Saturday 5th June

A last day of sightseeing in Hong Kong before we leave this evening. We spent last evening over at Kowloon. We caught the star ferry across Victoria Harbour and then ate street food at the Temp[le Street night markets. So today had to be the Peak by cable car. The gradient on the trip is just unbelievable. It was really worthwhile doing. The view from the top is spectacular. We had waited for a fine day but really didn't have one at all while we were in Hong Kong. So the view could have been a bit better - but it was no disappointment at all. After that we spent time again wandering the streets of hong Kong island which are so full of life, a final meal of BBQ Pork and Roast Duck before heading off to the airport for the flight home.

TRANSED 2010 - Hong Kong

On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I attended the International Conference on Mobility and Accessible Transport. Over 1000 delegates from 34 countries attended the event. Each day offered a showcase of latest developments in the area of accessible transport andn tourism from around the world as well as keynote speakers of great quality. the conference was a great opportunity to connect with some people I hadn't seen alongn my journey and others I met again and was able to update them with my progress. As the conference was in Hong Kong I was also able to spend some time with some colleagues from Australia in a setting outside the normal workplace. IT was a very worthwhile conference where I learnt quite a bit from some of the projects I heard about - some I had heard of - others I hadn't. the conference also included a Chinese banquet for delegates-a very chinese experience - besides the food it was loud and bright!

Hong Kong

After travelling since Sunday morning (Europe time) we arrived in Hong Kong this afternoon where it is warm and humid. A gentle walk around the block or two, a light meal and we are ready to sleep.

Malmo-Sweden

Today we travelled back up to Malmo ready to head on tomorrow flying from Copenhagen to Hong Kong via London.

Malmo is a really pleasant city of 250,000 people. It lies just across the water from Denmark and today was a clear day so we could see across the channel to Copenhagen. The Oresund(bridge)connecting the two is pretty amazing. We will travel on it tomorrow morning by train to the airport.

We spent the afternoon wandering round the old city ending up in a square surrounded by people attending the annual march for solidarity for people with disability. It was a really good atmosphere and great to be there. this was followed by sometime spent people watching in the square.A good way to end the scandinavian leg of the tour.

Skanor and Falsterbo

Friday was a full day at this conference. A really interesting day hearing about projects happening in a number of european countries on the development of accessible tourism in those destinations. Paricularly interesting is the Italian organisation COIN, the work that the University of Surrey have been doing with the CETA project, the work being done in the Czech Repbulic and the developments in Sweden. It has however added a number of dimensions to my thoughts on plans for work back in Australia. It will now be interesting to see what developments are discussed in Hong Kong next week.


Friday evening was spent at Angavallen Farm - a Restaurant highlighting their own organic produce. A memorable evening - the slogan is from field to fork - they just forget to mention the ringing of the cash register....

Flasterbo Sweden

We travelled to Sweden on Wednesday, and are now staying in Skanor on the Falsterbo Peninsula. I am currently attending a CETA (ENAT) Conference here on the competitiveness of accessible tourism. Topics for discusison are of interest and there are some interesting speakers including Dr Graham Miller from Surrey Uni. The networking opportunities with some of the accessible tourism projects around Europe are useful - a number of them are working on similar projects to ours and grappling with the same issues. It will be interesting to take some of the European perspective to Hong Kong next week

Copenhagen - Sunday and Monday

After a sleep in we caught the train from Odense to Copenhagen ( a ride of 1½ hours). The country side is flat and green with lots of Canola in flower. We spent the afternoon walking in the Tivoli area of Copenhagen. Copenhagen is another beautiful european city, very easy to get around and lots of old architecture to view.

Today (Monday) we spent time looking through one of the Royal Palaces and discovering the Canals. The weather has been cooler today - about 15 degrees - so an afternoon coffee and danish seemed perfect before an afternoon nap.

We have been struck with poor wi-fi internet connections for the last week, which we are finding very frustrating as we need to arrange some more accomm etc on our way home. We will have one more day exploring Copenhagen tomorrow before heading to Sweden.

Saturday

We spent today exploring Odense. A city of 180,000 and the regional capital of FUNEN
(the central island of Denmark). Odense was the home to Hans Christian Anderson and they are certainly proud of their local son. A 25% sales tax seems to be what makes Denmark slightly more expensive than other parts of Europe and the UK so it has been a matter of looking a little more closely at the cost of the evening meal....The weather has been warmer than expected - around 20 degrees today, so we have been dragging out the T-shirts from the bottom of the case. Odense has been a pleasant place to experience as our first encounter with Denmark. Tomorrow we head onto Copenhagen.

Thursday - today

Today we are catching the ferry to Denmark - an overnight trip which will take us to the west coast of Denmark - Osjberg. From there we will travel by train to Odense for a couple of days, then onto Copenhagen for another couple, before a 2 day conference on the Falsterbo Peninsula in Sweden. After that it is a flight (or ferry) back to London and on to Hong Kong for the Transed Conference.

DisabledGo - Tuesday 18th May

Today was spent in Stevenage meeting with some staff from DisabledGo. Have a look at their website - the information is well laid out and good quality. This organisation is on the same wavelength as IDEAS - Access Aware is very similar. We had some good discussions about provision of information - collecting data - what processes work and what don't and being the trusted source!

At the conclusion of our meeting Craig and I travelled to Hitchin just up the road and spent a couple of nostalgic hours as we visited the pub we had worked in some 27 years ago......
Exhausted again by the end of the day it was back to Cambridge for a quiet ale and dinner at the local pub.

Cambridge-Monday 17th May

I will come back to this and add some photos in the next day or two when I have a stable internet connection, but want to keep people up to date. Today we had to make a calculated decision. We were due to fly to Prague on Wednesday, however with the return of (albeit short lived) the volcanic ash and the looming threat of strikes by BA we felt that Prague was a risk, so spent most of the day looking at other options. Our plans now are to stay in Cambridge until Wednesday when we will head to Harwich to catch a Ferry direct to Denmark, so I can be sure to reach Sweden for the conference next week.

In Cambridge we have been very lucky to be guests of a Fellow of Trinity College which has meant we are staying in the Old Guest Room at Trinity (Accommodation used by Byron some years ago). Cambridge is incredible - an amazing history lesson all rolled into one. So in between sorting out bookings we have been wandering the streets of Cambridge and halls of Trinity and other Colleges. Not a bad place to have to spend an extra night at - the only downside has been no internet access at our accommodation, so has caused some frustrations toing and froing from Libraries and cafes etc. Oh well if that is all there is to complain about...

Saturday 15th May - London

Our last day of sightseeing in London so it had to be a big one. To begin with we had some chores to do - mailing home the excess baggage - printed materials I have been collecting on the way. And then we were off on our walk around the western side of the city. We stayed in South Kensington this week which we have thoroughly enjoyed. The Victoria and Albert Museum was our first stop today. What a brilliant Museum, we could have spent all week there. We did spend a couple of hours looking through the Middle Eastern rooms and the Medieval England rooms.

Our walk after that took us to Harrods, where we had to stop and buy food for our picnic lunch. We also spent time gazing at the watch collection.... Onto Hyde Park for lunch with our Chicken and Leek pies and Scotch eggs.

After lunch we headed over to the Australian War Memorial at Wellington Arch, then down Constitution Hill to Buckingham Palace. From there we wandered along st James Park to the Horse Guards Palace and then on to the Churchill War Rooms.

The Churchill War Rooms were certainly a tribute to Sir Winston Churchill and we spent some time wandering through the underground hallways and viewing the exhibits in the Museum.

The timing for our day had been pretty good as we came out of the War Rooms with a bit of time to get round to Downing Street, before heading on to Westminster Abbey for Evensong.

Evensong at Westminster Abbey was pretty incredible. The acoustics in the Abbey were amazing and it was a wonderful experience to sit there listening to the organ and choir through the service. A really nice way to end our last full day in London.

London work Wednesday-Friday

Back in London on Wednesday ready for the appointments I have made for the rest of this week. I spent lunchtime on Thursday catching up with Janet - it was lovely to see her. She is doing well- very into her dru yoga. We haven't managed to catchup at home at all - so lunch in London was a memorable time with her.

Later on Thursday I met with Elina Michopoulou from the University of Surrey. Elina spent time working on the OSSATE project and has strong knowledge in e-tourism and the requirements in developing information systems such as we want to do. This meeting was really worthwhile and I value Elina's comments and time. I look forward to further communication with Elina as we progress our project at home.

Preparations for the Olympics to be held in London in 2012 is providing opportunities for improvements to accessibility of the host city and London is obviously realising this. The opportunity to increase the knowledge and availability of accessible tourism product information is evident and I will watch with interest the outcome. There are a number of key players in the UK providing information on accessible tourism with a number of different approaches. My aim is to meet with as many as I can on this trip and I am well on my way.

My next meeting was with Jenny Littman the CEO for Tourism for all. A UK Based organisation progressing the call for inclusive and accessible tourism. Another very engaging conversation with lots of information and knowledge gained about the UK system.

On Friday I arranged another couple of meetings. I met with Dan Biddle from Direct Enquiries. Dan showed me the database that Direct Enquiries work with and how their commercial model works. This was really interesting to see an online directory of accessible tourism product that appears to be based on a commercial model. More food for thought.....

My last meeting on Friday was with a representative from the UK Government's Office of Disability Issues which sits (this week) within the Department of Work and pensions. This was another fruitful conversation where I heard and learnt about the disability information housed on the DirectGov website - what drives this website and how the content is managed. Another contact for down the track.

Bristol -Tuesday 12th May

With an afternoon and morning free we decided to catch up with friends in Bristol. We enjoyed a nice evening with Tim Hedgecock at Clifton Gardens on the edge of Bristol. A 2 hour drive down the M4. Clifton Gardens is a pretty little village on the edge of Bristol - home to a suspension bridge designed by Brunel.

Monday 10th May - RADAR

Back to work today. Up early and on the phone to finalise some appointments for later this week. I spent some time at RADAR today which was very worthwhile. Long history in the sector and interesting the changes they have gone through over the last 6-8 years, some due to funding. The day was more about general systemic representation and access as opposed to accessible travel - but really interesting to see the similarities (and differences) in the sector in the UK compared with Australia. A few more contacts made to follow up on and squeeze into the schedule. We are hoping to get to Bristol for a day this week as the meeting in Bournemouth has been rearranged to be in London later in the week. By coincidence I will meet up with an old school friend in London on Thursday. Janet Scharbow (Pidsley) is currently here as well - I look forward to seeing her.

Weekend 8-9 May

Another weekend in London - tired? We have to get out and see things - time to catch up later! So this weekend we did sleep in a bit and then walked the South bank from Tower Bridge to Lambeth Bridge and back up past Westminster. While we missed election day we are now being bombarded with the discussions taking place between the various parties. Interesting time to be here - especially when our original plan would have had us in Greece. We spent time at the Globe Theatre, Tate Modern and thoroughly enjoyed meandering along the Thames discussing the various buildings we were viewing.
Sunday morning saw us sleep in again and then head east - Petticoat Lane Markets and Spittalfield Markets and then a walk up Brick Lane in the late afternoon before Dinner. A nice mix of cultures over the weekend.

Friday 7th May

Today we spent some time in Brussels and travelled back to London. Our home for this stay in London is at Aldgate near the Thames and Tower. We are starting to tire a little and need to spend a quiet weekend catching up I think

Thursday 6th May - Leuven - ENAT AGM

Lueven is a smaller city about 20 minutes east of Brussels. Another very old city with lots of interesting buildings to keep you walking for hours. I spent most of the day attending the ENAT AGM which was held at the Boerobund (Farmers Union) Building in Leuven. Ivor Ambrose is Managing Director of ENAT (European Nations Accessible Tourism) and had invited me to attend as IDEAS is an associate member. The day was very interesting and I learnt alot about some of the organsations in Europe involved in accessible tourism. It was interesting also to see the machinations of a european not for profit and how similar we all are. There was another call today for the development of an international network of some sort. I will meet up with Ivor and Lillian Muller (ENAT Chair) again in Sweden. This meeting has given me more research to do on other organisations and funding of activities we need to do.

Brussels Tuesday 4th -Friday 7th May

We headed to Brussels on the Eurostar on Tuesday morning. More cold weather (it hasn't got above 10 degrees since we left Phoenix)- we are getting used to it - preparing us for winter when we get home. We spent some time on Wednesday in the old city in Brussels and also spent some time at the Flanders Infopoint where I gained alot of information on accessible tourism in Flanders.

Weekend 1-3 May

The UK doesn't surprise us this weekend - cold and raining, however it is nice to see the red buses and black cabs. We spent the long weekend looking at London - the British Library, Convent Garden, Trafalgar Square to name a few. An Evening at the Theatre in the West End - what better than Oliver with Griff Rhys Jones when in London! Unfortunately it is a long weekend and so some phone calls that were planned for the weekend will have to wait till after Brussels. We stayed at Kings Cross which provided us with pleasant surrounds and some good pub grub.

London

We arrived into London yesterday and guess what - cold and raining, long weekend and its great to be here. Heading off to the British Library today.

Thursday -today

I have spent today as you can see catching up on some clerical duties. Tomorrow I have some more connections to make with people from Keroul and finalise a couple of meetigns in London. We fly to London tomorow night (Friday)and begin work there on Monday.

Keroul - Wednesday 28th April

Back to work....I spent the day with Andre leCLerc and his team at Keroul in Montreal today. What a great day. This organisation is doing a number of the things that we can see IDEAS doing....we can learn a lot from them. Keroul have specialised in supporting accessible tourism for people with disability in Quebec for 30 years and have a wealth of experience and knowledge. I spent time with the executive team, Research and Development team as well as peopel working on their Äccessible Road project. The dedicated staff of 8 people were wonderful hosts and I can't thank them enough for their time. I came away from the day armed with a mountain of papers, reports and tools to research and review as well as a genuine hockey puck. Great ambassadors for Quebec; it was so nice to connect with colleagues in our field.I will meet again with people from Keroul at the Transed Conference in Hong Kong. www.keroul.qc.ca if you would like to see what they do or www.larouteaccessible.com which is another of their websites.

Monday 26th April

Yesterday (Sunday) was spent having a quiet morning catching up on domestic tasks. The afternoon was spent at the Baseball. Arizona DiamondBacks vs Philadelphia Phillies at the Chase field in Phoenix with friends that could explain the nuances of Baseball rules. A great way to spend a Sunday afternoon in the USA.

Today was spent travelling to Montreal. We arrived in the evening and in the middle of a major ice hockey match happening down the road from our Hotel. The game was a crucial game in the play offs and Montreal won. The crowd carried on as if it was the Word Cup. Great atmosphere. Woke up the next day to snow...after 30 degrees in Phoenix.

Saturday 24th April

Now we have moved onto Phoenix and staying with an American girlfriend that I spent time with at High School in Tumut. Veva and her husband Steve live in Paradise Valley near Phoenix Arizona. the pace is less stressful than Houston and the countryside is a beautiful desert. I feel much more relaxed in this environment and it is a nice break from the hectic cities we have had to date.

Friday 23rd April

We have spent the last two days with friends Richard and Kathy Hawley and their two teenagers who are currently living in Houston. Got to see the 'burbs in Texas - no different really.....

During this time we had an opportunity to visit the Johnson Space Centre. What an amazing experience. We undertook the Level Nine tour and spent well over 4 hours behind the scenes. We got to visit some admin buildings, the staff canteen, the Neutral Bouyancy Laboratory, the Astronauts training centre and Mission Control. Mission Control was definitely the highlight. It was unbelievable - to be standing on the floor of the original Mission Control room when they went to the Moon etc. the photos don't do it justice. It was a pretty special feeling. We also visited the other two control rooms and had a Ground Controller come and talk with us and answer questions. He was on a day off as the Space Shuttle had landed the day before and he was part of that team. Just amazing listening to stories of his experience working there. We also went to the Control Room for the International Space Centre and spent time there watching what they were doing. If you have an opportunity to go sometime - do it. Amazing!

Wednesday 21st April

Late yesterday I was able to attend a presentation by Mr Bernard Lane an internationally renowned expert on rural tourism and sustainable tourism. He is founder and co-editor of the Journal of Sustainable Tourism. His presentation at TAMU was very interesting, while not specifically about the "easy access" tourism market parallels could be drawn. As a resident of Tumut, NSW I could see some parallels with our community and the examples Mr Lane was describing from his work in the UK. A great opportunity which I wouldn't have had without this fellowship.

Today I had the privilege of talking with some Parks, Recreation and Tourism students at TAMU who were embarking on their Diversity unit. It was an interesting experience for me and I hope so for them. I would like to thank Professor David Scott for the opportunity and hope that I left his students with some new knowledge to consider.

Tuesday 20th April

Today I met with Ulrike Gretzel Assistant Professor and Director Laboratory for Intelligent Systems in Tourism Dept. of Recreation, Park and Tourism Sciences Texas A&M University. I spent two full hours discussing the pros and cons of online social marketing and the effect it can have on travelling for people with disability. Our conversation was very engaging and gave a good insight into some directions we need to look at for the online provision of information and engaging with both individuals travelling and the tourism business sector. Fitting very neatly with our mission to allow people with dsiability to make informed choices leads to providing a platform where they can give feedback and inform others of what they have found works for them and what hasn't. This in turn can be very good feedback for the business sector involved as they can learn what they can do to improve and meet this market as well as receive feedback on what they are doing well. I learned a lot more from Ulrike and look forward to more conversations with her in the future.

Gradually I get to updating the blog. So much has happened in the last week. I have gained a lot of information and knowledge over the last week which I won't get to put up here, but needless to say this is turning it a really worthwhile adventure. I will try and recap the last weeks activities for those following.

Monday morning - Forth Worth - Texas

Today has been a bit of a catch up day – getting the blog up to date and preparing for a visit to the A&M University in College Station Texas which begins tomorrow. We travel to College Station this afternoon.

New York - Friday 16th April

Yesterday’s meeting with Jani Nayar from SATH (Society for accessible travel and hospitality) was another wonderful couple of hours where Jani confirmed my thoughts about the state of play in the USA. Similar issues, same problems with finding the solutions. How to collect accurate information across large geographic areas using the assistance of local people? Again, Jani gave me new names and contacts for me to meet along the way. It is obvious that Jani has a very positive outlook and a lot of energy that she put to this cause. She and I discovered many similarities and other areas where we can certainly learn from others experiences. I will meet up again with Jani in Hong Kong.

Loved New York – again we visited iconic tourist destinations – Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Macy’s, Central Park and the Guggenheim.

San Francisco- tuesday April 13th

Yesterday I had a conversation with Scott Rains which was very informative. He is a fellow to keep in touch with and one who has a good understanding of what is happening at the moment in the accessible travel field. He is a very good networker and has names at the tip of his tongue, which has been of great assistance for me in planning the UK leg of this trip. His experience and knowledge of the different operators, experts and opportunities in the field are very valuable. The time spent with him was worthwhile indeed. I hope to be in touch with him again in the near future.

Today I met with Bonnie Lewkowicz from Access Northern California to discuss her experiences. Bonnie is leading activist and a great advocate for people with disability. Bonnie leads a small no profit which has developed access guides for the Northern California region as well as the San Francisco access guide. This was a nice introduction into the workings of the disability advocacy sector in the USA. Bonnie has a good handle on how things work and where things are at. We discussed the issues of maintaining information, its accuracy and reliability. My conversation with Bonnie was the first to see how similar the issues are in the US to those we have at home. The problems of collecting accurate information and maintaining it – the resources needed and the funding for it I don’t think are any different to our experiences in Australia.

For those after some travelogue information – the weather ahs been cold and wet, the tourist sites being visited are the iconic sites and information is being collected on the accessibility of these sites for future use by IDEAS NSW.

Now on to New York…

Sunday 11th April 2010

I have had two days in San Francisco investigating the tourist sights. People with Disabilities seem to be catered for pretty well, even with the hilly environment. A lot of the bus system (and train system) seems to be accessible. My meeting with Bonnie on Tuesday will confirm this for me and give me a better indication. The Tourist Information Centre was also closed today so I will have to visit there on Monday to obtain the information I am after. Visiting the major tourist attractions would be relatively accessible and if you stay away from the accommodation in the hilly areas a lot of the area seems to be accessible. It is a great destination.I have also spent time sorting out the technical side of things - getting the Smart Pen to work, arranging for mobile phone etc in the states and getting the Wifi internet connection at the hotel to work (they are blaming the rain).
Ready to begin my appointment schedule tomorrow, looking forward to meeting up with Scott Rains.

Itinerary

Here we are only a few weeks before we leave and there is still plenty to be done. I am feeling very excited about the itinerary and the appointments I have managed to make. I am really looking forward to spending this amount of time focussed on this project. The contacts I have already made overseas and the wonderful people I have arranged to meet are almost overwhelming.

It is a great opportunity and one that I hope I can do well and be proud of the achievements. I have listed the schedule below for those interested in keeping up with this trip and project.

The schedule is as follows:

USA
12-14 April, San Jose California - Scott Rains Editor of Rolling Rains Report.
A leading social Networker and Knowledge broker of accessible tourism and universal design

15 - 17 April, New York City - SATH - Society of Accessible Travel and HospitalityFounded in 1976 whose mission is to raise awareness of the needs of travellers with disability, remove physical and attitudinal barriers to free access and expand travel opportunities in the US and abroad.

29 - 21 April, College Station Texas USA - Texas A & M University
Department of Recreation, PArks and Tourism Sciences


Canada
17 - 29 April, Monteal Quebec - Keroul - A Quebec basedorganisation whose mission is to make tourism and culture accessible to persons with limited physical ability


Belgium
4 - 6 May, brussels - ENAT ( European Nations Accessible Tourism) Invitation to attend Annual General Meeting

UK
7 - 9 May, London - RADAR - A visit to the biggest Directory of Acccesisble accommodation and travel and major activist organisation for people with disability in the UK.

11- 13 May, Poole, Dorset -
Bournemouth University - School of Tourism Services management

17 - 19 May, Cambridge - Cambridge University, Engineering Design Centre
The Engineering Design Centre undertakes research to create knowledge, understanding, methods and tolls which will contribute to improving the design process.


The Czech Republic
20 -23 May, Prague - The ATHENA Project - Accessible Tourism - Humans, Education, New Approaches

Sweden27 - 29 May, Falsterbo, near Malmo
Attendance at a small conference of Coordinators of ENAT projects from across Europe

China
1 - 4 June, Hong Kong
Attendance at TRANSED Conference - Internation Conference on Accessible transport.

In addition there will be a number of opportunities to meet with other key players not listed above. I plan to update this blog on a regular basis throughout this trip and will include highlights of my meetings along with some visual images and higlights of the destinations I am travelling to.

Planning, planning, planning

The planning phase is now well and truly on. Itineraries are starting to be finalised with confirmation of meetings beginning to come in. With just under three months until we leave, the countdown is well and truly on.....