Disabled Travelers’ First Look: Accessible Spain and Dubai in Our Future!
Posted August 26th, 2011 in access guides, Accessible Travel, general news and Wheelchair Accessible Attractions
The Burj al-Arab in Dubai; world’s tallest building
Photo by: barunpatro (Stock Exchange)
Welcome back to Disabled Travelers!
Between writing posts, I’m planning another journey that I can’t wait to tell you all about.
Thanks to some unexpected circumstances involving my old college roommates and my continuing quest to finish a master’s degree, I find myself with a need to practice my Arabic; and that means coming up with a trip that can combine business and (accessible) pleasure.
But where to? The deliberations are over, and my traveling companions and I will be heading to Spain and then on to Dubai, in the UAE … never before seen on the Disabled Travelers blog!
Now, this is my first trip to the Middle East (or, in fact, the “anything” East … my plan to drop by Japan was abruptly canceled) so I wasn’t sure what to expect. But Dubai, one of the major city-states of the United Arab Emirates, is probably the best place out there for a starter trip to the region. It welcomes millions of global tourists every year thanks to its welcoming attitude and ultra-modern sights, including man-made islands and the Burj al-Arab, currently the world’s tallest skyscraper. Likewise, the number of disabled hotels and the accessibility situation in general seems to be the best in the Middle East!
Taking a quick look around, I discovered this discussion over at Apparelyzed, the number one community on the internet for maintaining an active lifestyle after spinal cord injury: Wheelchair Accessible Holiday in Dubai. If you scroll down a bit, you’ll actually discover a fairly comprehensive guide to accessible attractions, transportation, and disabled hotels! Most hotels are 100% accessible, as are many of the top attractions. The only major complaint I’ve uncovered so far is the lack of dropped curbs and curb cutaways in some areas. While this is nothing to sneeze at, it seems like the bulk of the news is good, even with an unfinished mass transit system.
Now, this is a really long way to go in just one hop, so my friends and I decided that we would stop off in Spain first. No word yet on whether we’ll be checking out Madrid, Barcelona, or somewhere else completely. But as I figure it out, Disabled Travelers readers will learn along with me. Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be researching fun destinations all around Spain, and digging deeper into Dubai. Hope you’ll join us again, this time next week and every week, as Disabled Travelers goes the distance in accessible travel around the world! Thanks for reading, and see you again soon!
Si
