Accessible Travel

A Wheelchair Accessible Tourist Guide – St. John’s & Surrounding Area

Accessible Travel, Accommodations, Entertainment, Public Spaces, Restaurants/Bars/Cafes, Shops, St. John's & Surrounding Areas, Uncategorized / By
A photo of a wheelchair user and her friend watching someone on a unicycle in the pedestrian mall downtown St. John's. On the left there's green colourblocking with text that reads: Wheelchair accessible tourism guide - St. John's and surrounding area.

I’m slowly working my way through a more extensive wheelchair accessible tourism guide for The Avalon Peninsula, and I want to start compiling more info for other parts of the province as well. I’m still compiling places, events, restaurants, museums etc. and I’m relying on followers to share their favourite spots with me. But in the meantime, I thought I should share a more condensed guide for St. John’s and surrounding areas that I have created for the tourists who email me wondering which wheelchair accessible locations I would recommend for anyone visiting our region. This is LONG so I […]

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Drift Away Suite at Twillingate & Beyond

Accessible Travel, Accommodations, Beyond the Overpass, Uncategorized / By
A photo of the main bedroom of the suite. There's a queen sized bed with a red headboard and a colourful quilt on it, and in the corner you can see a jacuzzi.

Last summer I headed to Twillingate for a little staycation. I was invited by the owner of Twillingate & Beyond to stay in their gorgeous, wheelchair-friendly Drift Away Suite. I had such a wonderful, comfortable two night stay and was able to provide the owners with some accessibility feedback so they could make some small changes to enhance the experience for other wheelchair users. I call this suite wheelchair-friendly because it met most of my access needs as a wheelchair user, but I did recognize some barriers that might exist for other wheelchair users. The suite was nestled in the back

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Alt Hotel

Accessible Travel, Accommodations, Restaurants/Bars/Cafes, St. John's & Surrounding Areas / By
A photo of the Alt Hotel lobby with lots of very fun, modern couches, chairs and ceiling lights.

Last summer I needed a change of scenery when I was laid up in bed with a really bad back. I decided I would rather spend a night laying in a hotel bed looking out at the harbour, so I headed to Alt Hotel to check it out. I had already heard good things about their accessibility, and the pics I saw online of the lobby and rooms looked so dreamy. I was not disappointed! It was beautiful and cozy, and I had such a relaxing night not very far from home. For anyone interested in going for a (mostly)

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Creating Accessible Accommodations

Accessibility Advice, Accessible Travel, Accommodations / By
A white background with coral bold text that says "creating accessible accommodations"

A message to everyone in the hospitality and tourism industry in NL: One of the hardest parts of planning any vacation when you’re a wheelchair user is actually being able to trust that the place you’re booking your accommodations with is as accessible as it claims to be. A lot of places list themselves as “wheelchair accessible” but upon further investigation there are obvious barriers that would make staying there difficult or impossible. I worry that I’m being misled when I see a place claim to be wheelchair accessible but see no specific details of what makes it accessible, or

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Round Da Bay Inn: Bonavista Peninsula

Accessible Travel, Accommodations, Beyond the Overpass / By
A photo of the exterior of Round Da Bay inn, a large two story red inn with white trim and decks, with two wings of single story rooms on either side of the middle two story building.

I want to tell a story about Round da Bay Inn and the owners Karen & Chris Ricketts. When I first set up Access YYT, I think Karen/Round Da Bay Inn was one of my first followers. And as I continued to post accessibility tips and advice on my accounts, I began to notice a trend. Basically everything I shared as suggestions to make a business and their social media presence more accessible was promptly followed by Round Da Bay Inn. If I said that businesses and public figures should use image descriptions for any photos they share across their

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A Trinity Staycation at Blueberry Cottage

Accessible Travel, Accommodations, Beyond the Overpass, Restaurants/Bars/Cafes / By
Image: A photo of the exterior of Blueberry Cottage - a dark blue house A frame house with white trim. Photo credit: Artisan Inn.

Please note: This blog post was originally written on  June 13, 2019. At the time of this vacation I was an ambulatory wheelchair user, meaning I mostly relied on crutches and my rollator and sometimes used a wheelchair. The accommodations worked for me based on my needs at the time. I also haven’t been back to many of these places since this post and cannot speak to whether accessibility changes have been made, but I am returning to the Bonavista area later this summer to do an updated post A few weeks ago we packed our bags, hopped in a truck

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