DEV Community: Ramon Alvarez

Special Needs Travelers Notice

Ramon Alvarez — Sat, 16 Aug 2025 15:32:25 +0000

`# Travel Information for Special Needs Travelers

Welcome to our community space dedicated to empowering travelers with special needs! Here you’ll find practical travel information, heartfelt stories, tips & tricks, and a vibrant comment section for sharing experiences.

🌎 Travel Information

Whether you have mobility challenges, sensory sensitivities, chronic health conditions, or any unique requirements, travel is possible and rewarding! Here are some resources to help you plan:

Accessible Transportation: Research airlines, trains, and buses with accessible seating and boarding assistance. Contact carriers ahead for specific needs.
Accommodation: Many hotels offer wheelchair-friendly rooms, visual alarms, and other adaptive features. Use platforms like AccessibleGO or Wheelmap to find suitable stays.
Local Support: Look up organizations at your destination that provide assistance (e.g., guides for blind travelers, sign language interpreters).

💡 Tips & Tricks

Plan Ahead: Notify airlines, hotels, and tour operators about your needs. Early communication ensures smoother arrangements.
Travel Insurance: Choose policies that cover medical equipment, emergency medical care, and trip interruption.
Pack Smart: Bring extra medication, medical documentation, and adaptive devices. Keep essentials in your carry-on.
Mobile Apps: Use apps like Access Earth (for accessibility reviews) and Be My Eyes (for visual assistance).
Buddy System: Traveling with a companion can help navigate new environments and provide support.
Local Laws: Check regulations around service animals, medication, or equipment use in your destination.

🗣️ Comments & Community

We welcome your questions, stories, and advice! Share your experiences, ask for guidance, or recommend resources.

Comment Example:

“I found that booking a hotel room directly and explaining my needs worked much better than using booking sites. Staff were more accommodating!”

Your Turn:

Have you traveled with special requirements? What helped you the most? Leave a comment below!

📚 Further Reading

Thank you for building a welcoming travel community for all!`

Another one from Croatia...

Ramon Alvarez — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 18:42:02 +0000

This is one from Split, Croatia, a really nice coastal city that had plenty of older medieval style buildings to explore, including a castle that was walking distance from the Ship Port. The captioned picture for this was of "Anton" our guide and how he became our guide.
Furst thing to remember is that you can book a shore excursion with the cruise line in advance (if you really know what you want to do) or you can "wing" it like we do. The deals are better and you can use you skills in bartering on the spot. The big difference is, if you go for a "spontaneous" tour, they won't guarantee that you make it back to the cruise line on time, so be wary of that.

Back to my friend, Anton in the pic.

He was one of the 20 or so independent Tour Operators that wait outside of the port landing to see about doing business with you. They usually only accept cash, so make sure you have enough euros on you. The cruise ship should have an ATM (near the casino) that makes it easy to convert your credit card or debit card into euros for a small fee.

Anyway, we walked along the shore path and all of the tours looked the same, cars and prices UNTIL I spotted this huge golf cart thingy, they called a Tuk Tuk, but not like the ones you see in Asia that are like giant go karts. This one could easily seat 6 normal size people (under 200 lbs. each). A kid was standing next to it and I asked him(in English) 'how much?'. He answered (in good English) "I don't know, it's my uncle's and he's not here. He should be back in a minute." Well, I was with the same brother in law and sister (and wife) from the last adventure in Dubrovnik and my brother in law is a frugal man when it comes to "extra" trips so he wasn't interested in the tour. I told him to hold on for a minute while I looked into it just to see how much it cost (tightwad lol).

The man came back during this conversation and I went back to his vehicle to see about renting the Tuk Tuk for a tour. He very politely introduced himself as Anton, and said he would take us out on the guided tour for 2 full hours, stop for pictures, take the pictures of us, stop for food and take us to places not found on the paper maps the other tour guides where passing out that only the locals Knew about. I asked the price and he said 100 euros. I did the math. That's 25 each for 4 of us and cheaper than anything else there and man, the Tuk Tuk was cool, so I went back to my brother in law and explained it to him and he said no. I wasn't going to take no for an answer, and well, I was paying for it, let's face it so...

At this point, I was going to go on the tour myself, but since I couldn't do that, I asked Anton, if he would do it for 75 euros and he thought about it for a long minute and then said, since you talked your brother in law into going on the tour with him, he would consider the 25 euros difference my commission for helping him book his tour. I had to laugh and I told him "you got a deal, my friend".

The tour was more amazing than I could have imagined and he was very knowledgeable and personable about all of the sites he took us too, including this abbey that was sticking out of a cliff in a random part of town, that he said is not on any map. He even dropped us off on a cobble stone street lined with tourists and it was at the doorstep of the fancy medieval castle in the center of town.

So, the moral of this story is to take the chance, spend a little money and have some unforgettable experience.

Welcome, Welcome!

Ramon Alvarez — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 14:12:00 +0000

I am so glad that you decided to take some time out of your busy (need a vacation wink wink) schedule to share your Good, Bad or Ugly travel stories with the group :)

My first fun (?) story, more like ugly, but you be the judge. I was traveling with my lovely wife and brother in law and sister in Dubrovnik, Croatia in 2023 and I needed to use the restroom. It was raining while we were there in April, so it made the "go" even worse. While walking along the beautiful sites of the "Old City" which is, coincidentally, where they filmed Game of Thrones, the HBO series, I hopped in and out of the quaint shops and then discovered that unlike the US, there are no bathrooms in the places you do business with, so I just held it until I found somewhere to "cry me a river". I stopped in their local information center and a nice Croatian lady said "oh yes there is one around the corner near the yogurt stand."You don's call them restrooms like in the US they are"TOILETS", _because pretty much anywhere in Europe its called a toilet not restroom, _I got in line, more waiting, and then a woman, that had to be in her 40's, maybe, built like a football LB, sat on a chair and "supervised" the entrance AND the usage fee, which was 1 euro.

You didn't give her the money , directly, that would be gross after doing your business, but it needed to be deposited into a coin slot near the urinals and, well, she watched you like a hawk, until it fell in the device. I tried to wiggle free like an American gentleman, that said " I ain't paying them to do my business" and slipped out, but I was honest. I wondered what kind of qualifications you needed to be a "toilet monitor" but she definitely had the qualifications, because she nearly tackled the guy that said he wasn't going to pay, as he escaped lol. I paid because I didn't feel like spending any time in a Croatian holding cel where I would probably have had to pay for the right to use their facilities as well. That's my story, what's yours?