Its a wheelchair holiday
We have always been fortunate to be a family that holidays annually. I don't smoke, drink alcohol, eat out very much (approx. one), and I don't drive, so a week away in the sun is what I spend my money on. It used to be a big family affair with about 8+ of us going together but over the last few years, after COVID, the numbers have dwindled. This holiday would be different because I'm not able to walk for much distance or pain free, so it's my first in the wheelchair.
I was apprehensive because of all the horror stories you hear about issues wheelchair users experiences. We once went on holiday with my brother in his wheelchair. The flight was delayed and it seemed like an inconvenience to arrange a lift to bring the wheelchair up. There was a lot of huffing, puffing and eye rolling. It was a very disappointing start to the holiday and made us feel uncomfortable. We spent the whole flight concerned about if the chair would be there when disembarked
It went smoothly which was a great relief, but to be honest we just followed the other people with mobility issues and did what they did lol So it was lucky that they were doing the right thing or we would have just spent a week in not so sunny Birmingham airport.
I don't know why, but I felt a little embarrassed being in the chair. I wanted to blend into the background and not draw attention too myself. When my mom took Zaynah and Ty to the pool I would tend to stay on the terrace and just watched something on my tablet. The best thing was as we were all inclusive and the staff at the hotel were so great, always checking if I was OK and bringing me drinks and I love people watching. I did go to the beach a couple of times but even though it was lovely watching the kids enjoying the sea and sand, I still felt uncomfortable. Especially finding a spot on the sand. It so silly when I think about it but I felt like everyone was looking at me. On the second visit, two very nice girls moved so we could have their loungers My mom was great and offered to take me to the waters edges so I could get my feet wet but the thought of stumbling or worse still falling over in front of people was too much to bear.
At the welcome meeting we weren't convinced about the excursions being wheelchair friendly so we didn't book any. We did venture out by ourselves but found the roads were very uneven and navigating the kerbs was difficult. So we stayed in the complex
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