What vehicle do you carry your TravelScoot in?

Hi everyone.  I'd like to do a blog post about transporting the TravelScoot and it's true that when it's folded up it will fit in any vehicle (at least any I can think of), but if you're carrying yours without folding it up, what vehicle are you putting it in?

Please tell me the make, model and year of the vehicle, and if you have a picture of your TravelScoot in it, that would be wonderful!  You can either post it in the comment section or send me an email, elizabeth@ifisher.com.

Both the pictures are of a TravelScoot in the back of our 1999 Honda Odyssey.  In the first one there are two TravelScoots and the back seat is folded down into the floorboard.  The van will seat 4 people in this configuration. In the second one it's in the back well, and the van will seat 6 people.

Scandinavian Airlines (SAS)

Dean Hughson shared a letter with us that he sent to Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) about a recent trip he took with his TravelScoot.  Dean said his TravelScoot was so happy it got to ride in business class upstairs that it ran fast through the Stockholm Sweden airport.  He had to remind it that it is a servant, not the passenger.

More information about SSA is available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavian_Airlines .


From: Dean Hughson
To: SAS


Per, I am back from my trip to ORD-Stockholm-AMS-Copenhagen-ORD

First let me tell you your help was immensely appreciated.  Your notes in the computer helped the ground crew in Chicago understand and I wish I had the woman's name (Belgian I think). She was amazing. She took me to the plane and all of a sudden 2 of your stewardesses picked up my TravelScoot (16 kgs)   www.travelscoot.com  and carried it to the front of business class and put it in with the luggage there. When I arrived in Stockholm they carried it out and I was one of the first people off of the airplane: felt like a rock star. I happened to be on the flight with long term stewardess Eva who was retiring after 39 years and this was her last flight and her mentoring of the other staff was an inspiration to all of them and to me personally: I love to see someone who loves their job and after 39 years it is obvious SAS loved her also.

I observed with my own eyes your staff's careful care for other disabled people and you should be commended. I think if you don't have it already, you should put together a 'panel' of handicapped people to give you info on developments in technology (like TravelScoot) and other things coming down the road in the future.  As an aging world, you will see more people needing some assistance to fly and you guys are on it.

Thanks again. I will favor SAS with my business in the future.

Dean Hughson, COO
Henningsen Foods
www.henningsenfoods.com
Omaha, Nebraska

From Keith in Thailand

Hi everyone.  I received the email message below from a new TravelScoot user. I'm delighted we have fellow scooters all over the world.  Keith lives in Thailand and has learned to put up with the "Gawping," but my favorite part is that he ... well, you should read it in his words.  I found his email very touching.

Welcome, Keith!

Hi Elizabeth


I am an expat Brit living in Thailand on the 19th January my partner and I took a flight to Singapore to buy a Travelscoot from Nat Cheang the local agent who received us with courtesy and pleasure.  We only experienced one small problem on returning back to Bangkok with it, we checked in at Singapore and they said it was ok to use the scooter up to the boarding gate and then  leave it for the baggage handlers what a delight to be able to scoot round the airport something I had not done for years but when we got on the aircraft the  steward informed us that this airline JetStar did not have a contract  with Bangkok baggage handlers to bring it up to the plane on landing so  we had to pack it in the holdall and collect it off the carousel However  we managed to arrange wheelchair assistance. The moral is to check with the airline before you venture out they also did not allow any type of battery in the cabin.


This piece of kit is what I should have had about two years ago I have osteoarthritis in both my knees and was at the point of considering a replacement of the left one however the mobility without pain has negated the need for surgery along with the associated risks at my age (76) I am so thrilled that I can go down to the shopping mall and Starbucks on my own I can now even put up with the "Gawping" (Yorkshire dialect for staring with the mouth wide open) My next challenge will be to take it with me to the UK even thinking about that trip I believed was a thing of the past.


Regards Keith

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

Battery Life

Hardy Huber on battery life

Hardy Huber is the mastermind who invented the TravelScoot.  Recently Elford in Helsinki, Finland sent me an email correspondence he had with Hardy about the lifetime of the lithium ion batteries.  You can read more background on this on the post titled "Scooter gang of Vuosaari."

I have two of the regular size lithium ion batteries.  The first was purchased 2 1/2 years ago.  I'm just starting to see some decline in how long this battery holds a charge, but it's still very usable.

This is what Hardy had to say about battery life:

Every Battery starts deteriorating the moment it is made. In other words, capacity is very slowly decreasing. Eventually there will be a moment where distance is not satisfactory anymore. Rebuilding is not an option because the electronic inside has been improved several times, so all what may be usable is the housing.

To get an idea about the condition, I would chose a round course with a known distance and ride with two fully charged battery until one shut down. Since your wife recently got a new scooter you could compare old against new.