Live from the Carnival Dream in Barcelona!

Taken at the Freixzenet Winery in Barcelona

From Debbie:

I am coming to you live from aboard the Carnival Dream docked today in Barcelona. I wanted to share with you and your bloggers my experiences so far with my Travelscoot. It has worked out extremely well for me on this trip and I am so glad I purchased my silver “Chariot” which is what we’ve come to call her .

We had no problems with United Airlines and the batter issue that I feared. I decided to only travel with my standard sized Li-ion and bring both it and the SLA to keep weight down. When asked by United staff on what kind of battery it was I just said oh, I don’t know, it is a sealed kind that is approved for airline travel by DOT and that worked. I drove it down the jet way and they carried it to the luggage area for me. When we arrived in Rome the baggage handlers took it to baggage claims and not the gate but they radioed someone to bring it back and that went smoothly.

We were only spending two days in Rome before boarding out cruise ship. We arrived in Rome early the first day so we didn’t do much due to jet lag except explore the streets and area around our hotel. The Scoot did well over the uneven pavement and was easy to lift down and over curbs. Our second day we had a “Highlights of Rome” tour booked and we wouldn’t have been more pleased on how well the Scoot did over the cobblestones at the Vatican, the Colosseum, Tivoli Fountain; Parthenon etc.. It was a real joy to ride all through St. Peter’s Square and St. Peter’s Basilica as I would never have been able to do this under my own steam. The only stop that I was not able to participate in was the Catacombs but they had wonderful gardens that I was able to enjoy. The tour operator had a 8 passenger van that had room for luggage in the back and we could lift the scoot in and out at all stops.

My “Chariot” has been perfect for getting around the Carnival Dream which is Carnival’s new mega ship at 135,000 tons. This ship has a wonderful wrap-around promenade which we’ve enjoyed taking “strolls” around. I am getting many questions about the Travelscoot and a lot of thumbs up for it’s design. Thanks Hardy!

Today we did a tour of the Freixenet winery and once again the Travelscoot was my perfect companion. Luckily for me the winery is very handicapped friendly. I was able to use an elevator to reach all 4 levels of the cellars. Fascinating tour. From what I’ve learned, Barcelona is a very friendly city for the handicapped.

So, this is where I leave off for now. All aboard has just been called and we will be setting sail for our next port of call, Palma De Mallorca where we have booked a tour of Valldemossa, Deia & Soller. I hope we have as much freedom here as we’ve had so far…..

Ciao for now!

Scooting to the Washington Monument

Kay used her TravelScoot for a new adventure -- visiting her son Ben at George Washington University. While she and her husband were there, they did some sightseeing. Isn't this a great picture?! Ben also just happens to be my youngest nephew, and one of my favorite people in the world.

Having her scoot enabled her to do a lot more than she could have walking, and without being so exhausted. They "walked" from their hotel to campus and also walked 15 blocks to see the Washington Monument. She's got Leo (the larger lithium ion battery) and it worked beautifully. In the picture you can also see that she has the black and silver version of the Think-King cup holder. I love mine because it folds up with the scoot, and if there's not a drink in it it'll hold a lot of other things, like glasses, car keys, and my camera.

Her hubby has also noticed that she has more energy when she gets home at night to do other things, like cook, and it has also helped lessen her pain. What I love hearing is how people she sees every day on her commute from New Jersey to New York have made comments about how she's smiling or about how cool her scoot is. Our sister Rae got her the lime green tag on the front with the "K" on it. It's a luggage tag. I have one on my scoot all the time too. It's fashionable and functional.

Go Kay!

The Willie Nelson concert

Rhonda says this is what she wants her scoot to be when it grows up!

Last Saturday night our husbands took us to a Willie Nelson concert at the Paragon Casino in Marksville, LA. I hadn't been to this casino in years and never for a concert. I was amazed at how many people were there on wheels. I saw dozens of scooters and electric and manual wheelchairs. These weren't all elderly people either. It makes me wonder why I don't see more people on wheels in my everyday life. I certainly understand why they were at this casino though. It's easily the most handicap friendly place I've ever been.

I think I rode over acres of carpet and my Leo the L'ion battery handled it beautifully. We were there for 4-5 hours and my motor only overheated once.  Rhonda had her smaller l'ion battery (the cub), and it worked beautifully.

The concert was in the Mari Showroom, and it was very size friendly. No matter what size of large you are, there's a place for you to sit comfortably here. The seating on the floor is armless banquet chairs, and in the risers they have theater-style chairs with arms that go completely up. Staff members greeted us as we rolled in, and they gave us special seating (because of our scoots) that was better than what we'd reserved. Alan and Dave rode our scooters off to the side of the room so no one would trip over them. They disconnected the batteries, just to make the scooters less attractive, but next time I think I might take the handlebar bag and lower the handlebars and attach the bag over them, like you do for airline trips.

Krystal and the Moonshine Festival

Update from Krystal:

I can now carry a cup of coffee in one hand while traveling.

My co-workers have learned to listen for the sound of the Scoot so they know to clear the way. No, I haven’t run anyone down yet, but I have been told that there is now a 2 mph speed limit in the hallways.

In general, people are nice and helpful.

I’ve made two trips to the malls – not because I needed anything, just wanted to ride. Its soooooo cool!

Yesterday I got brave enough to try an outdoor festival. We have a Moonshine festival in Dawsonville every year. They block off the main roads around the courthouse for 5 blocks to show off all the old cars that were used for running ‘shine. Of course there are lots of venders, etc. Parking is blocks away, and I’d stopped going for this reason. This was the first time I’ve had to deal with hills. Not a problem at all. I didn’t even get to amber and I made half a dozen circuits. Yes, I got asked about the Scoot. While everyone thought it was cute and nifty, most thought the price was a little much. I reminded them that not only is it easier to deal with, they won’t have the expenditure of a special vehicle.

I have noticed that there are basically two types of people who ask why I’m using the Scoot: those who want to find a reason I don’t need it and those who want to compare their problems to see if it’s the thing for them. I’ve actually learned to just tell people that I have CWF (short for ‘can’t walk far without being in extreme pain, you blooming idiot’ – this is the nice version of my thoughts). It’s amazing that people don’t realize that having a nicely working body simply doesn’t compare with having to use a mobility device – no matter how cool it is.

After a week of pain, retail therapy beats physical therapy

From Rhonda:

In 7 1/2 years of living in Baton Rouge, this is my first Hollydays event and I spent it scooting through 70,000 square feet of "festive holiday finery." At the end of the day, I can still walk, I can still breathe, and I'm not in severe pain.

From Elizabeth:

One muscle we definitely exercised today was our laughter muscle! I shrieked when we flew down our first treacherous hill from the parking lot to the exhibit hall. Of all the merchants we shopped with, Rhonda never hit anyone or ran over anything. I wish I could say the same for me. Rhonda didn't think I should go back in one of the booths after a little incident with a pewter tray. I say it shouldn't have been on the floor. :-)

Leo the l'ion (the new, bigger lithium ion battery) definitely got a workout with me today. I pushed it on some pretty good inclines and rode it on carpet for a couple of hours. It did not overload even once, but after several hours I did start getting the amber light occasionally. Had I been using the cub (the smaller lithium ion battery) I feel certain I would have overloaded it, and probably more than once.

Rhonda used her cub the whole time and never overloaded it or had any problems. That's the difference in how the TravelScoot motor and battery handles her weight and how it handles mine. In my normal day-to-day use at work I never overload my battery (and I use the cub for work), and my motor never overheats. It's just when I'm on it for extended periods of time pushing it on some more difficult terrain, like hilly sidewalks, handicap ramps and carpet.

The best part was that we just had a wonderful time. Neither one of us had been to Hollydays before, and it's a very big event in our community. We got a number of "cool scooters!" comments. In the last picture of us above you'll see that we stayed to the very end. Those boxes in the background where the merchants packing up. We were sitting and talking to three very nice women from Baton Rouge who were interested in our scoots. We both hope to see them again!

Last of the Summer wine and my TravelScoot!

From Daniel:

This is a nice photo of my TravelScoot in the sun having been ridden on grass; while out with a pal's pooch in Silesia Poland, last week.

Winter Scooting, Part 2

Anne posed this question in another post:

I'm close to ordering a TravelScoot (my b'day gift to myself), but still need to convince DH it's a wise investment.

One issue I've not seen discussed is, using a TravelScoot in the winter. How does it do on slushy or icy pavements, or an inch or two of snow? What happens if it gets wet, particularly the battery? Living in upstate NY, this is an important consideration for me.

Do you have any readers who might have winter experience with their TravelScoot? If so, I'd love to hear from them.


Several of you replied, and I don't want anyone who just gets the email version of this blog or only reads it on Facebook to miss any of the wonderful comments and discussion.


Welcome, Orla! You did great for a first blog post!

coach anne said...

Here's Hardy's reply to this same inquiry via his website:

=========begin quote========

Hi Anne,

Like every electric device it is not recommended to expose it to water and damages resulting from that will void the warranty.

But I can put you on ease. Unless it's already raining in the morning, I commute almost every day with my TravelScoot the half mile from my home to the shop. But when it's raining in the evening I have no other choice than getting wet. So my scooter got wet already a dozen times and so far there were no problems. But don;t seek shelter and leave the scooter outside. Also avoid puddle splashing.

Definitely do not use the TravelScoot in snow. Snow will easy get into the teeth of drive gear, getting compressed by the belt which eventually is getting too short and break.

Freezing temperatures should not harm the batteries but the power and capacity is significantly reduced. Best is to keep the battery warm as long as you can. So far no feed back from customers in cold areas.

Best regards,

Hardy

=======end of quote=======

This is a little bit discouraging, as we have quite a few months every year which are wet and/or snowy.

I'd still love to hear from anyone who's using a TravelScoot in colder climes.


AmpleThanks,


-Anne


Bill Fabrey said...

Followers in southern climates can skip this comment:

I don't yet have TravelScoot experience, but have long experience with a fleet of 5 conventional scooters (Rascals, one Eagle) as part of my extended family in upstate NY, similar to Anne, so the following may be helpful:

1) Scooters are useful only on cleared pavement. Rolling on even as little as an inch of snow is equivalent to a triple thick carpet up a ramp. It demands so much extra current from the motor and batteries, that they are likely to be cut out automatically--that is true even when the drive wheels have traction, which is doubtful in icy or slippery conditions, as in snow. The presence of very cold air would only have a slight effect on keeping the motor or batteries from overheating.

[If, as a kid, you ever tried to ride a bicycle or tricycle in the snow, you may remember how much harder it is to pedal, forget about staying upright!]

2) Sealed lead-acid scooter batteries do not fare well at temperatures below, say, 40 degrees F. for prolonged periods, such as overnight. They don't necessarily freeze, but when you need to use them, they can take a while to warm up. (They can freeze and be damaged below freezing temperatures if mostly in the discharged condition, but not if fully charged.) Therefore, in the northern states, scooters with batteries should not be left overnight in a vehicle in the winter, and if they are, only when fully charged.

But if you have a heated garage, that's the place to keep the scooter overnight. Here's an alternative: Keep the scooter in the vehicle outdoors, but bring the batteries inside. This is harder to do with a conventional scooter, but easy, apparently, with the TravelScoot.

3) Lithium ion batteries are less vulnerable to cold temperatures. I have not yet tested them at sub-freezing temperatures, however.

Despite all this, in northern states, there are lots of time in the winter when you can use your scooter to go to a mall or theater, for example, because where you have to drive is usually cleared of snow in a day or so. Just use greater caution.

Anne asked about wetness, particularly the battery. Sealed lead-acid batteries are impervious to wetness, including direct rain. I don't know about Li-ion. Scooter control electronics is usually another story. This question needs to be answered by the manufacturer. Conventional scooters do a poor job of protecting their electronics from rain. Some people improvise using plastic bags over their control housings.

--Bill Fabrey, Electrical Engineer (retired)
and scooter wrangler (not retired)


OrlaM said...

Hi, I hope you will get some answers to your question Anne.

I know this will probably sound crazy, but would you consider in the long-term getting 2 different scooters?


One scooter may not match all of your needs, no matter which one it is. But maybe you could get one that could cope more with very wintery conditions, as well as getting something like the travelscoot for indoors in winter, or for when the weather is a bit better in Spring/Summer (which is probably most of the time you would be using a scooter outdoors anyway).

You could think about which is likely to be more useful to you, most of the time, and go for that one first.

Another issue is tranportability and whether you could manage with another type of scooter anyway? If (like me) you could only manage dismantling and lifting the Travelscoot, even though it might not suit all possible life circumstances, it might be to some extent the only realistic option to give you general mobility.


For me it was either the Travelscoot, or a much more expensive electric wheelchair (which would then lead to transport problems, as I don't drive, or have the money for an accessible car), or just not doing things.


I did use a manual wheelchair for years, but it was very frustrating relying on others to push me.


I also had another mobility scooter for years. This could be dismantled, but it was much too heavy and awkward for me to do this alone, and even too difficult most of the time with help. So I ended up just using it a bit around where I lived, which was better than being stuck in the house, but a far cry from being properly mobile.


I kept this old scooter after getting the Travelscoot, mostly as it was not worth selling for what I would get for it now. I thought it might also be useful to have a back up, especially if the weather was very bad and I absolutely had to go out (as the battery is more covered). Though to be honest, for myself, if I had had the Travelscoot first, I wouldn't have bothered to go out to get another scooter. But this could be different if we had more weather problems where I live.


So crazy as it might sound, I now have a manual wheelchair (which I have hardly used since getting the travelscoot), and 2 mobility scooters!


Anyway, not sure if my comments are of any use. I am in Ireland, and though we do not get much snow or daytime ice, we get a lot of rain. I just organise my activities a bit around the weather.

I am free to do indoor things whatever the weather, but save outdoor things for days it is not raining. If it starts to rain when I am out, I just nip in somewhere nearby until it stops. Lukily, here, you normally feel a few drops before the rain comes down properly, so there is plenty of time to get inside.
On this (Elizabeth's) website there is a link on the left-hand side, TravelScoot Reviews. If you click on that you can see that there are also links to reviews of other wheelchairs/scooters, as well as general articles. It doesn't seem that unusual to have a few mobility products.

Anyway, sorry for the long reply. This is my first blog post ever! I think the website is great Elizabeth.

O.



cynth said...

I too am curious if anyone in a snow area has a TravelScoot. I am in Idaho and this will be my first winter with the scoot.

I have no plans to "ride it in the snow" but I do plan on riding it to do my shopping and what not when the parking lots are plowed.


Empress Bee (of the High Sea) said...
sorry, not me, i'm in west palm beach but i have ridden in the rain before. i never thought about the battery and didn't have a problem. (now i'll worry! ha ha)

smiles, bee
xoxoxoxxoxoxoxo