Returning to Australia

I apologize for not keeping this blog updated. I haven’t had a chance to do much traveling since my first experience to Australia. However, I did want to update about my last visit to Australia. This past summer I went back to the beautiful land down under to visit friends.

I also made my way down to Melbourne. I have to say it is now one of my favorite cities! I went by myself for a whole week and did perfectly fine.

The city is very tourist friendly and accessible! For instance, there is a shuttle service that will take you from the city into Southern Cross train station (which is in the city). From there the shuttle service will take you to your hotel/hostel. All the busses from the airport to Southern Cross are accessible and they have a smaller accessible bus that will take you to your hotel or hostel. Just an F.Y.I there are TWO airports that fly into Melbourne. One flies closer to the city than the other. Also, the shuttle service is only available from the one I flew into. If you fly Qantas you will have no worries because Qantas only flies into the one airport, the airport with the shuttle service. The shuttle service buses are red. For some reason the name is escaping me at this moment however it is very popular so I am sure all you have to do is ask around. Or you can always contact me via email and I can dig up my ticket. The shuttle service is not free. But it is inexpensive. You can pay for a returning trip too.

I stayed at Melbourne YHA. LOVED IT. It was new and accessible. They were very kind in asking my feedback, as I was the first person in a wheelchair since its remodeling to stay there. I felt it was quiet accessible.
As I said Melbourne is a tourist friendly and accessible city. They have this free tourist bus. All the free tourist buses are accessible. However, they only stop at certain places and only go in one direction. They do however go to all the major tourist spots in Melbourne. It was great for me because I was not sure what I wanted to see.

There are some hilly places around Melbourne but for the most part the sidewalks are nice. The city is easy to get around. Most things are in a central location.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. I would love to help you with your upcoming travels.

My email address is amanda.parkman@gmail.com

I also went to NYC. Anyone planning a trip there and want some advice just contact me. I found the city much less accessible. It helped that I had a friend who went with me. Less accessible in that not all the sidewalks were nice and there were many places with a step up into it. However, I still had a fantastic time and it is definitely a place everyone should go to once.

Upcoming Travels...

Ok, so this coming Spring Break I am going to NEW YORK CITY with my best friend! To say I'm excited is an understatement. As with my trip to Australia I started planning in advance. I'll keep you posted with helpful hits etc that I found on my travels...one thing to keep in mind not many of the hostels in NYC are wheelchair accessible. At least not the ones at awesome locations.

ANNND...I plan on going back to Australia this summer. I'm pumped. I miss Australia everyday. This time though I plan on actually doing some traveling. I'm looking into wheelchair accessible tours. Again, I'll keep you posted.