Feature Writer Karen Crowder – Planning a Vacation with Accessible Websites
It’s that time of year again and many of us are beginning to figure out how we’ll spend our summer days. So with that in mind, I’d like to offer you all a few examples of some accessible websites that will help you plan your summer fun in the sun.
A great site that covers multiple states is www.Visitingnewengland.com. While on this site, you can search any one of the six New England states and narrow your results down to specific cities and towns to find available lodging, dining, and entertainment.
When you press on a link for a hotel, you are given very helpful information. Outside of being given the nightly rate, you are given a full description of the hotel and all the amenities it offers. You are told the time to check in and out and the hotel’s phone number and address. They also offer very valuable reviews of countless inns, motels, and all of the bed and breakfasts in New England. If you register on this site, some of the proceeds go to a homeless shelter in Dorchester, Massachusetts as well. So it’s nice to know that your vacation planning is actually helping out others.
Visiting New England also reviews many restaurants–everything from fine dining establishments to ice cream stands–making it a one stop shop for planning your next trip. But you’ve got to do more than eat and sleep, right? Well, they’ve got you covered, as they also review attractions in the area you’re staying to ensure that you can plan plenty of activities during your stay.
Another New England hotspot is the wonderful city of Boston, and www.celebrateboston.com is your accessible guide. They place a large emphasis on restaurant reviews in conjunction with the city’s many landmarks, which allows you to munch your way through history. They’re especially good at recommending some of the better seafood places that are found off the beaten path. However, if some of the more famous places to eat are what you’re looking for, they’ll guide you to the Union Oyster House and Legal Seafood as well. I remember going to Legal Seafood in 1965 and reading my first Braille menu. I sat there reading all the items on the menu wondering who thought of this incredible idea.
Venturing out of my own backyard, I went in search of national resources as well. The one I found easiest was www.metroguide.com, which has an extensive listing of hotels and motels, inns and bed and breakfasts, across the U.S. Studying it, you can either go to top cities they suggest or you can select a specific state in the search field. One of the best hotel descriptions I found was for the Palmer House in Chicago, one of the oldest hotels in North America. The National Federation for the Blind has held national conventions at that hotel. I also studied the Galt House in Louisville, where the ACB is having the 2012 national convention. I did not know that this hotel is the best and biggest in the South East. It has two large wings and about five or six restaurants, an indoor/outdoor pool, shops, and even has a doctor on call.
Another fantastic resource for travel is through one of our own readers, Cheryl Echevarria, who owns her own travel agency and specializes in independent travel for the blind and disabled community. You can visit her website at http://www.echevarriatravel.com or give her a call at 631-456-5394. Cheryl has a lot of experience and will be a great resource.
So, if Ziegler readers are planning their summer vacation, you cannot go wrong with these websites. If you have any of your own that you would like to share, tell us about them in the Reader’s Forum.