Trial lesson in Tenerife

I had already reported a year ago about an electric wheelchair with which you can play golf, (see older blogpost).

In Tenerife, you can rent such a golf wheelchair in the Hotel Mar y Sol in Los Cristianos, and also play a round with a coach on the golf course.

As I once played field hockey in my previous live and I would have liked to hit a ball again, my curiosity was even bigger.

This year I even had the possibility to meet the challenge of playing golf with my friend Christian Nachtwey, a former European champion and team captain of the German National Team in wheelchair golf.

Christian is not only an excellent golf player but also has a company which produces these golf wheelchairs. www.powerbasetec.de

In my former life I have driven many fork lifts, lifting platforms and similar vehicles with joystick, but such a delicate steering mechanism as it is in the golf wheelchair was new to me. Just driving around is really fun!

However, I was still in doubt how I should hold the golf club with my limited finger function and then even be able to hit the ball.
You have to take such “trifles” as a game, up to now we usually could think of a solution.

You are buckled up with knees and chest, similar to my Standing chair at home, and then you rise to the sky.

I have to admit, we were “just” on the Driving Range.

After we fixed the golf club with velcro straps and duct tape to my hand, the test series “Play Golf 1.0″ instead of “Drive Golf 12.1 years” could begin.

To my surprise you hardly need power, so that the ball even moves with me.

It seems to me that you can learn to play golf quicker as a “wheeler” than as a “footer” because you don’t twist the upper body during the shot due to the belts.

It is a lot of fun, I can recommend it to everybody to give it a try.

Wheelchair golf is also possible on Mallorca, this is there offered by “FUNDACIÓN HANDISPORT Mallorca”.

With them I was already sailing last year. It was a perfect day then, (see older blogpost).

A roll of duct tape is necessary per hole…

After I unpacked my “secret weapon”, the golf-ball from Eintracht Frankfurt which I brought along, Christian virtually didn’t have a chance any more

Translator BL

Today is the start of the

Paralympics in London!

My personal tip, watch

Wheelchair Rugby and Wheelchair Basketball

on TV. It is unbelievable how fast one can move in a wheelchair!!!

In February 2012, when I was in Tenerife in the wheelchair hotel “Mar y Sol”, the Swedish national team was training for wheelchair rugby, (see older blogpost with video).

I tried myself in wheelchair hockey, “Sport News II”.

During the opening ceremony I even recognized a Swedish player.

Wheelchair basketball is just power:

Frankfurt “Mainhatten Sky-Wheelers”

Sailing is of course paralympic as well!

In Mallorca there is an organization FUNDACIÓN HANDISPORT
With them a wheelchair user can go waterskiing, golfing and driving beach buggy, and even sailing.

I have tried it of course, it was a perfect day:

What would have happened when my sailing teacher (behind me in the picture) would have fallen into the water?

For the next Paralympics I still have to practice a bit.

Translator BL

In Palma Nova there is a very long promenade which is dragging on over three beaches.
Good floor plates, the wheelchair is rolling and rolling and rolling…

On two of these three beaches there is a special roofed

beach area for handicapped like me and …ehhh… babies…

There is a

beach wheelchair

on each in which you get transferred from your own wheelchair by two nice helpers from the Spanish Red Cross and pulled across the beach into the water.

I knew these special wheelchairs already from Tenerife see older blogpost, but with a water temperature of 15°C I deferred a test series of these models for an indefinite time.

If you are only allowed to use this beach area as wheelchair user when you have got a baby with you???

Translator BL

The hotel complex Ponent Mar in Palma Nova is definitely recommendable. It has 3 accessible one room apartments and plenty of ramps with the known

Spanish 6° gradient.

(see older post)

The hotel is up on a hill on a steep coast from which you have a great view to the beaches of Palma Nova.
A wheelchair tractive like my Minitrac to climb the hotel hill is beneficial.

Alternatively it should be considered to take along a well-trained human wheelchair pusher before booking. The hotel is approached by taxis as well which are available within short time.

Someone has really put good thoughts in the furnishing of the accessible rooms:

On grade shower with separable shower screens, adapted kitchenette, extra wide sliding door with extra ramp to the balcony, clothing hooks in hobbit height and even lowerable clothes rail in the closet.

After we have noticed on the first evening in the hotel restaurant that the tables were not high enough for my wheelchair I was routed on the next day by the good-humoured waiters with several “holas:”

Without further ado they had placed a slightly higher table strategically well and reserved it for us for the duration of our stay.

You can quickly start a conversation with the other hotels guests in the languages Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Dutch and English. German is rather uncommon.

I have been to Mallorca for the first time, but not one of my stereotypes was fulfilled:

The Sangria was only available in glass carafes and even without colourful straws.

Unfortunately I had to do without the battle with the English for the sunbeds at the pool, there were more than enough sunbeds available. Furthermore the other guests were deeply relaxed…

Not even the English rocked the corridor each night until 3:00 h.

As single wheelchair user I was unasked “totally included” in the hotel, even though most of the hotel staff and guests probably never heard the word inclusion before

To be continued…

Translator BL

I recommend to each wheeler to ring around 30 minutes before landing for the flight attendant, provided that you can reach the buzzer… and point out that you need assistance at destination to leave the plane.

To be on the safe side I ask additionally that my wheelchair and Minitrac, like officially tagged “Delivery at aircraft” (see older blogpost), should please stay at the plane and not be treated as piece of luggage.

If the wheelchair is lying on the belt for bulky luggage and you are still sitting in the plane the whole thing gets a little annoying.

I also ask for the reason that the pilot can leave some time because he has to wait until I have left the plane.

This can easily take 30 minutes until a kind assistant is coming who might even ask you if you are the “wheelchair“ and able to walk… everything already experienced!!!

During this waiting period you can kill the time by joking with the crew, bumming some nuts and watching the cleaners at work.
Don’t forget to send a crew member down the gangway to look for the wheelchair so that nobody throws it to the baggage cart.

Well, fine…!!!

We were on Mallorca!!!

As usual it took a little longer to leave the plane. I was pleased to hear from a flight attendant that my wheelchair was still standing in front of the plane. Ufff…

I could receive my Minitrac, as “NOT desired” at the baggage claim in the terminal.

A lady from the Spanish handicap service at the airport

sin barreras

with which I already made very good experiences in Tenerife and Lanzarote accompanied me to the baggage belt.

She reminded me a little of the stereotype about the grumpy Spanish waiters…!

The luggage was found quickly, it is anyway always the last on the belt. After the 50th round the sun lotion turns into butter
The lady wanted to back off already, but there was still something missing, where was my Minitrac!!!

There was no real consent where the Minitrac could be.

After around 20 minutes “Gate 2“ opened and I had won, my Trac was found. Yippie…

Quickly got out of the terminal, the taxi service to the hotel was already waiting, and in record time I was in the hotel in Palma Nova in my room!!!

To be continued

Translator BL

I was standing in the more or less private bus with my Minitrac in front of the plane on an outside position at Frankfurt Airport.

As often before, I was waiting for the

lifting bus

to beam me up to the plane.

Meanwhile my Minitrac was loaded to the plane.

In the meantime also the other passengers had arrived with busses and were waiting on the other side of the plane which I didn’t know.

The lifting bus didn’t have its best day and acted a little stubbornly. It absolutely didn’t want to lift upwards. After at least 10 minutes I finally arrived at the door of the plane.

Then everything went fast. Two strong paramedics lifted me on the small plane wheelchair which is nothing else than a sack truck in chair format and pushed me almost through the whole plane to my seat.

Then they lifted/threw me as usual across two other seats on to the window seat.
I learnt on the return flight from a flight attendant that as of late due to the anti-discrimination-law you don’t have to necessarily accept a window seat even as wheelchair user.

What a nonsense… the seat neighbour on the window seat in the plane would certainly be happy if I had the middle seat and he would have to proof his sportiness in high and long jump when going to the toilet!!!

In each aircraft there are specially labelled handicap seats with pictogram on the wall. My intelligence wasn’t sufficient yet to understand why the seats are so far at the rear end of the plane.

This time I didn‘t have one of these labelled VIP seats, what a shame!

(photo from return flight.)

After I was finally “stowed away” properly in the plane the other passengers were allowed to board as well.
It was my fault again, we had about 15 minutes delay.

Short before take-off there was as usual an announcement from the cockpit, roughly like this:

Dear passengers,

We are pleased to welcome you on board of the flight from Frankfurt to Palma de Mallorca.

I would like to apologize that you had to wait in the busses.

We have a wheelchair user on board for whom the boarding took a little bit longer!!!

Ehhh…… I have been in a plane quite often, but a, let’s call it personal welcome from the captain was new to me.

I was a little sorry for the two pedestrians who were sitting two rows ahead of me on the two VIP seats with handicap pictogram on the wall, they probably got some nice looks

I was briefly considering to ask a flight attendant if they had smoked something up front in the cockpit, but I didn’t, I was in a good mood and had a good day.

I plead guilty as aircraft take-off delayer.

Translator BL

After I have tested the canary islands for accessibility already several times (see older blogpost), the choice was Mallorca this time.

Although I have never been to “Malle” before the challenge shouldn’t be too big, German is spoken… ok, English and some Spanish are there as well

The number of accessible accommodations seemed rather limited, if you know any please write a comment.

I selected one of 3 accessible studio apartments in a normal hotel complex in Palma Nova. I had the suspicion to be the only wheelchair user in the complex, this could be funny.

ATTENTION, PRODUCT PLACEMENT OUT OF CONVICTION:

I have booked like several times before through a special travel agency for handicapped www.runa-reisen.de, with whom I always made good experiences. They additionally organized a vertically adjustable bed and a shower commode chair.

Should you need an ambulant nursing service on Mallorca the situation gets a little bit tricky.
In the internet you find immediately around 10 addresses of nursing services. Some of these don’t exist anymore for years, but the website is still online. Great…!!!

I talked to a physician in Germany who has sold his nursing service on Mallorca 10 years ago which is bankrupt in the meantime. The doc is still named in the website credits and doesn’t get his name deleted

I had some nice conversations with private persons who had involuntarily taken over the contact phone numbers of these websites, but they have given me other possible addresses of nursing services which they knew.
At some stage even I was successful, German nursing service, top service, address on request.

After extensive planning, I “only” wanted to go for 12 days to Mallorca to the sea and not to climb the Kilimanjaro, we finally started.

Without major difficulties I arrived at some stage after transfer, check-in and security check in the handicap service private shuttle on an outside position at Frankfurt Airport in front of the plane to Mallorca!!!

To be continued…

Translator BL

Click on the picture to view category

Holiday