|
Your hosts, Nancy and Nate Berger, at the Taj Mahal, Agra, India
|
Make Your Travel Dreams Come True
WELCOME TRAVELERS! You are going to have a great time here, because there is nothing else like this site on the Internet.
First off, we aren't selling anything. All of us with limited abilities know we really need each other, and this is a genuine effort to help other physically challenged people be able to travel. Yes, it is harder work if you
have a disability. So, if you read the Forward/Introduction to The Disabled Travelers Guide to the World, you will learn the most important secret that will make everything so much easier for you.
Nancy, my wife, has been in a wheelchair for more than twenty years. We know, first hand, the problems you will encounter when you travel. You don't need to re-invent the wheel. We have already found solutions to many of the
problems you are going to run into. Learn from our mistakes. Be inspired by our successes. Enjoy the pleasures and skip the hassles.
We will show you how to get where you want to go. Show you how you can put yourself in this picture of the Taj Mahal in exotic India. Stick with
us and you'll learn how to make your own dreams come true.
Believe us when we tell you, “If we can do it, You can do it."
We have traveled all over the world, been on all seven continents, and seen and done things that are amazing even for people who aren't ability-limited. For example:
Nancy is the first woman in a wheelchair to be at Wilde Point, the exact spot in the Antarctic where the famous Shackelton Expedition was rescued in 1916. Would you imagine someone in a wheelchair could land in Antarctica and play
among the penguins? We did it, and the photos on this site show you some of what you will see and what to expect should you decide to go. Antarctica is awesome! Go ahead. See what awaits you. Click on Antarctica
"You can't do that!"
When we started to travel, travel agents didn't want to work with us. Hotel clerks gave us a hard time. People who worked the Excursion Desks of cruise lines told us we couldn't do this or that excursion. If we had listened to them,
we wouldn't have gone anywhere!
Here's a clue: They mean well, but they just don't know what they are talking about. They have no idea of what skills you have, or how much your desire will help you overcome the roadblocks you may run into. It is easy to turn them
around. If you read Chapter 5, Just Say No, you will learn exactly how.
"I want to get on the Great Wall of China"
Would you like to go to China, but think it's too tough? Before we went to China the first time, I argued for a half an hour on the phone with the tourism officials there. "Your wife in wheelchair?" they said. "No way. She cannot do.
We won't allow."
Guess what? |
|
Fulfilling a dream: It took me, our guide, the driver, a crowbar and two Red Army officers and their rifles, but we got Nan up on the Great Wall.
|
How we accomplished this, but better still, how you can accomplish this for yourself is in "The Disabled Travelers Guide", which you can read online for free- or download and keep for future reference - also
for free. You don't have to register or anything. Click the link to read Chapter 9, 'Stairways to Paradise' to get an idea of how you, too, can get onto the only structure
on Earth visible from outer space.
Who Wants to Shop? One of the Great Advantages of Travel
In our world, one mall is the same as the next. Same shops. Same merchandise. But in the village markets, souks, and bazaars of the world, all that is different, intriguing, exotic, even excitingly dangerous. Like this market... |
 |
A seller of forbidden tiger skins at the Golden Triangle, Myanmar (Burma). I could have been thrown in jail for taking this picture, but it was too tempting not to try.
|
It is illegal to sell the skins of endangered animals, and the repressive government isn't too happy about tourists taking pictures like this one! The merchant in Burma told us he would sell us the tiger skin for $450 US, cash. Just
for the fun of it, I haggled with him awhile, and got to the point where we could have bought it for about $75.00. Of course, I do not know what it would have cost to bribe the officials to let me out of jail after they arrested me. "No matter",
the merchant assured me, "such things never happen". Riiiiight!
Want to learn the art of bargaining at the street fairs, souks and bazaars? Read Chapter 12 of The Disabled Travelers Guide called "About
Bargaining and Negotiating".
It is easy to learn the art of bargaining. Once you get the hang of it, you'll find bargaining is an adventure in itself, and can be as enjoyable as whatever it is you buy. Don't be afraid to try it, because saving all that money is
a powerful incentive.
By the way, in case you are curious, we did not buy the tiger skin hanging up in the picture. We're not into doing things that are illegal, and certainly we would not do anything that would foster the killing of endangered animals.
But being in that market, in the dangerous, surreal Golden Triangle (Burma, Thailand, Laos) was an unbelievable experience.
About
Our Free Disabled Travelers Guide to the World
Drawing on all we have discovered in the past 20 years, the Guide emphasizes what is possible and practical. There is a good bit of “How to advice”, such as Chapter 8: How
to hire tour guides. In Chapter 10, there are some "turning lemons into lemonade suggestions for how to get room upgrades.
The Disabled Travelers Guide presents some important, specific travel plans and strategies that will permit you to squeeze every last ounce of pleasure and enjoyment from your own adventures.
One last thing.
When you hear something is "FREE", you automatically think there's a catch. Not this time! There is no catch to this, you don't have to register, and nobody is going to take down your personal information or try to contact
you. But it is important you know why we make this offer:
The Americans with Disabilities Act became law shortly after Nancy had her strokes. Our lives have been made so much easier by the outstanding efforts of these physically challenged people who went before us. In appreciation of what
they did to improve our lives, and following their example, we want to do something for other disabled people, too.
We accomplish this by making a gift of our Guide to you. It feels good, and we believe it is morally right to do something nice for others. Besides, we have been so greatly blessed, it only seems fair to give a little back.
Click here to read our free
"The Disabled Travelers Guide"
Our best wishes,
Nancy and Nate Berger |
|
