So it’s one thing to travel within a city using la freccetta but of course it’s another thing to figure out how to travel from Point A to Point B. Or, in our case, how to get from Point M1 ( our home in Manchester, CT) to Point BA the (Boston airport) to Point V (Verona, by way of Munich, Point M2). And also to Point BZ (Bolzano). To do all that, we used a variety of modes of transportation.
Planes
To get from Point BA to Point V (by way of a plane change in Point M2), we took plane flights.
As you may already know, airlines typically offer free services for disabled passengers, providing escorts (and wheelchairs, when needed) from check-in to the plane when departing, and from the plane to baggage claim to ground transportation when you get to your destination. Needless to say this is a wonderful service for someone who has mobility issues.
When you have your own battery powered chair (which is what la freccetta is) you can ride in it to the gate and “gate-check” it there (pro-tip – do that instead of checking it with the rest of your luggage.
Using this all with la freccetta” turned out to work well, (well, except for the fact that one of the pieces fell off la freccetta at the Munich airport on the way back. We’re gonna need to find a new screw to reattach that, but luckily it was still usable in at the Munich hotel without that screw.)
But basically getting “wheelchair assistance” using my own wheelchair worked really well. While you wind up having to wait around a bit both initially after check-in and later when you’re waiting to board or exist plane, having the assistance helps you get through security and customs and border control without having to figure it out on your own. Nice!
Now, one of my main concerns before the trip was that traditionally the plane from Munich to Verona is one that doesn’t use a jetway for boarding or deplaning in either Munich or Verona. Instead, passengers get shuttled from the terminal to the tarmac, where they climb up and down stairs to get into and out of the plane.
I actually practiced climbing stairs before we left – with my carryon backpack on my back – to make sure I could do that if necessary to get into the plane. (Thanks to my wonderful PT, S, plus also her fellow PT, M, for helping make sure I could do that). But, as it turns out, the airlines have a way to get you into the plane without having to climb stairs, if you have requested the disabled assistance. They use a type of vehicle that has seats in the back and a platform at the front. The whole thing lifts up ,becoming a type of portable elevator that raises you up to the back door of the plane. How cool is that, eh? I never realized such vehicles existed. Plus, they take you to the plane in a special shuttle just for the people who need the assistance. Again, how great is that!
Here’s a photo I found on the web showing the type of “lift” raised up to the backdoor of a small aircraft in Boston. Note that I didn’t actually ride in this at the Boston airport, however.
It was great – and the only thing I had to do in advance was fill out an online form for each of the airlines to say that I needed assistance and to get cleared for taking la freccetta. Simple!
BTW, my stair climbing practice paid off for when I needed to go up steps in Verona and Bolzano for the restaurants and cafes. So, it was good that I practiced ahead of time with stairs, even though I didn’t need to use the stairs for the plane.
Trains
For the trains we needed to take to get between Point V (Verona) and Point BZ (Bolzano), we used the Italian high speed train (la freccia).
There is a a part of the company called Sala Blu which organizes assistance to get you and your luggage on and off the plane, plus booking the accessible seat reservations for you and your companion on each train. I set up the information with the Sala Blu office via an online form before we left; we just had to go the train station ahead of time to actually buy the tickets.
Just as with the plane, an “assistant” comes with you to get on and off the train. They use a similar, albeit smaller, type of portable “lift” to get you on and off the train. In both Verona and Bolzano, a manual hand crank raised up the mobile platform to allow me to get wheeled into the train. Coming off the train, the platform starts high, but goes down via button, instead of a manual control.
The wheelchair lift photo below will give you an idea. I found the photo the Internet – you can see the hand-crank used by the man behind the lift.
Automobiles
To get from point M1 to Point BA, as well as to and from the airport in Verona and the train stations and our hotels in Veron and Bolzano was used taxis or car services or a friend (thanks, GM!).
Drivers of all of these were very helpful in figuring out how to load la freccetta into their trunks, even when it was a tight squeeze with everything else in the trunk. La freccetta folds up pretty well, so it is a least a bit compact. (Chris: interestingly, most of the drivers put la freccetta vertically, rather than horizontally as I do in the trunk of our car, maybe to save space for the luggage. But our trunk wouldn’t hold la freccetta vertically in any case.) FWIW, here are photos (from the official Travel Buggy website) that show my model la freccetta both unfolded and folded:
Anyway, as it turns out, we needn’t have worried about using various different modes of transportation with la freccetta . It all worked out pretty well, thanks to the services offered by the airlines (and Chris being willing to push me when the airline supprot folks were understaffed); plus the train company folks, plus friendly taxi drivers, plus a friendly friend.