Quite a few people asked me about my ' Trip of a Lifetime' and gave me some great hints and tips on surviving this holiday.
The flight out was ok, the long haul in commuter traffic to the airport and a $100 taxi fair and we hoped that our apartment would be what it was on the internet. THE most amazing Art Deco building stood in front of us and if it wasn't that we needed a cuppa so badly we would have stood outside for longer. On entering the apartment we found our first hire wheelchair. The apartment was exactly like it showed however the kingsize bed was KINGsize, at a height of over 4ft 6in I needed a helping hand and Terry didn't stand a chance but what would I have to do if caught short in the middle of the night!! I gained remarkable bowel control. The sofa in the lounge area was so designer but it was about 6in off of the floor and there was no way I was going to get down and up from it so my wheelchair and I got very friendly bar the odd night or two where we wanted to sit next to each other. LA was a dream, the metro has to be one of the best in the world however their roads and curbs need a lot to be desired. When we literally stepped out of the front door of the apartment building there were gold coloured stars with the names of the famous actors and actresses, were living on Hollywood Blvd!
Union Station in LA was an Art Deco heaven and we spent over an hour taking as many photos as we possible could. The main general seating was an old wood with well used leather seating and so we were looking forward to our Amtrak journey up the coast. Transfer to train, easy, welcoming glass of Champagne, easy, our Superline Roomette, amazing and as was the rest of our 12 hour journey and some of the countryside breathtaking.
We arrived later than expected and San Francisco was from a distance looking good. When we drove over the Bay Bridge we got our first glimpse of the roads and they are not on hills but on mountains, my stomach flipped as we went up and down, up and down, higher and higher then lower and lower, Good Golly Toto This Was Not Kansas!! When we pulled up along side our new apartment it was perched right at the top of a mountainous street and I cannot put into words the agony I experienced in leaving the taxi and getting into the building. We got in and suddenly it sounded like a 125mph train blast us by, it was a cable car rightoutside!! As we started to look around there some very strange things, the flat screen tv was perched on top of some bedside drawers and where was the 2nd bedroom? We looked and we looked but as it was so late we fell into bed. No problems with the bed size but where was that other bedroom. In the morning we discovered that the said bedroom was the liviing room but you can't have both if one room does both. I was not a happy bunny. The 2nd hire wheelchair was there so that all worked out really well. But getting out of the building was petrifying! It had to be a 90 degree angel, there were 4 very steep steps and the wheelchair lookedlike a seat in a rocket! With my stomach doing acrobatics I couldn't face getting out of the door so we went back in side. I was furious. The images on the internet were not what we got, the owner didn't show the side door we had to use but the flat one around the other side of the building. Even when I mentioned the word WHEELCHAIR' the owner still said nothing, not forgetting my lost bedroom, the noise, in fact we had been ripped off. My 'Trip Advisor' review will be put out later today. Anyway we did manage to get out of the door with a million thanks to my wonderful partner Terry. We did do the tour bus, yes I got to see my Bridge, we did the ferry ride under the Bridge, we dined at some the best restaurants in SanFran (did you know the Americans hate us using that abbreviation but I shall use it for ever more) and we had some magical moments.
Yes it was the holiday of a lifetime, my regret was my legs. I don't think we'll go back again and I have to keep as positive as I can about all of this but if there is one thing I cannot tolerate and that is people who rip off others in worse circumstances and bare faced liars. How that SanFran owner sleeps at night I will never know.
So thank you to summer and to all of you out there who gave me so much support before we went, thank you.
Written by
DandyLad
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Hi Dandylad,
I am so thrilled to see you both are back, in more or less one piece, and by the sound of it, had the holiday of a lifetime.
OMG the apartment in LA sounds fantastic, when I was there our hotel was more or less behind Ave of the Stars, so I can really place where you were. SF must be the most precarious of cities, how they managed to build those steep roads, I'll never know. Did you get to the Golden Gate Bridge?
Better have a jolly good rest now, in these freezing temps we have!
Yes we did get to see my bridge and I admit to shedding a tear or two of and of sadness. It looked so much bigger than I thought it would be and longer. We thought that we were going to have lunch in the Round Tower, only to discover it was a grab-a-bite-n-eat-outside sort of place which was a tad of a let down. The streets of San Francisco frightened me, I couldn't get on a cable car but didn't really want to ride them and I couldn't access the trams either but those streets! Idiotic and how do they park up and get out of their cars!! But the bridge was spectacular. Just before leaving I started to get some serious pain, luckily I slept on the plane but waking, and then gettin up was excrutiatingly painful and it's just got worse. I am hoping it's my body saying you've done all of this now go home and be kind to your body sort of pain. I could not get out of bed and it took nearly half an hour to reach the kitched from our bedroom which is about 8 to 10 steps! We will not be going back in fact for the forseeable future, home is where it is at!
Terry has just gone to collect our 2 boys and I am so looking forward to seeing them, they were on my mind the whole time.
So, tell me, how have you been?
Hiya,
Me too, my travelling is over for the mo, just got back to freezing Berks, after spending Easter in Norwich with my Mum. Feeling totally exhausted from constant chat, and getting in and out of cars, more than I have done for ages. Just looking at the stuff to be unpacked at the mo! I am just thankful that I am not one of my poor little robins outside, trying to start their family, I cannot remember such a cold Mar/Apr.
Hope your two boys, smother you with kisses when they get home, I bet they've missed you.
Oh well Jenny, firstly why the name Chubby and 2ndly, slowly slowly does it. You'll get the case unpacked, be pleased that you don't have to talk to someone all the time and you won't have to get in or out of a car, just like me, be so pleased to be back home.
Not too sure about smothering my boys with kisses, they are 2 ginger cats and one of them has turned in to a bit of a bully so strong words with him me thinks! That said I did miss them a lot more than I thought I would so it will be great all being back together.
Now I have to get back to my Trip Advisor review on the property in SanFran.
Take care, keep warm
FYI Chubby was the pet name of my first dog of three, and missed him terribly when he died, over 15 yrs ago now, it's my little tribute to him, and always use it as my alias, silly really.
I will let you know when it's published. It is bruttaly honest and I would not recommend it to anyone, able bodied or not. There will be other positive reviews.
Glad you got back safely,even though it didn't live up to your expectations. We have stopped going abroad now because we don't know what we're going to get. You have been so thats it out of the way. Would you travel abroad again? Anyway pleased your back.xx
Hi sylvi - yes we will travel again but not for as long. I think our boys missed us as much as I (we) missed them. Poor Barney has lost so much weight....
HI dandy lad it sounds a blast. pleased you made it... that beds sounded huge!!. a ladder maybe have been needed or several Bibles or phone books to stand on xx
Hi summer - glads to be back home and a bed I can get in and of, well normally I can I am not at the moment.
Well done for surviving - you did it for Terry and even with the dire SF accommodation it sounds like it was worth all the agro, indecision, build up and pain for. Enjoy being home with your cats now - there's nothing like being home again is there. Tilda x
Hi Paul, really enjoyed reading about you & Terry's adventures, even the probs with your SanFran apartment. You could write a travel page So glad that despite it all you both had a fab time. You chill out now my lovely and maybe put up a pic or two for us to enjoy Gentle hugs. Love Janet xxx
I am waiting to see if Trip Advisor will publish my SanFran review, I hope so. Today I intend contacting the owner/manager and let her know exactly what I thought of the apartment and her, I will be a gentleman in my dialogue with her. I wouldn't mind writing a travel page but I wouldn't know how to do it. We still haven't downloaded our 1000 photos but perhaps today as Terry is working. It will give me a distraction from the pain I have got, it's as if someone has glued my leg joints and boy is it painful I can just about walk. Thanks for your comments I appreciate everyone that I receive.
Glad you did just about manage! I love to travel but as you say it's so much harder in a chair. I found London difficult recently due to the people just pushing into you! Gonna try to get to the Nras conference in Manchester , that should be enough travelling for me just now lol! But gosh, what memories you have xxxxx
Good morning allanah, sorry to hear that you had a bad experience in London, were you travelling by yourself? I always contact the train company and let them know where I am departing and at what time and then my arriving station with the same details. I don't bother using the underground but a lot of the buses are wheelchair friendly and if I am in the money I call for a disabled cab. I have to say that in SanFran they have ramp cabs, brilliant. They turn up, get out of the cab, pull down a ramp at the back, wheel you up, clamp you in and then get you off at your destination, a total dream of a way to travel and in LA the metro was pretty awesome, lifts at every entry point into the stations then another to take you to the platform and when the train arrives you literally wheel yourself on, a great and thoughtful way to travel. So now here we are back in our Brighton apartment, the boys came home yesterday and I was shocked and saddened to see how much weight Barney has lost and they seem particularly hungry but I am sure we'll all slot into our routine's in a few days.
Thanks for your comments/replies I do appreciate them.
No Paul, luckily for me but not her, I took my 16 year old daughter to see Cabaret and the V and A. She was exhausted and we did spend a lot of cash on taxis!
My cat bless him wouldn't talk to me for a week when I came back from Florida, but don't think he would have enjoyed Disney, well maybe MICKEY mouse lol xxx
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So glad that despite it all you both had a fab time. You chill out now my lovely and maybe put up a pic or two for us to enjoy 
my familys story 
Five Holding and One New One to Go
