Navigating the world as a solo traveler can be challenging but also rewarding. For septugenarian Anne Marie Jones, who uses a wheelchair, this rings especially true – even when it takes her more effort, planning, and dealing with difficulties that others might not face.
The Southern Californian grew up in a family that valued travel, with the desire to explore the world instilled in her at a young age, Jones told USA TODAY on a recent trip with accessible travel company Wheel the World to Denver to celebrate the Colorado capital’s verification as an accessible destination.
Of the six children in her family, Jones was the only one born with a disability. Called spina bifida, her spinal cord and spine didn’t properly form during fetal development, and she gradually lost the ability to walk as an adult.
But that never stopped her from traveling. She recalled the first time she ever left the country, when she went to Japan at 16 years old with her family. It was, as she put it, “life-altering.” Another transformative time was when she was 20 years old and studied abroad in England for a year.
“I came back a different person, I came back a lot more confident person,” she said. “That’s where I really found that I like talking to strangers, and with travel, you do that. You talk to people you’ve never met before, but you learn so much from other people.”
One in four Americans report having a disability, and they seek out the freedom and lifelong memories from travel just as much as anyone else.
Jones continues to travel around the world at 72, from the far-off Taiwan to the domestic Arches National Park in Moab, Utah. Most of the time, she’s on her own, without an aide or companion to assist. She enjoys going at her own pace, doing whatever she wants and chatting with strangers she meets along the way. While most travelers feel intimidated by embarking alone, she embraces it. “It doesn’t scare me,” she said. “Being by myself doesn’t scare me. In fact, it’s kind of adventurous.”
As one of the several travelers invited on the Wheel the World retreat, Jones shared insights into what it’s like to travel with a disability, from the hardships to the rewarding moments – and why it’s always worth it.
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Even though Jones knew it was coming all her life, when her legs got weaker over a decade ago, she worried her travel days were over. “Getting on a plane was a scary prospect, and I didn’t think it would work out,” she said. “I found out that that wasn’t true. And when I found that out, I thought, OK, I’m going to start pushing the envelope here and going back out there and traveling to places that I really want to go to as a wheelchair user.”
Joining Facebook groups with other disabled travelers gave her a sense of community, and became a place to learn tips for how to travel with a mobility device. Her first trip with a wheelchair was to Rome, accompanied by a friend who was well-versed in Italy. Jones rented a scooter so she could ride over the cobblestone streets, and she also hired an accessible tour company.
While she’ll go on group trips and still travels with loved ones, Jones prefers the freedom of being on her own. More than just traveling, she also seeks an adrenaline rush, from adaptive skydiving in Utah to cycling a handbike in Taiwan and sit-skiing in Breckenridge, Colorado.
Figuring out the logistics for her solo trips can be taxing, requiring intensive research to make sure she can manage things on her own. Her accommodations, even if deemed ADA-accessible, must have sufficient space in the bathroom and grab bars to enable her to enter the shower and use the toilet independently.
According to a 2022 survey of 2,789 respondents by MMGY Global, 96% of travelers with a disability have had issues with their accommodations, with over half saying the room they were given didn’t match what they had booked.
At times, Jones faces hurdles, like when she went on a tour along the northern part of Spain’s Camino de Santiago and couldn’t find accessible toilets. “Somebody had to literally pick me up and carry me, and then somebody had to come in with me because there were no grab bars to ensure I didn’t fall,” she said. “That was kind of scary.” In Barcelona, she couldn’t enter architect Antoni Gaudí’s famed La Pedrera due to the steps.
She also turns to companies like Wheel the World that empowers travelers with disabilities by verifying accessible destinations, including accommodations, restaurants, attractions and more by mappers who measure over 200 data points, like the bed height. In August 2024, Jones joined one of Wheel the World’s group trips to Costa Rica, where she explored the country’s stunning beauty, soaked in hot springs and surfed at Manuel Antonio National Park.
“The funny thing about it is, you know, there’s this attitude that people with disabilities don’t go anywhere – that we don’t have the energy, we don’t have the money. Not true,” she said. Travelers with mobility issues travel just as frequently as those without, according to the MMGY Global survey.
All of Jones’ travels have taught her something about that which applies to herself: that there is no one way to do things. “There’s nothing wrong with being different,” she said.
“Whatever your disability is, whatever your age, I’m 72, keep traveling,” she added. “You may have to change your destination. You may have to change the mode of travel.” In the last several years, she’s started going on cruises, where traveling between destinations is made easier by being aboard the ship.
She likened the transition to traveling with her mobility device to being a solo backpacker when you’re young and then learning how to travel as a family with young children. There are still the invaluable moments from traveling, even though the way you go about it isn’t the same.
For Jones, there’s no end in sight for traveling. “As long as I can remain independent, my preference is to go on my own, set my own pace, go where I want to go.”
Shortly after the Wheel the World trip in Denver, Jones set out on a three-week-long road trip by herself to cross several national parks off her bucket list. She drove through Yellowstone National Park to see the iconic geothermal wonders and went to Grand Teton National Park to ride the aerial tram.
As for what’s next, there’s really no limit.
