Thank you

I'll try to help on this post, but in the meantime..my best to you and your daddy

I live in London so can help on that level. I also work in Local Government so I have friends and colleagues in Social Services who can assist with questions relating to access, mobility, healthcare etc. I’d be more than happy to help if I can. (If you have questions that are a bit too personal for the net – please feel free to email me at the above address)

David

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34738419

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...koff&fid=1

oops, wrong link. although it can be found on the list. FWIW, Melissa might no longer be interested in visiting London, but the US. (see US board: "smoky mts, tn&quot

The specifics of this trip might a bit complicated for anyone to render much practical help, until more is known.

...especially as the father in question will be over 80 years of age by now, which can make for tricky travelling problems no matter what the other circumstances. (the insurance in particular would be a nightmare scenario.)

*********

Author: MelissaBeckoff
Date: 06/30/2004, 08:55 am

I need help planning our families first trip to england.
I have narrowed it down time wise to May,. September or December.

We are a family including a boy 10 years old, a girl 13 years old and my 79 year old Dad.

what should we see?
My dad wants to see the American Air museum in England.

what is the handicapped situation in england?my dad wants with two crutches and sometimes uses a wheel chair.


thanks for all of your help

What a nice idea, Scarlett!

I just read MB's posts and she has asked about handicapped accessible cabs. Maybe a private tour guide for a day in London would help them see a lot in a little time (early in the trip before the elderly father gets tired). Does anyone have recommendations for a private London guide?

Melissa, if you do come back to read this, perhaps you would consider reserving a town car for a day and hiring a private guide. That way, you could get an overview of the city while your father is in comfort, and then go back to the particular sites he is interested in later in the trip.

Just an idea...

topping

On accessibility. All public building s have to be accesible (apart from those that can't be altered like the tower of london).

The American Air museum (well worth a visit) is fully accesible.

Details here:

http://aam.iwm.org.uk/server/show/nav.00h001004

topping in case Melissa comes back

I'm feeling optimistic.

Nice thought Scarlett!

This is a very nice idea, but don't you think we should see if Melissa is still interested in this trip? Her post was from 2 years ago!

You're kidding! I missed that. Oops. Nevermind then...

Nope. Her "London" thread was on 1/17/2006.
Hope all is well with her father and she comes back soon.

grantop: You didn't look too close . . . .

Melissa came back to the board this week and posted several threads about their trip to London. After some of us explained she would get more cohesive suggestions if she consolidated her threads, she posted that her Dad is very ill and she is distracted.

Then Scarlett started this thread to try to help her out. It was a wonderful gesture - and I hope Melissa sees it.

Thanks janis

Melissa wrote that her father has about 18 months to live or something like that and she wants to take him to England. With all the craziness of trying to plan, her threads were scattered and then she stopped posting..I felt that she needed our help.

Thanks to all for contributing, I just wish Melissa would post once to say she read this

Have a good weekend~Scarlett

This explains why this thread ~



http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34738360

The post of Melissa's that I copied and pasted was indeed from two years ago. Evidently Melissa has been thinking about this trip for some time, and recently began another thread. However she also recently began a thread on going to the Tennessee mountains, so I don't think one can assume her family's goals are anywhere near definite.

I copied and pasted that earlier post to bring out the fact that the father in question is already elderly and frail, and now presumably dying into the bargain. To manage a transatlantic trip for such a person would not only require considerable skill, but the ability to handle enormous amounts of stress. Intrepid might have been blunt, but if the party in question is already feeling stressed before they have even left home, as Melissa presumably is, then urging her to continue might not be in anyone's best interest.

Consider, for example, that under the circumstances, the possible need for an emergency airlift home would not be unlikely. And what insurance company, as I implied earlier, would be willing to underwrite such liability? Consequently, given the financial and emotional risks of such a trip, I think this is one of those rare cases when to encourage further is perhaps not the best thing.

Well, as adults, those are their decisions to make.