by Larry Adair
Our adventure started with a travel
brochure from Grand European
Tours. My wife, Debi, was intrigued by the
bus and train tour through the Swiss Alps.
Debi has a neuromuscular disease called spinal cerebellum ataxia, which causes poor balance and muscle weakness. She can take several steps with assistance, and uses a power wheelchair at home and a manual chair while traveling. Watercolor painting is her passion and our travel experiences often provide the inspiration for her painting.
I’d never been to Europe and was apprehensive about wheelchair accessibility, but a tour seemed like a safe way to travel. We decided to go for it! Debi must have analyzed the brochure and itinerary daily as the trip approached.
We contacted both Grand European Tours and our hotels to determine the accessibility of the rooms. Most rooms weren’t designed for wheelchair access, but they were willing to accommodate us with larger rooms. We had our travel grab bar and were confident we could manage.
We knew the bus would present our
toughest challenge because it didn’t have a lift. Debi would need determination and assistance getting up the six steps to the first seat.
hotel. We strolled past neat, tidy houses laden with flowers, bought Swiss chocolates at a local market, and discovered a gravel bike path that ran along a slow-moving canal filled with trout.
We departed from Seattle’s Sea-Tac Airport on a pleasant late summer day. There were accessible restrooms in the airports and helpful flight attendants on SAS Scandinavian Airlines. We were impressed by the efficiency of the airport personnel at Copenhagen. They had a nifty shuttle with a lift and were focused on getting us to our connection to Zurich.
Our first day in Switzerland started with a delicious European buffet breakfast, followed by an exploration of the neighborhood around the
Top: A view of The Matterhorn, Switzerland’s most famous peak, from the Adairs’ hotel in Zermatt. Above: Wheelchair accessibility in Switzerland was a pleasant surprise for Debi and Larry Adair. They also found the Swiss to be friendly and more than willing to assist them. Photos by Larry Adair.
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