For most of us past the age of 25, business travel has long lost its glamour. And while traveling for a holiday may hold the promise of an exciting destination, getting there is no longer half the fun.
The security measures in place at airports are only part of the challenge. Most airline seats are smaller than ever and configured three across. Airline food, the butt of jokes ever since Orville Wright packed a sandwich at Kitty Hawk, is now worse than ever or non-existent.
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“Rather than thinking that you have strangers staying in your house, you should think of it instead as not leaving your house empty and having it cared for while you are away.
Train travel is only slightly more civilized. Only ocean cruises can promise anything resembling luxury, and then only if you can afford a larger stateroom and a higher deck.
These inconveniences are magnified for the physically disabled. The inconvenience of traveling with a wheelchair is exceeded only by the need to tote and use a ventilator.
Expect to pay for an extra seat to accommodate your portable oxygen tank. Don’t expect to find all the sections of cruise ships to be wheelchair accessible or otherwise handicapped-friendly, because the Americans with Disabilities Act may not apply to cruise ships of foreign registry.
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Now imagine the frustration of arriving at a resort destination that was advertised as being wheelchair accessible, only to find that it isn’t. What’s a disabled person do to?
Answer: Launch a membership website enterprise that enables disabled people to travel more freely.
Called Matching Houses, the project is based on the established principle of house swapping, but has been adapted to suit the needs of disabled people by offering a website to bring people with the same or similar accessibility requirements together.
The concept is the brainchild of Theo Blackmore, candidate for a Ph.D. in Disability Studies at Exeter University (United Kingdom). He has had Multiple Sclerosis for more than 10 years.
Blackmore organized his friends, some of whom also have disabilities, to develop a website with a sophisticated database that can link people anywhere in the world with the same access needs and allow them to arrange a house swap.
“The inspiration behind Matching Houses was the idea that disabled people will often travel abroad on the understanding that the accommodation that they’re going to is fully accessible, only to find that their access needs have not been met. For example, you get a wheelchair user who goes to a hotel in Spain to discover on arrival that there’s a massive flight of stairs up to the front door and so they can’t even get into the building,” said Blackmore.
“The idea of a house swap came about because, for example, a wheelchair user in Cornwall will be able to swap houses in eight of out ten cases with a wheelchair user anywhere else in the world. They will have similar requirements wherever they go, so if a wheelchair user lives in Majorca, they might want to swap houses with someone who lives in this country so they can go on holiday. Somebody from this country wants to swap with someone in Majorca and away they go.”
At MatchingHouses, you enter your details, which are kept confidential, including your access requirements. The website search engine then extracts from the database all the other entries (accommodation details) that match your access needs.
It also prioritizes them for you—those at the top of the list are those that are most accessible for you, those at the bottom of the list are ones that you need to clarify exactly what might not meet your requirements.
If you find a good match, you can contact the other MatchingHouses.com member via email. There is also an online forum and an online meeting room where you can meet other members and discuss properties in Spain, for instance, if that’s where you want to go.
Translators are available to help with arranging swaps in chat room meetings or via email or telephone conference calls.
The Matching Houses website also offers clear, step-by-step guidelines on how to organize a house swap so that both parties are completely clear as to what to expect. Additionally, there is a section that helps dispel any of the concerns, such as security and confidentiality, that you might have about swapping houses with a stranger.
Blackmore stresses that the pros far outweigh the cons in house swapping and that worldwide, over 250,000 successful swaps are arranged every year.
“Rather than thinking that you have strangers staying in your house, you should think of it instead as not leaving your house empty and having it cared for while you are away,” said Blackmore. “Also, the connections you make with your house swap partners can turn into lifelong friendships.”
Because the project is new, Matching Houses is currently offering free memberships to develop the database. Details at www.MatchingHouses.com.
