Mike Criponatrip - Wheeling Across America

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I made the decision.....I decided to quit my job and go travelling! Being disabled, I wasn’t sure I’d get another chance.



I took the redundancy package that was offered and bought a one way ticket to Seattle (from London). All I had booked was my first three nights accommodation and a 45 day Amtrak ticket – I was going to make the rest up as I went along…..



Over 4600 miles from home, with only my sister on the same continent (New York), I was going to travel across the USA and see her. I was going to stop at all the major cities and soak up as much US culture as I could.....



To keep in contact with my friends, I updated facebook with my travels. When I returned, many of my friends had had a giggle at my adventures and suggested that I should blog my exploits, so on the anniversary of my journey, here it is….







Day 1 - So first flight took 3 hours (they lied on the ticket - it said 2 but didn't tell you about the sneaky hour time difference) This was a pleasant enough journey filled with Viking women that spoke some weird dialect and a group of teenage public schoolgirls giddy about climbing volcanoes. The second flight however was hideous! They lied again about flight times (ticket said 45 minutes but didn't tell you about the sneaky 7 hour time difference!) I clocked them straight away - The oversized American woman and her banjo playing husband - Speaking at a volume that ensured everyone heard them - as if we were interested in anything she had to say! I instantly loathed her. And the grinch's wife, who pulled her "hand luggage" like it was a weapon (it was the size of a suitcase!) She had a face like she was chewing a sack full of lemons! I just knew I was going to be seeing these people again...I got on the connecting flight with little effort, stressing to the 8 foot attendant the importance of making sure my wheelchair went on the same plane as me...To which he uttered some sentence that meant something to Icelandic folk, but all I heard was fleeb adeeb doric shboob (they've invented a language with all the difficult sounds from Scandinavian languages and put them to a Mediterranean theme tune...very cool to listen to but don't try and figure out what they're saying) Anyways, I get on my flight and start making myself comfortable when the grinch's wife strolls on....banging her case against every seat even though it has wheels and is narrow enough to fit down the isle. She has an argument with someone two rows down before she realised she was wrong and she'd actually got a seat BEHIND ME! Why couldn't she have been right and sat somewhere out of my area? Anyway, she will knock the back of my chair and grunt for the next 7.45 hours....I loved it.....But my torment wasn't over, Mount Helena and her rat husband then got on and proceeded to sit in front of me! He reclines his seat as soon as we're 5 foot off the ground and she starts ordering food.....a pastime she will indulge in many times in the next few hours....My seat won't recline and my TV doesn't work....It was always going to be a long flight...But at least no one was going to be sat next to me....I could sprawl out....Well that was until a woman noticed two empty seats and decided to move from the cramped side she shared with her husband and son. I can only think she did this so that her nose could have a seat of it's own! She continued to sniffle all flight....nice! When I saw Seattle I instantly fell in love......sanctuary!.....It was even dark and rainy so felt at home.....

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