explorABLE adventures

explorABLE adventures Sharing our family travel adventures after my husband's neurodegenerative disease diagnosis.

04/23/2026

On our last few trips, I started noticing a pattern at hotels. Yes, there is the required accessible room, but it is often the room furthest from the elevator or the one with the worst view. The legally required room is there, check.

I have yet to experience a hotel where they are truly trying to meet the needs of disabled travelers in the same way that they cater to non-disabled travelers.

What are your experiences with hotels? What would like to see them do differently?

While I am obviously aware that Tom now lives with a disability, specifically mobility challenges, I am prone to forgett...
04/22/2026

While I am obviously aware that Tom now lives with a disability, specifically mobility challenges, I am prone to forgetting (or maybe in denial?) that his disability is because he is sick.

Disability can stem from various sources for example:
1. You can be born with a disability
2. You could have had an accident
3. It may be a part of aging
4. Or caused by a disease

In Tom's case he has a neurodegenerative disease that causes his disability, and by its nature of being degenerative his symptoms will continue to get worse.

You know how when you live with your kids, you don't notice how they have grown, until you see a picture from a few months ago?

It is the same with a neurodegenerative disease. In this case we didn't notice the cumulative changes at home, but when we compared our trip back in December to spring break it highlighted that we need to implement new tools to provide Tom with better support going forward.

For me this brings up grief, sadness, anger and a general feeling of overwhelm. I had just gotten used to the last routine and it is time to change again.

I had wanted to enjoy this precious time with my family, but the disease made it hard. And I spent most of the trip in survival mode. This certainly isn't the accessible travel inspo post I had hoped/intended to write, but it is the honest version of our spring break.

Since we got home 2 weeks ago, my inclination has been to curl up in a ball in bed. While obviously not the best long term solution, I do think that I needed to sit with my grief, before I could pick myself up and keep going.

It feels scary to share this side of my life, but it is my reality of living with and loving someone with a neurodegenerative disease.

And my greatest hope is that if you or a loved one is ill, that you know that you are not alone in these feelings.

04/14/2026

If you know me, you have heard me complain about the lack of direct flights from Indianapolis. But guys, I am here to tell you that otherwise the IND airport rocks.

We have our whole airport arrival down to a science. I roll up to the departure level, unload Tom, the kids and the luggage. They proceed to the check-in counter, check the bags while I switch over two lanes and enter the parking garage (without even having to circle back around the airport, I might add)!

I park in the daily lot. Walk across the bridge, up the escalator where I meet the fam at the check in desk and finish check in.

Then we proceed through the accessible check point with our TSA Pre- check. There is a slight delay with TSA because Tom is not ambulatory, so they insist on patting him down in his wheelchair and doing several swipes along the chair.

I mobile order Starbies while we wait for him, & we pick it up on the way to the gate.

And bam! We are curb to gate and ready to board in 30 min or less!

Take that LAX! One hour just to return the rental car. insanity!

That's a wrap on spring break 2026! Spring was in full bloom when we arrived home in Indy. And while these sunsets don...
04/13/2026

That's a wrap on spring break 2026! Spring was in full bloom when we arrived home in Indy. And while these sunsets don't have palm trees or an ocean view, they are still beautiful.

This trip was a harder trip, with Tom getting sick and some logistical challenges, that I am still reflecting on and thinking about what I would do differently if I were to plan the trip again. I will share more about this later.

In the meantime back to reality, laundry, and more laundry!

Happy Easter from Hollywood! Today we took an accessible studio tour at Warner Brother's studio. It was such fun to se...
04/06/2026

Happy Easter from Hollywood! Today we took an accessible studio tour at Warner Brother's studio. It was such fun to see the magic behind some of our favorite shows and movies.

Although we were not allowed to photograph it, we got to see the set of Mandy & Georgie's first wedding, which also had the kitchen from Young Sheldon (a family favorite).

Stay tuned for more of our Warner Bros Studio Tour...

04/04/2026

Today was our scheduled travel recovery day for Tom. He spent most of the day resting and recharging his batteries. The rest of us spent the day at the beach and/or kayaking to see sea life and the La Jolla caves.

And all I have to say is: "you guys, some people actually get to live here, full time ". To say La Jolla is lovely, does not do this place justice. In case you haven't noticed I am just a tiny bit in love with this adorable beach town.

We purposely scheduled dinner overlooking the ocean at sunset. And as we were leaving the restaurant, I noticed the full moon. A beautiful ending to a beautiful day!

Guys, today I was forced to leave La Jolla. But as Ferris Bueller says " the world moves pretty fast. If you don't sto...
04/04/2026

Guys, today I was forced to leave La Jolla. But as Ferris Bueller says " the world moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while you could miss it."

So, I said my "see you next times" to La Jolla and we bookended our trip with another stop at In & Out Burger on the way to Chapman University, where we had an accessible campus tour.

Then we hit the 405 and white knuckled it through rush hour LA traffic to Santa Monica. Ask any of my college friends, I listened to this song, "Santa Monica" by Everclear on repeat throughout my undergrad years, so it seems very apropos that I am now spending the next 5 days in Santa Monica to look at colleges for my child.

Once we were off the freeway, I obviously rolled down the windows and blared the song as we made our way down Whilshire to the hotel. It's giving Pretty Woman, as my kids would say!

I reserved 3 rooms at the hotel (for us, the kids, and my parents) where we have the highest level status, which includes free upgrades when available. They upgraded my parents' room to an ocean view with a balcony, but there are no accessible rooms in that category, so no upgrade for us. Don't get me wrong, our room is lovely, but a simple reminder that people with accessibility challenges like rooms with views too! They did give me a delicious bottle of Pinot Noir, as a consolation prize, but I think it might taste better on an ocean view balcony - just saying.

I'm kidding about the song, well kind of. A girl can dream, right?! I can picture myself walking to the beach every ni...
04/03/2026

I'm kidding about the song, well kind of. A girl can dream, right?! I can picture myself walking to the beach every night to watch the sunset....also did I mention that they serve avocado toast in the shape of a heart here?!

Today we got to work on our real reason for the trip, to scout out colleges for our oldest. We visited The University of California, San Diego, University of San Diego and San Diego State University. No original names in the bunch, and very confusing to have a conversation comparing the 3 because no one can keep the names straight, but otherwise 3 beautiful schools with very different vibes. Any are fine with me because it gives me an excuse to come back here to visit!

Although today was an adventure for me and my daughter, Tom ended up in the ER with an infection. Traveling is so much harder on his body now, which quite frankly sucks. I thought I had planned a manageable itinerary, but his disease likes to keep us on our toes, with the need to constantly readjust our plans and expectations.

One of the things that is so hard about being a caregiver and a mom is trying to find the balance between everyone's needs. Who do I prioritize? The one who came to see schools or the one who is sick? We made it work with the help of my parents, but definitely not the day we had planned. Thankfully, we were able to eat at the hotel and then climb into bed.


We made it to La Jolla! This is cause for celebration when you have a chronic illness. It takes so much extra energy to...
04/01/2026

We made it to La Jolla! This is cause for celebration when you have a chronic illness. It takes so much extra energy to travel now. Thankfully, we learned to build in a travel recovery day.

So tomorrow Tom has time to recover and recharge his batteries for the rest of the trip while the rest of us go to the beach.

What do you all do to make travel easier for yourself or your loved ones?

These poor girls get so upset when they see the suitcases. The cats try to stop us from putting stuff in the suitcases ...
03/31/2026

These poor girls get so upset when they see the suitcases. The cats try to stop us from putting stuff in the suitcases and my puppy just stares at me like like I have betrayed her, again. It breaks my heart. Friends, this is why I am a packing procrastinator. It is my story and I am sticking to it.

As of 4pm today, the night before our 9am flight, I had not begun packing yet. Oops! Now it is 10:30pm and I **think** I am done packing myself and Tom, with the exception of toiletries, chargers and meds. (See I just made the rest of my packing list here).

Meanwhile, Kevin has just put his clothes in the dryer. We still have 8.5 hours til we leave, so we should be fine, right?!!

Lol! Back to packing I go!

Today I was working on our shore excursions for our upcoming Alaska cruise. Before Tom was sick I just picked the activ...
03/27/2026

Today I was working on our shore excursions for our upcoming Alaska cruise. Before Tom was sick I just picked the activities that sounded fun, and signed us up with a click of the button and voila! Shore excursions booked!

Now I have to choose from the accessible activities, sign up on-line and then have to spend 45 minutes calling the cruise line to notify them that we chose these particular shore excursions because they are accessible.

The agent on the other line could not have been more pleasant or helpful, but she had to go through and verify that the excursions are in fact able to accommodate Tom. Then she had to put me on hold while she contacted another department to notify them that a non-ambulatory wheelchair user would be on the excursion.

My question is why are there always all these extra steps involved if you have accessibility needs? Why couldn't we just check a button about accommodations when we registered for the shore excursion.

Navigating the world with mobility challenges is already exhausting enough without all of the extra (and might I add, seemingly unnecessary) hurdles.

It is time for systems to change from mandated accessibility to true inclusion.

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