Navigating the world as a solo traveler can be challenging but also rewarding.
For septugenarian Anne Marie Jones, who uses a wheelchair, this rings especially true – even when it takes her more effort, planning, and dealing with difficulties that others might not face.
The Southern Californian grew up in a family that valued travel, with the desire to explore the world instilled in her at a young age, Jones told USA TODAY on a recent trip with accessible travel company Wheel the World to Denver to celebrate the Colorado capital’s verification as an accessible destination.
Of the six children in her family, Jones was the only one born with a disability. Called spina bifida, her spinal cord and spine didn’t properly form during fetal development, and she gradually lost the ability to walk as an adult.
But that never stopped her from traveling. She recalled the first time she ever left the country, when she went to Japan at 16 years old with her family. It was, as she put it, “life-altering.” Another transformative time was when she was 20 years old and studied abroad in England for a year.
“I came back a different person, I came back a lot more confident person,” she said. “That’s where I really found that I like talking to strangers, and with travel, you do that. You talk to people you’ve never met before, but you learn so much from other people.”
One in four Americans report having a disability, and they seek out the freedom and lifelong memories from travel just as much as anyone else.
‘Pushing the envelope’
Even though Jones knew it was coming all her life, when her legs got weaker over a decade ago, she worried her travel days were over. “Getting on a plane was a scary prospect, and I didn’t think it would work out,” she said. “I found out that that wasn’t true. And when I found that out, I thought, OK, I’m going to start pushing the envelope here and going back out there and traveling to places that I really want to go to as a wheelchair user.”
Joining Facebook groups with other disabled travelers gave her a sense of community, and became a place to learn tips for how to travel with a mobility device. Her first trip with a wheelchair was to Rome, accompanied by a friend who was well-versed in Italy. Jones rented a scooter so she could ride over the cobblestone streets, and she also hired an accessible tour company.
While she’ll go on group trips and still travels with loved ones, Jones prefers the freedom of being on her own. More than just traveling, she also seeks an adrenaline rush, from adaptive skydiving in Utah to cycling a handbike in Taiwan and sit-skiing in Breckenridge, Colorado.
‘Keep traveling’
All of Jones’ travels have taught her something about that which applies to herself: that there is no one way to do things. “There’s nothing wrong with being different,” she said.
“Whatever your disability is, whatever your age, I’m 72, keep traveling,” she added.
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