Good evening! I’m back from holiday and thought I’d mix things up by posting on a Tuesday instead of the usual Friday—keeping you on your toes, haha.
I thought I’d give a little roundup of our travels, one, because we managed so much more than I had hoped, and two, because realistically, going on holiday with 3 people with various health issues also meant the latter end was pretty difficult at times. I know we won’t be alone here, and for that reason alone, sharing our experiences helps many - our “normal” is different to other families and that is more than ok.
After visiting Greece (very hot!) last year, the kids decided they’d instead like to do a road trip to Scotland, as we hadn’t been before. We also now have an electric car, so a new experience entirely!
Our first stop was Edinburgh, we drove from Essex and stopped a few times – more for my bladder than charging the car, but we of course took the opportunity. We loved Edinburgh, but oh my, the hills!!!! It made navigating some streets in a wheelchair very challenging, even with a power add on. We managed to have glorious sunshine, which was amazing but did make the hills even more challenging. That being said, my husband and eldest went off and climbed Arthur’s Seat in 22 minutes! My youngest and I went off in search of ice cream instead as it didn’t mix well with wheelchairs or dysautonomia…
A little side story here, I developed a UTI a few days before we went away, as I was out of sorts, I forgot to check my packing list, charge my wheelchair power add-on, and even pack the charger. You can imagine the panic when I realised. And although we would have managed just about without, we would have had to alter some plans, and I would have lost my independence and feeling of freedom. After several days of wracking my brains, I came up with a plan. Two of my friends worked together to collect the charger from my house, and got it sent next day delivery to our Airbnb – thank goodness we weren’t in the Highlands yet as it wouldn’t have been an option. Moral of this story, check your lists and make sure you have amazing friends that you can leave a key with!!!!
We moved on from Edinburgh to Loch Lomond area, and I think we all fell a little bit in love. It was so incredibly beautiful. We found some accessible trails and plenty of activities that were suitable for us. One highlight was making friends with a half-fish, half-ray creature—the happiest soul I’ve ever met! We also stopped at The Kelpies – which was SO accessible, and I was just overwhelmed by their elegance.
Next, we headed up to the Fort William area. Again, we found some beautiful walks in the areas that were accessible to us, I needed the odd shove, but it was well worth it. Glenfinnan Viaduct was amazing to see, we saw the train coming over – stunning. I couldn’t make it up to the best viewing point, but as you can see from my photo, I managed to find a good viewing spot. The kids managed to climb up – but I don’t think my youngest with dysautonomia would have managed if it wasn’t cooler and raining. We also found a fab café with Highland Cows to feed in the field opposite. One of the highlights I think.
As we had worked our way quite high up in Scotland, we decided to spend our journey back over a few days. So we headed first to Glasgow, then to Kendal, and then Bakewell – ending up in London for a hospital appointment re: youngest’s dysautonomia.
We found a beautiful walk near Bakewell, on another gloriously warm day. There were some fab tunnels to walk through. However, we learnt a big lesson here… Youngest was struggling, so the other two went back to get the car whilst we walked to the next, and nearest car park… By the time I realised we’d gone past it, I had given youngest my wheelchair because they literally couldn’t walk any further due to tachycardia and pre-syncope. It was now even further to walk back, so we carried on. Whilst trying to find the next car park exit, I again realised we had passed it and it just didn’t make any sense! Shortly after this we found a map – it turned out that all the car parks in the middle of the train were not wheelchair accessible, and I am guessing smaller than I was expecting which is how I missed them. Our only option was to carry on to the next nearest wheelchair accessible exit! We took turns using my wheelchair, and paced ourselves until we finally saw the car park – I almost cried with relief. 8km we had walked! 2 hours of moving!!!
Not only did this teach me to check which exit points are accessible, it also helped us loads with prepping for youngest’s appointment. We knew exactly how far they can walk before pre-syncope kicks in, how long they need to rest, snd that like me, subsequent episodes happen quicker and quicker in the time after the first episode. But we also learnt that in my wheelchair, the child managed to move for an hour with no episode at all, which was amazing compared to 15 mins max of walking. It’s definitely something to consider as they get older and would like more independence too.
My eldest also had some digestive problems towards the latter end of the holiday, so combined with the dysautonomia difficulties me and my youngest have, the last 3-4 days felt like constantly dropping all of the plates we were spinning. Anxiety kicked in for all of us, and it meant the last 3 evenings we had to eat in our hotel room.
The biggest takeaway? When traveling with health issues like hypermobility, dysautonomia, and neurodivergence, always have a plan B, C, and even D, E, and F! But that doesn’t mean that it can’t work, nor that the bad parts take away from the good parts. Now that we are home, the good parts are what has been remembered, so I think we did a pretty good job considering. I am however, absolutely shattered. 😂
Lara Xx
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