Wheelchair Travel Newsletter: Journey to France, the Olympic Games, and Lipstick on a Pig
Accessible travel update from the Olympic Games in France, plus a time and location for the Wheelchair Travel Meet-up in Paris.
Hello, friends!
I am writing to you from Nice, France — the beautiful city in the French Riviera that is the first stop on my accessible Olympic journey. It’s my first trip to the South of France and, just a few days in, I have already decided to return. Delicious food (and French pastries!), sun-soaked accessible beaches, a stunningly beautiful historic Old Town with (mostly) smooth pedestrian streets and a world-class accessible tram await visitors to Nice, and I want more of it!
After a few days of relaxation and a side trip to the tiny country of Monaco, it is time to turn my attention to the Olympics. I am looking forward to the sporting events — soccer (football) and tennis, primarily. Soon, I will see the U.S. Women’s National Team take on Australia in a soccer match at Marseille Stadium. On Friday, I will travel by train to Paris, where I have tickets to the Gold Medal tennis match for women’s singles, the Gold Medal tennis match for men’s doubles, and the quarterfinal women’s soccer match that should feature the United States.
(A brief aside, this email is arriving a day later than planned due to issues beyond my control and the United States has since defeated Australia, 2-1, in Marseille. They now advance to the quarterfinals, and will play Japan on Saturday in Paris.)
In upcoming editions of this newsletter, and soon on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and in the brand-new Wheelchair Travel Facebook Group, I will be sharing highlights from my Olympic journey and stories of meet-ups with friends (and readers!) who are also traveling to the Olympics.
Sporting events aside, I am excited to host the Wheelchair Travel Meet-up in Paris on August 6, 2024. If you’re in the area, join me from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at Le Depart, a restaurant and bar located at 1 Rue du Rocher, 75008 Paris, just outside of the Saint-Lazare rail and metro stations. Saint-Lazare is served by the modern Paris Metro Line 14, which is wheelchair accessible at all stations. Please comment here if you have any questions about the meet-up. I hope to see you there!
France is great, but my flights here were not
Let’s start with the good.
I love visiting France. I enjoy wandering the streets, stopping for a treat at cafes, and embracing the slow pace of things here. People are friendly enough, willing to help when you need it, and always happy to sit down for a coffee.
I’ll share more about my time in France in upcoming newsletters, but for a moment will shift my focus to the airline that brought me here.
American Airlines flew me from the United States to Nice, France via its hub at Philadelphia International Airport last week. The carrier had recently introduced a new process for tagging wheelchairs, which it said would improve the disabled passenger experience. I tested the system out, and only discerned one benefit — for the airline.
Read my latest article, Lipstick on a Pig: New Tag Won’t Fix Wheelchair Handling Woes at American Airlines, to learn more about how this tag could impact your future travel, and to see what happened on my flight to France.
The Olympic Games in the United States
Last week, the International Olympic Committee announced that it had selected Salt Lake City, Utah as the host city for the 2034 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games — an exciting development that will bring the world’s best athletes to the United States once again! Check out my free Wheelchair Travel Guide to Salt Lake City to learn what makes it such a great accessible travel destination!
Salt Lake City will join Los Angeles as the latest American cities to host the Games, but these winning destinations are not the only U.S. cities to have put their hat into the ring (or considered submitting a bid). There was a lot of discussion about the Olympics in Boston this week, top of mind because the U.S. Olympic Committee had initially selected Boston as the official candidate city for these very games — the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics.
Check out the free Wheelchair Travel Guide to Boston, Massachusetts
While many residents expressed happiness in dodging the chaos of an international sporting event, I was among the disappointed minority. Boston is already one of the most accessible major cities in the United States (if you skip the cobbled sidewalks and streets of the North End), and it is without a doubt my favorite city on the North American continent (yes, I am biased, but so what?).
Had Boston followed through with its bid, I might be at home in Boston right now, rather than across the Atlantic Ocean in France. And an Olympic-sized investment in Boston’s infrastructure might very well have made it one of the most accessible cities in the world. Americans should all be excited to find three major international sporting events taking place in the United States over the next decade (with the 2026 USA-Canada-Mexico FIFA World Cup being the third), and we should use it as an opportunity to advocate for accessible development in each host city.
Looking ahead
Here is a quick look at my upcoming travel and conference schedule:
Gregory Alan Isakov Concert at Red Rocks Amphitheatre — Red Rocks is one of the most iconic concert venues in the world, and I’m excited to take a trip to see one of my favorite artists perform there on Labor Day. I purchased the tickets during last year’s presale and scored a wheelchair space in the first row! Here’s the title track from his 2023 album, Appaloosa Bones:
2024 All Wheels Up Global Forum on Wheelchair Accessible Air Travel — This annual event brings together airlines, industry experts and advocates from around the world to discuss a way forward for wheelchair access on airplanes. This year, the forum is coming to Boston in September!
Barcelona, Madrid and Lisbon — During September and part of October, I am excited to host readers on the 2024 Wheelchair Travel Group Trip to Spain and Portugal. This year’s group is a fantastic one, and includes some who have traveled with me before. The first of multiple 2025 Wheelchair Travel Group Trips will go on sale next month — stay tuned for details and remember, paid newsletter subscribers will receive early access.
Las Vegas, Nevada — In a previous newsletter, I shared that I will be traveling to Las Vegas in November for my favorite conference of the year, ZorkFest 2024. This travel points & miles conference brings together great people from around the country and is worth considering — points & miles democratize travel, and travel loyalty programs can benefit everyone, including disabled travelers. I would love to see you there! I am also planning to host a Wheelchair Travel Meet-up in Las Vegas, open to all Wheelchair Travel readers whether you are attending the conference or not. More details on that soon.
TravelAbility Emerging Markets Summit — In November, I will be traveling to San Francisco to attend the TravelAbility Summit, an event which brings together destination marketing professionals to learn from accessible travel experts like myself. I have served on the TravelAbility board since its inception and am proud of the tremendous work that has been done to advance accessibility across the United States. A Wheelchair Travel Meet-up may also be on tap in the Bay Area, so let me know if you would be interested in attending!
A performance to cherish
Even if you aren’t excited by sport and have no plans to watch the Olympics, please enjoy this magical performance by Celine Dion at the Opening Ceremony in Paris this year. Given her recent health challenges, it was amazing to see her back onstage and in front of the world!
If the video linked above is unavailable in your region due to the Olympics’ restrictive digital content rights agreements, just search for it from another YouTube channel. You can also enjoy Celine’s previous performance on the Olympic stage, at the Opening Ceremony of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta:
Stay tuned for more updates from the Olympics in Paris, and some of my thoughts on the question that is behind this trip — Did the French government do enough to make the Olympic and Paralympic Games accessible, and what can organizers in the United States learn from these games about accessibility?
Have a great weekend, and talk to you soon!
—John
I really enjoy your posts and was trying to figure out how I could get my daughter to attend the Paralympic Games. She uses a walker and needs a support worker or mom (who has a bad shoulder so not so good at carrying bags)! We are really looking forward to your posts and maybe someday we can join one if your excursions!
Lorraine (mom) and Nicole ( who is currently at a camp featuring pats-sailing, kayak and canoe near Ottawa) 👍
London, Ontario, Canada 🇨🇦