Can Travel, Wheel Travel exists because the information I wanted when planning trips was often the hardest information to find. I want to show people what I was actually able to see and do, what it took to get there, and enough of the reality that somebody else can decide whether they want to try the same thing.
The idea started in Hawaii
My first solo international trip after my spinal cord injury was Hawaii. Planning it showed me that there was plenty of information telling me whether somewhere was technically “accessible”, but much less information answering the questions I actually cared about.
- What does the path actually look like?
- How steep is it?
- What is the surface?
- Can I physically get onto the bus?
- Does the supposedly accessible hotel bathroom actually work?
- Can I get close enough to an attraction for the trip to feel worthwhile?
- If something is difficult, how difficult are we talking?
I bought the domain after that trip and started writing, but never properly launched the site. The idea kept following me around on every trip until planning Japan in 2026 finally convinced me to stop putting it off.
This is first-hand travel, not an accessibility database
I am not trying to build a giant directory that gives every attraction a green tick or a red cross. Accessibility is too personal for that, and conditions change. Instead, I write about places I have actually been and explain what happened when I was there.
If a trail was rough, I want to show the rough section. If a hotel bathroom worked well, I want to show why. If I needed help, I want to say who helped and how much. If something advertised as accessible turned out to be awkward, I want to explain what made it awkward.
Travel first, wheelchair included
This is not a website about disability with a little travel added around it. It is a travel website written by somebody who happens to experience every destination from a wheelchair.
Sometimes accessibility will dominate the story because it genuinely affected the trip. Other times it might only need a paragraph. If the best thing I remember about somewhere was the food, the scenery, somebody I met or something stupid that happened along the way, that is what I want to write about.
The goal is to help you make your own decision
I usually do not need somebody to tell me “yes” or “no”. I need enough real information to work out whether something is realistic for me. That is the standard I want these articles to meet.
That is also why the photos and videos matter so much. A quick phone photo of a rocky section of track or a hotel shower can sometimes be more useful than a polished tourism photo. Whenever I can, I want readers to be able to see the conditions and make their own call.
Stories should lead to other stories
The site is deliberately connected by destination and by trip. A Yosemite story might lead to Mariposa Grove, Lake Tahoe or the wider Hawaii & California 2023 trip. The detailed pages explain individual places; the trip pages show how everything fitted together.
I want somebody to arrive looking for one answer and, if the stories are useful or entertaining, keep exploring the rest of the trip.
What would make this worthwhile?
I would love the site to inspire and motivate people, help somebody take a trip they were not sure they could take, and build a community where people share information that makes the next person’s trip easier.
Raising awareness is part of it too. I am a Community Ambassador for SpinalCure Australia, so raising awareness of spinal cord injury and what life after an injury can look like is already important to me.
There is also a very personal version of success: creating a permanent record of my travels, stories, photos and videos that my friends and family can always come back to.
This is being built around a normal working life
I am not a full-time travel blogger. I work full time as an investment analyst and I also co-founded Headlands Distilling Co, so travel has to fit around work, life and the same practical limits most people have. I do not have unlimited leave or an unlimited travel budget.
Updates may therefore be sporadic. My aim is not to manufacture a constant stream of content; it is to document the trips I actually take and publish the stories, photos, videos and practical information when they are worth sharing.
Things change
Every location article shows when I visited because accessibility can change. Trails get resurfaced, shuttle systems change, hotels renovate and temporary closures happen. My article records what I found at that point in time.
If you have been somewhere more recently and know that something important has changed, I would like to hear about it. Useful reader updates can help keep older stories relevant without pretending my original experience happened differently.
A note about recommendations and money
If I recommend something, I want readers to understand why I thought it was useful. If the site ever includes paid partnerships, hosted stays, affiliate links or gifted products, those relationships should be clearly disclosed rather than hidden inside the story.