Happy 2019 to Airport Wheel Chair Pushers

Posted By Les Conklin on Jan 1, 2019

Seeing & Doing: Kick to Bucket List Results in Speedy Tour of International Airports

By Les Conklin

Anghor Wat Off Bucket List?

Christmas Eve 2018 found me sprawled on the floor of Room 1009 of the Central Palace Hotel in Ho Chi Min City (Saigon), Vietnam.

No, I wasn’t waiting to surprise Santa. I had planned to connect to the hotel’s Wi-Fi, spend a few minutes checking email and posting an article or two to The Peak. Unfortunately, the ottoman that I intended to sit upon had been designed for Vietnamese guests who, on average, are shorter (and more attentive) than I am. The result was that I ended up “crash-sitting” on the unforgiving, solidly-constructed hardwood floor. The landing did not feel like a gift from Santa, in fact it hurt like the Devil. As, I laid there and my mind cleared, I suspected that our on-going trip to Vietnam and Cambodia, which would involve a fair amount of walking, and temple-climbing at Angkor Wat might be coming to an early end.

Forget About Angkor Wat

On Christmas morning, our tour leader and the 14 other members of our group left to “discover” the Mekong Delta, including a sampan trip and a visit to Ben Tre and its coconut plantations. Meanwhile, Judy, tour company team member and I took a cab to the emergency room of a respected French/Vietnamese national hospital in Saigon. The hospital was modern and emaculate. The doctor and nurse that saw me were friendly and professional.

I was admitted at 8 a.m., had an exam, scan and EKG and released two hours later. The bad news was that I had incurred a painful injury to my right buttocks, lower back and leg that made it very difficult for me to walk even for a short distance. It would take weeks perhaps months for the injury to heal.

Judy and I had left Phoenix on December 7th and flown to Hanoi from Phoenix via San Francisco, and Hong Kong. By the time of my accident, our tour had already taken us to Hanoi, villages outside Hanoi, Halong Bay, Hue, Hoi An, Nha Trang, Dalat and Ho Chi Ning City. We had had many adventures, visited the Hanoi Hilton, met village chiefs and mayors, enjoyed a junk overnight cruise on Halong Bay, drank weasel coffee, visited an orphanage run by Buddhist nuns, ridden motor scooters, Pedi-cabs and much more. What I did not know, was that our premature return home was going to be one of the most “unique” and appreciated experiences of my traveling life.

My Hero!

Making the Trip Home as Easy as Possible

The day after Christmas, Judy and a tour company team member took the doctor’s report and visited to Cathay Pacific Airways office in Saigon. The airline changed all our flights, advancing our departure fom January 1st to December 27th. They also arranged wheel chair assistance through World F light Services for the three connecting flights home: Saigon – Hong Kong (PSA,) Hong Kong – San Francisco (PSA), San Francisco-Phoenix (American).

Many Peak readers have travelled internationally and are familiar with the challenges and stress of cultural and language differences, way-finding, transfers from domestic to international terminals, customs processing, baggage checking and retrieval, security checks, gate finding, and varied boarding procedures. There is a bit of a wrinkle for my security processing. For almost ten years, I’ve had a pacemaker for a slow heart rate. Having an embedded electronic device requires the I go through the body scanner and manual pat down, in addition to having my stuff go through the normal scanner. Because of the advance work done by our tour company and the WFS wheel chair assistance program, Judy and I did not have to deal with the normal challenges.

Unique, Speedy Global Airport Tour

Ho Chi Min City Ariport

At 3:30 a.m. on the 27^th (Saigon time), Judy, our tour leader, the tour’s bus driver and I arrived at the Saigon Airport. The tour leader connected me to the WFS wheel chair assistance program and stayed with us at the airport through check-in. What followed was a blur of events, approximately 24 hours of elapsed travel time, passage through four international airports, a Super Shuttle ride home and encounters with numerous friendly and helpful souls. We arrived home at 8 p.m. (Phoenix time). on the same day we left.

Tour Snapshots

Here are a few snapshots that rise above the blur of activity, people and intermittent sleep.

The new Hong Kong airport is mammoth and magnificent. We had a long layover there during our trip to Vietnam. During the return trip, as I was exiting the plane, we were met by the wheel chair “pusher.” A stout, stern, Chinese woman. she was all-business.

Hong Kong Airport

I remember seeing lines of people flash by, experiencing sudden sharp turns, putting our stuff on the security trays and putting the trays ahead of all others, and then experiencing a very quick body scan and perfunctory pat down. In what seemed like a flash, Judy and I arrived at the main terminal area. The woman pointed out the bath rooms and seated us with other wheel chair clients. She told us someone would come at the appropriate time to takes us to the departure gate for early boarding.

After arrival at the San Francisco airport, I was placed in a group with other wheel chair customers that had arrived on the Hong Kong flight. There were 38 of us in the group and only 6 pushers. So, we were organized by flight departure times. Judy and I appeared to be the only American residents in the group. Quite a few were elderly women and men, apparently from India. Many of the tech companies in the Bay area have operations in India and also employ engineers and computer professionals originally from that county. Our guess was that the families had pre-arranged the WFS service for their parents or grandparents for holiday visits. An excellent idea.

San Francisco Airport

When it became apparent that we were going to be waiting for some time, we noticed several of the customers arose from their wheel chairs and walked briskly off towards customs. There are people that game every well-meaning service. When it was our turn, we were taken quickly through customs. It could not have gone any faster.

Finally, Phoenix! As we exited the plane, we were met by a tall “pusher.” It’s a long way from the gates in Terminal 2 to baggage claim but he covered the distance in record time. Judy would fall behind and then catch up with us when at the next moving sidewalk. He helped us find our bags and dropped me and the wheelchair off at the SuperShuttle desk near a terminal exit door.

In a few minutes, a short, energetic blonde woman bounded in the door. “Merry Christmas! Are the Conklins here and ready to roll? We were and soon we were on our way home with one of the cheeriest van drivers we have every encountered. A great ending for an unexpected, expedited trip home.

Final Thoughts

#1. Happy New Year to wheel chair pushers everywhere. What a wonderful service they provide.

#2. If you are going to travel to exotic places, do it with a top-notch company. It’s not only about having a great time but being able to deal with a serious unexpected problem. We’ve taken Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) tours to India, southern Africa, Egypt, Portugal/Spain, Costa Rica, and Vietnam. The tours have all been excellent. We’ve travelled to many other countries in a variety of ways but this is the first time we had a problem, and on a scale of 1 to 10, it was not that serious. Having excellent support from the tour company made a huge difference.

#3. Purchase travel insurance. OAT has already contacted the travel insurance company and will be working with us regarding collecting extra costs, benefits, etc. The piece of mind that good travel insurance brings is worth the cost. It does not happen often, but things do go wrong. Ask the wheel chair pushers.

#4. In case you never noticed, chairs, stools and ottomans are often closer to the ground in Asia than they are in the United States. Sitter beware!