The joy of travelling
WHEEL THE WORLD: TRAVELS WITH WALKERS AND WHEELCHAIRS
The launch of my first full length book, Wheel the World: Travels with Walkers and Wheelchairs at Mcnally Robinson was postponed on March 17th. In light of what has happened since then, some readers may say the subject no longer has any interest. Yet others have felt it has helped them relive wonderful travelling in the past and encouraged them to dream of new journeys in the future.
Despite its title, my book is not a “how to” guide to travelling successfully with mobility difficulties, but rather an expression of the joy of travelling, whatever problems you may have. In its nine chapters, there are many suggestions and ideas for coping when travelling with a walker and, later, a wheelchair, but it is the enjoyment of seeing familiar places in a different way and discovering new ones in more than 15 countries that I wanted to express.
My adventures, when travelling with a walker, began several years ago with a cruise to the Far East, where I achieved an ambition to walk on the Great Wall. Cruises work well if you need to use a walker, so several followed to different places such as Brazil, Iceland, New York and the Shetland Islands.
A group bus tour of the back roads of England followed, where I learned “walker etiquette” visiting National Trust Houses, Kew Gardens and the Chelsea Flower Show.
Amazing Texas was discovered using our own car, as were many parts of Canada, including our own province of Saskatchewan. In this book, too, you can go with me and a walker round the coast of Australia and then take a wheelchair all around New Zealand. On the three visits to Hawaii, I used both.
Do enjoy the fun in Wheel the World as I get lost or stuck and try to solve these predicaments. Read my book now and then later this summer visit some of the places I describe that are new to you in Saskatchewan. Then go a little further and explore new parts of Canada. Ultimately the day will come when you can even discover different countries. I hope it will help you conquer this virus and travel enjoyably and magically again.
Wheel the World is available from Mcnally Robinson, the publisher Jeanette Dean was born and educated in England. She had specialized training in the education of the deaf and in teaching English as a second language.
She and her husband, Chris, with two little boys, immigrated to Canada in 1959. After spending seven years in Ontario, where they acquired a daughter, they moved to Saskatoon in 1966. Jeanette loves teaching and spent 22 years working at the R.J.D. Williams school for the deaf. While there, she was the first woman to be elected National President of the Teachers of the Deaf Association.
After the school closed, Jeanette worked at the Open Door and the Global Gathering Place, and at the age of 90 she is still helping newcomers to Canada with their English.
She has been awarded several volunteer awards and was a familiar face in Saskatoon on the information desk at City Hospital, in the shop at the library, organizing the Century Club and fundraising efforts for UNICEF and her church. She and her husband enjoyed running the box office for several years for Gateway Players.
With seven grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren, thanks to her husband she still finds life rewarding, although she is stuck in a wheelchair most of the time, and travelling is fast becoming a joy of the past.