the Grand Princess

Hi Elizabeth, I met Marlee through your great blog about a year ago and we discovered about a month ago that we were booked on the same Princess cruise. Here are a few pics of us and our scoots meeting up onboard the Grand Princess. Both Marlee and I were great "sales" representatives for Travelscoot and I handed out many of their business cards and gave more then a few demos. Being that it was a 14 day cruise lots of mature cruisers on board LOL.

Denise

 

TravelScooting in St. Kitts

This photo is of Denise, and was taken recently in St. Kitts in the gardens at Caribelle Batik on Romney Manor on property that was once owned by Samuel Jefferson, the great great great grandfather of Thomas Jefferson.

 

The Krewe of Peggy, a Mardi Gras Adventure!

This adventure began with a broken seat on 2/24/2011, the Thursday before the first big weekend of Carnival Parades in New Orleans, leading up to the big day, Mardi Gras. I called Tony with my crisis. I think it took him a few minutes to realize it was a crisis. He suggested seeing if I could get someone to fix it. My brother, Bobby, came to the rescue. He had a piece of pipe, a flange, and the equipment to make it work. He was able to cut the pipe, file it because it was a little big, tread it so he could put it into the flange and then bolt that to the aluminum plate under the seat.

Thank goodness. I use my scooter daily as a teacher of high school students with autism. We take them in community to learn how to make purchases and explore potential jobs. The scooter allows me to go everywhere.

Since Bobby got my temporary (now backup) seat to work, I was able to e-mail Tony, order a new seat and have it shipped. It would come in the Friday before the next big weekend of parades. This was important because I needed to be able to put the seat back on. With Bobby’s rig, the seat didn’t snap into place. I needed to be able to put a flag on the seat back so that people could see me better when I was riding in the street. New Orleans sidewalks are terrible, courtesy of all of the large live oak trees. In the street I might have to dodge pot holes but didn’t have all the breaks as in the side walk.

The weather was beautiful today and we didn’t need to bring the ice chest. You can see I was loaded down. We were a comical site with me in the lead, Anne following, and then Diane bringing up the rear. Anne is a resident of Poydras Home which is on the parade route. They have a BBQ for the residents and their families on Sunday. I brought my friend Sandy to push Anne’s chair, Diane and her mother Carole came along too. Anne knew all of these people and enjoyed sharing her “home” with us. We were just glad of the most precious commodity at parades, a BATHROOM! We also enjoyed spending time with Anne.

I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Peggy

 

TravelScooting at 60

Dean Hughson was recently honored for his upcoming 60th birthday by his company, Henningsen Foods, in the Japanese traditional way. He was given a vest and hat which signify that he has been through 12 Zodiac cycles and has now gained wisdom. In Japan, all workers who reach the age of 60 have a ceremony where they break open a keg of sake (Japanese rice wine) and are honored for the day. Dean's company is part of Kewpie Corporation which is the largest mayonnaise and egg products company in Japan with annual sales of $5 billion US dollars and has over 5000 employees. Dean was born in Dr. Goldberg's office in downtown Braymer Missouri April 30, 1951.

Happy 60th Birthday, Dean!

An Adventure from Vicki in New Zealand

Dear Elizabeth,

I love your blog and look forward to getting all the notifications of news.

I have just come back from a Mobility Scooter Rally organised by the Hastings, Napier and Flaxmere Age Concerns.

Our scooters were all taken this morning early to Napier,(the Art Deco city of the world) which is in Hawke’s Bay on the eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand. Last year there were over twenty of us but there were not so many this year. All the scooters are the big four wheelers, so I lent mine to someone else and decided to take my Travelscoot. It behaved like an angel. Many people enquired about it. We travelled on the Rotary footpath with the sea and the wide sweep of the Bay on our left. The weather was perfect and when we got to the finish we had a sausage sizzle. (sort of a hot dog but the dog is much bigger and more tomato or brown sauce than a hot mustard; wrapped in a slice of bread not a roll)

You may notice I have a Peterborough basket on my scoot. It is very handy and I got all the idea and info from you !!!

One thing though, is there any advice on how to pack the Travelscoot into the bag ? I get in a terrible muddle.

I will get back to you if I have any more adventures.

All the best,

Vicki
Hawke’s Bay.
New Zealand

Jen's FIRST Adventure!

From Jen

I've already started my adventures! My best friend and I went to the mall, lunch and more malls- a perfect girls day out! There's no way I could have done it without my Travelscoot.

I was surprised that I could carry it down the stairs- it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I put the seat pieces and battery in a backpack and carried the frame in my hands. I didn't know that it locked shut- that was a huge blessing! I could hold it however I needed to in order to get down the three floors to the car.

The 'cub' battery lasted the entire day and never showed a low signal. It took about a minute to get set up and going. Not bad for a first time! I'm sure I'll get faster as I get used to it. I loved how I could back up and reposition myself without having a loud 'Beep Beep!' accompanying my movements. I'm big enough- I don't want to beep too!

I opened up the throttle to full just to test it out- my friend had to run to keep up with me. The Travelscoot really moves! We had a good laugh over how I'm going to be her trainer now- like in the Rocky movies. She can shut me up if she can catch me on my Scoot!

The only thing that didn't work for me was the seat. I had too much pressure but I also have bad posture and trunkal weakness from my illness so that's to be expected. Hubby is a mechanic so we're going to see if we can fit a special seat on Scoot for me so I don't develop a sore. I took a page from the blog and removed the seat back and that helped get my sitz bones more supported.

I got to shop (found a great formal dress for twelve dollars!), go out to eat and just enjoy being outside. I never thought I would be able to do those things again. The lines no longer mattered because I wasn't in pain. I wasn't afraid that I would fall in public and be embarrassed or even worse- be hurt! It was wonderful!

All that's left to do is to name my Travelscoot. We're using 'Scoots' right now- but that will change. I was thinking of naming her 'Giddy' because that's how she makes me feel. She also gives me my 'giddy-up'.

Thank you again so much for your blog- I never would have thought it was worth it till I read all these adventures!

-Jen