Stumps Hotel in Ipswich

Went to Stumps Hotel in Ipswich for the Anniversary Dinner.  I had heard it was quite expensive but very nice and that was very true.  One of the staff noticed us standing at the wheelchair entrance and had to operate the button from the inside, but after that there was a ramp into the dining and bar area.  We were given a table and Sully ordered the Pork Belly ($28) and I had the Barramundi ($38).  The meals were not big, but definitely a very good size and delicious.  I spoke to one of the wait staff who said they had another area upstairs, but there was not wheelchair access to that.  I would recommend this place, both for meals and ambiance.

Still nothing from Holland America

So....a lady from the good ship Eurodam (Anabel) had promised that a representative from Holland America would ring us on the 1st October to discuss our concerns. She was the one who , without any pressure from us, came up with this idea. These concerns being that, although they had a wheelchair accessible tender that they had on their website - you actually had to be able to walk to be able to access it.  In Greenland, although the weather was perfect and the sea like a millpond and we had been assured that as long as all these things were in play we would be able to go ashore, some weak prat of a safety office (who we never did meet) decided that it was too dangerous for Sully to go ashore.  However when I went over there the ramp was a good height (too big said the aforementioned safety officer) and the roads were bitumened (again the aforementioned safety officer said that they were all gravel). Please if you are going to come up with excuses, make them good ones and do not lie.  Sully is a paraplegic - not an idiot!!!!

So after two weeks went past after the 1st October, I contacted our travel agent - the wonderful Di from Flight Centre Booval.  She contacted an Andrew Loving who is the Australian employee of Holland America and said he would contact us.  Well he did ring, a few days later, and he assured me that someone from Holland America would contact us.  I laughed and laughed but he assured me that they would.

Well today is 4th November and still no contact.  I have even gone onto their website and sent an email myself but, of coarse, nothing - zip - nada - and any other word you can think of for no one rang as yet!!!!!

If nothing happens soon - I am going to start a campaign on Facebook.  All we want is to get across that paraplegics that are relatively fit are not to be lumped in with the old and infirm that the ships are full of.......at least have someone that can make the decision come and meet with Sully and make an informed decision.  We are not going away....we have already booked another cruise with the company - and I will not give up in my quest for Sully to be treated with respect.

Going to the movies

We went to Gold Class at Mt Gravatt today.  Because it was so hot, we decided to book ahead to make sure that we got a seat.  Of coarse we can't book online (no wheelchair option - surprise/surprise) and after waiting a loooooooong time on the phone, we booked seats and then were told that there is a $6.50 booking fee because we chose to do it over the phone.  As we have no choice in this....does that make it prejudiced against wheelchair users.  I just spent 10 minutes trying to find where I could send this blog to so that it becomes an official complaint and (again surprise-surprise) I could not find anywhere to send a complaint.  They do however give you a number to ring...I think that will be one of my jobs tomorrow......

By the way, the service at Gold Class was fantastic and we saw 'Argo', the new Ben Affleck directed movie.  As with his last directorial outing - 'The Town'- it was fantastic.  It was also great to see buildings that we had just visited ourselves.

Last stop...Chicago

Caught the Amtrak train from Washington to Chicago....got a sleeper set up for the wheelchair.  The service was very good and the meals were all delivered to us as the wheelchair could not get to the dining room.  The one problem was that I had to sleep in the top bunk and that was interesting...getting up and down and not being as subtle as I should be, however Sully was the only one who hit the floor..thank god I didn't break anything.  Had trouble getting a taxi as they kept insisting that we couldn't fit with the wheelchair and all the luggage we are gathering.  Finally got one and we are at the Hyatt in Wacker Street..I kid you not, it is one of the main streets.
Chicago is lovely.  Lots of old skyscapers....no wonder they film so many movies here.  We bought a Hop On Hop Off Bus pass which goes for three days but only costs $35.00 each.  Yesterday we did the signature tour and the three neighbourhood tours that they provide.  We cannot get on all the buses but we can get on all the trolley buses...they lower a ramp at the back on request....and it has been a lovely way to get around.  Today we are planning a lunch cruise on the lake...guess we haven't done enough cruising on this holiday...but the main reason that we are here is because Sully wanted to see the Great Lakes. Also Sully plans a trip to the top of the John Hancock Building and I plan more shopping...I may find that one thing I have been missing all trip.....Shoes!!!!!!
Start the journey back tomorrow........

Friday in Washington

After we left the hotel, we went to the White House.  It is an impressive building and we veiwed it from the North Lawn and the South Lawn.  While we were there a Helicopter landed and took off and you would have to think it was the President.....if you think politics is crazy in Australia you check it out here - I will not miss that when we leave.
I then headed to the American History Smithsonian Museum and Sully headed back to the Air and Space Museum as 2 hours the day before was not enough.  He ended up spending about 10 hours in total and that was not even enough.  The American History Museum did not have Fonzies jacket on display ( not impressed about that) but I did see the First Ladies dresses, Judy Garland's ruby slippers, the original Kermit and a lot of displays about Americans at war and other iconic things that you think of when you think of the States.  There are 19 Smithsonian Museums and it would take a lot of time to get through them all.  Luckily there is no charge - indeed, like Canberra, lots of admissions are free.

After that we caught a taxi to the Pentagon Mall as I felt a need to shop.  Unfortunately most of their winter clothes are out but I have manged to spend some money and we have purchased 2 more overnight bags to bring it home - and there is still Chicago to go....we are sitting in the Hotel foyer waiting to get a taxi to Union Station for the 4pm overnight train to Chicago......bring it on!!

Night Tour of Washington

Joined Sully back at Union Station-it is so huge they also have a three story shopping mall- and we got on the Night Tour of the Hop On Hop Off Buses.  We went to all the usual monuments - they do love their monuments- and we got off at the Franklin Rosevelt Memorial and next to that is the new Martin Luther King Memorial.  Both are impressive but by far the most impressive is the Abraham Lincoln Memorial which we went to next and Sully got to see it also.  That day he had gone to the WW2 Memorial and they also have onefor Korea and Vietnam.  The tour gave you a diferent perspecitve of the Buildings and Monuments and it was also the only time we saw the monument to Iwo Jima - where the men are raising the flag- and that was also impressive.

Just something funny that one of the guides said during one of our tours - "Here comes Washington's Madame Toussards - they have them also in New York and some other places in the States and I believe they even may have one in London", yes, maybe they do and maybe it just might be the original one!!!!!!!!!!!!  If nothing else, Yanks really do believe they are the kings of the world!!

The next days in Washington

Joined the Hop On Hop Off Bus again.  We got on to the Yellow Line again and drove through Georgetown and then to the Harbour to do a boat ride on the Potomic River.  There was a group there called the Wounded Warriers and a lady came up to speak to us about it. It was set up to help rehabilitate wounded military personnel.  This particular section was all about kyaking and they had a fundraising function going on.  This lady was great to talk to, she was ex Navy and had got involved to give something back.  It was very interesting...maybe Sully could do that and get us to Brazil 2016???????
We tried to get on the boat but it was one of the few things that did not have wheelchair access.  There a group of Amish people on board who offered to help (one even said if he could lift his wife he could lift Sully....sounded like an Australian sense of humour to me) but Sully was not really interested in the boat ride so I went off on my own.

After that we decided to split up as Sully wanted to go to the Mall and the Smithsonian Museum of Air and Space and I wanted to go to the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington Cemetery.  It turned out that the Lincoln Memorial was wheelchair accessible and I was very impressed with the whole building.  Martin Luther King made his "I have a dream" speech from the top of the stairs and in front is the pool where Forrest Gump found his Jenny in the middle of a protest.  You look down from the steps to the Capital Building and the Washington Monument...very impressive.  From there I went to Arlington Cemetery where JFK and family are buried.  There are also about 400000 military and Public Service personnel buried there - they average 25 funerals a day.  It is very soberting to hear the guns firing.  I did a tour in the Cemetery and it was very informative.  The tour was wheelchair accessible.  Went to JFK section and the tomb of the Unknown Soldier and Arlington House which is at the top and the home of Robert E Lee.  I did not think I would enjoy it as much as I did.

Washington and the Wheelchair

After a continental breakfast on Floor 10 of the Capital Hilton, we headed out to check out the Hop On Hop Off Buses.  There was some trepidation as not all the buses in New York were accessible even though the phone call Sully had made from Australia assured us they were.  Anyway after a slight hiccup (waiting at the wrong spot) a bus arrived and it was accessible and we were assured that all the buses were the same.  We did the Yellow Route which included George Town and all the monuments you could think of....lots of buildings had the name George Washington in them and any other presidents name that you could think of.  The Lincoln Memorial looked impressive and the Ford theatre was quite small.  There were a lot of Hotel Stops and there were a lot of stories telling us why they were famous.  Union Station is where most of the lines cross over and we stopped there for lunch.  They even have shopping there and tomorrow night we have booked a night tour from there and I just may have to shop first.  We took the Blue Line tour into Virginia which included Arlington Cemetery (lots of hills we were told so we checked it out from the bus) and the Pentagon (no photos allowed but they let you drive by) and a huge Shopping Mall near by that they even have a stop for.

We got off at the Willard Hotel and went a few blocks back to the Hotel.  Once again we are having Happy Hour in the bar as we cannot be bothered moving again.  More bus trips tomorrow although we may split up and cover things we like ( I do not want to go to the Aerospace Museum at the Smithsonian - I want to see Fonzies jacket at the American History Museum of the Smithsonian).

Amtrak and the Wheelchair

Today we caught the train from Penn Station in New York to Washington.  Apart from the taxi driver dropping us one lane over from the gutter (and not cracking a smile once) everything else went smoothly.  The Service from Amtrak was simply brilliant.  Paul (a redcap porter) showed us to our seats in the waiting room and then came and collected us 20 minutes prior to dearture and got us onto the train.  Sully stayed in his chair and I sat across from him.  We had a table between us and the cafe was just behind us.  There were wheelchair accessible toilets but Sully did not need them.
In Washington we were greeted by Reid (another brilliant Red Cap) and we were directed to the Taxi rank.  Once there Reid turned up with our luggage and arranged a taxi.  The taxi driver was brilliant compared to his New York counterparts and was actually friendly.  I am blogging from the bar of the Hilton Capital where we are staying.  After being given a room with a bath, we are now in a room with a roll in shower which is besides the President's Room and we are now entitled to Breakfast in the Executive Dining Room.  Go figure - you book six months ahead and they still look amazed when you show up with a wheelchair!!

We arrived in time for a storm and have decided to stay in for the night.  The weather is supposed to be better tomorrow...bring on Washington!!!!

New York on the last full day

We got onto the Hop on Hop off Bus intending to head to the Brooklyn Bus but we got caught in the Occupy Wall Street Protest and it took ages to get to Battery Park..some of them should just get a job.....so I left Sully to the Brooklyn Loop and I headed back to Macy's which had been a plan of mine from the first day.
The night before, for Sully's birthday - he likes to keep that day quiet - we had gone to tea on the 48th floor of the Marriott hotel on 44th Street as it had a revolving Restaurant and we were there for at least one revolution so we decided that the view from the Empire State Building could not have been worth the two hour line up.  This restaurant had been recommended by our Greeter Bob and it was a great recommendation.
Macy's was huge and daunting.  I finally found something I really wanted to buy and started heading back to the hotel.  I found something to wear to Jessica's wedding just around the corner from the hotel ($375 reduced to $75) and now I am happy.  The shoe floors at Macey's were daunting and I found nothing worth taking off my hiking boots for....the place would have been wheelchair accesible but I did not let Sully loose as he would have just winged about the prices - although they were amazingly cheap- and I wanted some time to
myself.
I have bought Sully a tee shirt that says ' I survived a New York taxi ride" and that sums up any taxi rides we had in New York.  None of the drivers showed an ounce of happiness - hey you are not cleaning toilets-  at least they are working!!!!

But apart from that - I LOVE NEW YORK!!!!!!!!

New York I am in Love

I love New York but Sully got over the crowds.  Yes it was crowded but to me that was part of the charm.  I was still out at 10pm shopping on my own and feeling safe.  Unfortunately we could not get into any Broadway Shows with the wheelchair but we walked past a lot of theatres.  Our greeter took us to Central Park but we just went in the Southern End as there were other things to do.  We had tickets to the World Trade Centre Memorial on the Sunday.  This is very sobering and New Yorker we spoke to had been affected by this day.  The Memorial is very well done and it was sobering to see names and even recoginize some names from all the media.  It must have been truly horendous on that day - and obviously some even suffer to this day.

After that we caught the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island as Battery Park Park was only a few streets away.  We also walked past the Bull Statue of Wall Street on our way to the Ferry.  I can not emphasise enough how great the Statue of Liberty is in real life.  We had sailed past her when we first arrived, and the first look was breathtaking!!!  Every glimpse after was the same.  We had decided not to get off at the island as we were heading to Ellis Island and we wanted to spend as much time there are possible.  Ellis Island is where immigrants came on their way in to America for assessment and entry to the country.  The place is a living and breathing museum and has been restored brilliantly.  Unfortunately we were there for four hours and could have spent a lot longer but the final ferries of the day were leaving.  That is one place I want to go back to....have I mentioned that I love New York!!!!!!!!

Hop on Hop off Buses in New York and the wheelchair

After much investigation - including a phone call to New York- Sully was assured that the Grey Line Buses in New York were wheelchair friendly.  Well they were to a point - some were and some weren't!!! Hey tell the truth, mention that and all would have been fine.  However except for that, all was good.  Sully did all three loops offered - uptown,downtown and Brooklyn and I gave Brooklyn a miss as I wanted to do some serious shopping and we got held up in the Occupy Wall Street protests and it cut into my shopping time.  For the record I had fun shopping but there was almost too much choice!!!!

New York and the Wheelchair

We stayed in the Hilton Times Square which is in the heart of the city in 42nd Street and just of 7th Avenue.  Fortunately the streets are flat but they are very crowded and Sully has seen more bellybuttons than he ever wants to see.  The first day we sailed in and then then fun began.  We went for a wander to Times Square - it is simply amazing to be there and to look up towards the sky scrapers and realise that you really are walking down man made canyons. We decided to eat and saw a sign for subway - however that was actually a subway sign so we went to a Pizza place - when in New York!!- the slices were about the size of one of our pizzas.  That was where Sully discovered his first flat tyre - he had two on that day!!!- and he changed it in the Pizza Shop.  After much walking we had hot dogs for tea - they are not big and we need two to fill the spot.

On the next day we had booked a greeter.  Bob was fantastic - he sat with us for the first 30minutes and he explained how the city worked, Avenues one way and streets across and Broadway right through from one end to the other.  Some people we had met on the boat happened along and he invited John and Jan to join us.  Bob was fantastic and we went places we never would have ventured.  We thought we only had him for a couple of hours but at 3pm we said goodbye only because we had to organize our hop on hop off bus tour.  We had lunch at Stardust on Times Square where potential singers on Broadway waitress and sing between serving the tables.  It was a fantastic experience!!!  And the greeters was a wonderful way of seeing the city through the eyes of a local.  I will post all the contact details at a later date.

Holland America and a wheelchair

The ships are set up brilliantly for a wheelchair.  The one place they fail miserably is in regard to tendering.  On their website they state that they have a wheelchair tender.  They are very proud of that when you enquire about that at the front office.  Then they say "Mr O'Sullivan can walk" and it all comes crashing down!!!

After telling us that a decision would be made on the day, that it would depend on weather, we were thrilled to see the sun shining and the seas were lovely and flat.  Off we go to our meeting point only to be told that a Safety Officer ( who we still haven't met to this day - spineless pratt) had decided it wasn't safe on the shore side.  There is a lift to the tender deck and a lift in the tender boat and we were quite happy to be on our own from there but we were told the ramp was steep and the roads were gravel.  They would not let Sully on the tender - they would not let him leave the ship.  We tried pointing out that Sully was not one of the old and infirm but no go.

I went to Greenland to be confronted with a very manageable ramp for Sully and the roads were bitumned.  Consequently the office and several managers had encounters with me after I got back - and someone named Annabel offered us a shore excursion for our disappointment in Halfiax.  She did go a little pale when I pointed out that they would not take us on shore excursions because Sully could not climb steps.  They ended up putting $140 towards our bill as the cost of a shore excursion.

STILL SULLY DID NOT GET TO GREENLAND!!!!!!!

WWW.hollandamerica.com.au

More wheelchair in New York

We went to Grand Central Station and it is magnificent.  The roof is beautiful and it is all really surreal to be in places that you have seen so many times in movies.  We also went to Rockerfella Plaza and had to go twice to work out where to shop.  We tried to go to the place for cheap tickets to Broadway shows but couldn't get anything for the wheelchair.  We will try again tonight and instead of asking for a specific show, we will just ask what wheelchair seat they have.

We had pizza for lunch - how New York - and it was a huge slice from a huge pizza and we only needed one each.  Sully discovered his first puncture in the whole trip and was able to change it sitting in the pizza store.  We had hot dogs for tea - I always wanted to do that in New York and they were disappointing.  About the size of your hand - we needed two of them- but you had to do it once.  I intend having a pretzel today - they seem to be the size of your arm, we may share one of those.  The shops are open late and I will be shopping a lot over the next few days.  One of a purchases will be a new port - even the guy in the wheelchair may be getting a makeover while we are here - wish me luck with that one!!!!!!

A wheelchair in New York

We are in New York and I for one, never want to leave.  We were up at 5am yesterday so we could be on our verandah for the New York Harbour.  It was amazing, and even more amazing was realising that there was the Statue of Liberty.  After all those years of seeing her in pictures, the real thing did not disappoint.  The boat arrived at the docks around 7am.  Our disembarking time was around 10.30 and then the fun of being in New York began.

We were told that there would be plenty of taxis, and there were, but there were also plenty of people.  They had a numbering system and we got 10-sounds good- bu they were only up to 37 on the preious 100.  So after about 45 minutes we had a taxi pull up about 10 feet from the gutter - great if you are not in a wheelchair.  Finally someone from the port authority worked out that I was not letting that taxi go anywhere and they man handled Sully over the very high gutter and got him into the cab.  The taxi driver was not impressed that we were only going a few blocks...but you get that!!!!!

We are staying at the Hilton Times Square and we are on the 32nd floor.  We can see the Empire State Building from our window and once I worked out that a window was open, I could actually get rid of the traffic noise - we are in the city that never sleeps.  We went for a walk and Times Square ad Broadway are simply wonderful.  The blocks are quite small and very flat- but there are a lot of people around and wheeling along can be quite interesting.  I personally would just keep on rolling- but you know Sully, he keeps trying to go around people but I think he is slowly realising that this is New York and people will get out of your way.  There are plenty of police around both on the footpaths and on horseback and it really does look like a movie set.