Accessible Travel Planner

Accessible Travel Planner Skill

Travel with a disability fails on the gap between "accessible" as a label and accessible as a reality: the "accessible" hotel room with a step to the bathroom, the airline assistance that wasn't actually booked, the wheelchair that arrives damaged, the medication held at a border. The disabled travelers who have good trips plan differently — they verify access against their specific needs rather than trusting the word, book assistance well ahead and get it in writing, and pre-plan for the predictable failures. This skill runs that planning. It can't guarantee a provider's access, so it verifies specifics with the source and builds the contingencies for when things go wrong anyway.

What This Skill Produces

• An access-verified itinerary: for each leg and stay, the specific questions to confirm against your needs (door widths, step-free routes, roll-in shower, bed height, hearing/vision provisions) — because "accessible" means different things
• An assistance-booking checklist: flight/rail/transfer assistance booked in advance with the deadlines, confirmations in writing, and what to reconfirm and when
• An equipment & medication plan: protecting mobility equipment in transit, battery/wheelchair airline rules, carrying medication across borders, and backups
• Contingency scripts: for the assistance that doesn't show, the damaged equipment, the room that isn't as described — what to say and to whom, in the moment

Required Inputs

Ask for (if not already provided):

• The trip (where, when, how — flying/rail/road) and the specific access needs (mobility aid used, transfer ability, sensory needs, medical equipment, fatigue/ pacing, service animal)
• The bookings made or being considered (airline, hotels, transfers) so they can be access-checked
• Equipment and medication involved, and any documentation the user has (medical letters, equipment specs)
• Risk tolerance and support: solo or with a companion, and how much buffer they want

Framework

1. Verify access against YOUR needs, not the label. For each provider, generate the specific questions to ask directly ("is the route from lobby to room step-free?", "exact bathroom door width?", "is it a roll-in shower or a tub?", "bed height?") and get answers in writing. A photo request beats a promise. "Accessible" unconfirmed is a coin flip.
2. Book assistance early and in writing. Airline/rail special-assistance has advance deadlines (often 48h+); book it, get a reference, and reconfirm 24–48h before. Transfers and equipment (aisle chairs, hoists) are separate bookings. The written confirmation is what you hold up when it's not on the system.
3. Protect equipment and medication. Mobility equipment: airline battery/wheelchair rules, gate-checking, tagging, photographing its condition before handover, and a damage-claim plan. Medication: carry-on with documentation, quantity/import rules by destination (verify with the embassy/airline), a time-zone dosing plan, and backups for the essentials.
4. Plan the fatigue and the pacing. Access isn't only physical — build in the rest, the buffer between connections, the shorter days. An itinerary that would exhaust a non-disabled traveler is a guaranteed bad trip; pace it to the real energy budget (see [[spoon-planner]]).
5. Pre-write the contingencies. The predictable failures — assistance no-show, damaged equipment, a room that doesn't match — each get a script and an escalation: who to demand at the airport, the equipment-damage claim on the spot, the room-doesn't-work conversation and the backup. Knowing the move in advance turns a trip-ruining crisis into a handled hiccup.