How do we travel?
IntroductionThere are two reasons for which our way to travel is pretty special :
So we are going to discus about those two characteristics, and the solution we adopted to travel in those conditions, i.e. our equipment and our way to use it. Get back to the top of the pageAdventurous journey, on our's own
Traveling on our's own involves carrying all our luggage (clothes, food, tent, medicine etc.) in our backpacks and our little trailer. The key is to take everything we need, but nothing else, depending on what we expect to find on the spot. Furthermore, we need to be able to repair everything by ourselves, or with the help of the people we meet along the way, which involve to carry some elementary tools, have a little know-how and be able (and dare) to communicate with the locals. At last, there is the energy problem : we need electricity to travel, and we can't carry a generating set. Pierre-Jean's disabilityI am disabled because of a ski accident that happened on January 2006. I broke two cervical vertebras (C3 and C4), causing heavy damage to my spinal cord. At the beginning, I was quadriplegic, paralyzed from the chin, incapable to hold my head over my pillow, or to breath by my own. The doctors told me that I would stay that way, and I believed them. But my spinal cord hadn't been actually cut off,and little by little, very slowly, I got back a partial control of my muscles. I left the hospital after 15 months, and took back my studies at the University. my current situation is pretty difficult to describe : I am entirely partially paralyzed, I mean that nearly all my muscles work back, but from the chin, nothing works 100%. My two hands for example are very weak and clumsy. I speak totally normally.
Fortunately, I can live an almost normal life with tools such as splints – invisible under my pants – that keep my legs in position, my adapted car, my Segway, the voice recognition software which enabled me to dictate these texts as I barely can write, and many other things. But when I'm traveling, I am pretty vulnerable : I can sit down and get back up by myself on a chair, but not on the ground. So every time we have a break, my friend has to help me to sit down against my Segway, and then to get back up when we leave. AttentionI know many people think I have been able to get over it thanks to will and courage. I am very praised to hear it but I think they are wrong. As I said, I believed the doctors diagnostic when they told me that I would stay entirely paralyzed. Until my very last months at the hospital, I never believed that I would walk again, or that my walk could be useful, because my hands were too weak to hold my clutches, so I had to get it fixed on my wrists with a bandage. Not that practical isn't it? So I don't think I recovered by courage or will. I rather think that the courageous attitude I have possibly had, was to accept reality, not to cling stubbornly to impossible desires as to play the guitar again (impossible with my clumsy hands), but to focus on new projects, possible projects, as to travel with my Segway. EquipmentThe Segway I2
As I can only walk a few steps, very slowly and with huge effort, I use my Segway almost every day. So we use this machine as mean of transportation for our travels. The Segway is very difficult to describe, as the saying goes:"a picture is worth a thousand words." As I am designing this website so that it can be consulted by the visually impaired (alternating text and pictures for reading software etc.), I will not fail to describe the machine in English. The ingenuity of this machine is that it has only two wheels, but instead of being one behind the other like the wheels of a bike, they are place opposite each other like the wheels of a trailer The user stands on a small platform, about thirty centimetres from the ground. A long handlebar is attached to this platform and the driver can control and direct the Segway by moving it to the right or left. It can be quite surprising to see a Segway for the first time. One often wonders how the driver maintains his equilibrium. The Personal Transporter I2 of the Segway brand (hereafter referred to as the Segway or PT) is controlled very intuitively: to move forward, all you have to do is lean forward, to slow down, stop or go backwards, you just lean backwards. However, as the Segway can spin around on itself, there is no point in going backwards and it's easier just to turn around. To turn, you just lean the handlebars to the right or the left.
This may sound complicated but I assure you that it is in fact very easy. I have let dozens of people try my Segway and they only need a couple of minutes to get the hand of it. If I can do it, any normal person can do it. Actually the Segway was not designed for the disabled, but it is so easy to use that even with a bad handicap, the Segway can be perfectly controlled. Let's not linger on all this... It's not good PR for the Segway company to be associated with handicapped people. People might start thinking that it is a wonderful machine for the disabled and stop thinking about it as a potential purchase. One of the major challenges of our expeditions is trying to convince Segway to sponsor the trip despite my handicap. It didn't wolk for our American expedition, as we explained on the page USA 2009. The Segway can be driven inside buildings, take elevators, stored away without inconveniencing anyone. In Belgium, it is legally classified as a bike or a pedestrian depending on it's speed. This means that you can drive on the sidewalk or take the bike lane, or even the road if, improbable as it may seem, no bike lane existed. The Segway can climb over high curbs and even several stairs since it can keep moving even when the pilot is not riding it. Let me explain. Let's say that you have to climb five stairs to get into your building. You climb down from the Segway and walk up the first step. You then gently lean the Segway's handlebar forward while pulling upwards a little, the engine will start and the Segway will climb the steps one by one all by itself.
I think that this machine can change the life of many handicapped as radically as it has changed mine. If you
are handicapped and if this machine interests you, please don't hesitate to contact me at
the following address: I will let you try my Segway (partially reimbursed by the AWIPH, a sort of social security) and show you how it works (I have travelled six thousands of kilometres so far and have extensive experience in driving it). Many disabled persons bought a Segway after they had met me. I would consider that a very interesting if I was working for Segway, I am even sure I would think that it is very interesting to sponsor such an expedition... If unfortunately you are not handicapped, you can find the address of many retailers by visiting www.segway.com. The trailer
To carry our equipment, we have adapted a small bicycle trailer and attached a big bag to it. The wheels can be dismantled in a minute and placed in the bag which enables us to easily transport it by train or car. Three of the four pairs of batteries we are bringing are loaded into the trailer, the fourth is placed in the side pouches of the Segway. We can easily store the four chargers and adapters in the trailer as well as some extra stuff that cannot be stored in my backpack. Get back to the top of the page Travelling by Segway
A Segway trip is very similar to a bicycle trip in that the average speed and length of each leg of journey are roughly identical. During our travels, we often met cyclists along the way following the same route as ours. We’d overtake them on the way up and they would overtake us o the way down. Even if travelling by Segway is not an easy task, we have to admit, it is not as physical as cycling. Going through a mountain pass by Segway is hard, but it doesn’t require the violent effort a bike ride would and you can really appreciate the landscapes. The other major difference between bike and Segway is that the cyclist is nearly completely autonomous. Equipped with sufficient food and water, a cyclist can ride for days at a time without seeing anybody, taking less risks. However, with a Segway, it is absolutely essential to have access to electricity every night. Running out of power would be catastrophic as the Segway can not be run without the engine being turned on. You would have to pull it behind you, an impossible task even for an able-bodied person. A Segway adventure demands thus detailed preparation and a certain degree of dependency on local people’s help. Personally, I find these two elements very attractive. I love preparing this trip : tiring my eyes map-reading, exploring the web, sending dozens of e-mails, making hundreds of phone calls. Our journey will only last a few weeks but I am already on the road months before departing and I will still be on the road months after our return. It’s funny because I even do like the dependence this trip implies. We know perfectly well that we will need help and we will most probably end up knocking on people’s doors ot hitchhiking from time to time, who knows what else. Taking on such a challenge could be compared to throwing yourself onto the crowd at a rock concert. You have to trust yourself and others. One thing is sure. We will experience amazing encounters. Practicalities
We are always two, and we intend to carry three sets of batteries per person (in the USA, we took one extra set, just in case). Each pair of batteries weighs roughly ten kilos. Two of them are constantly connected to each Segway, and we both carry one set attached to the luggage rack. The two (or three) other sets go in the trailer, with the chargers, the wires, the tent and some of our personal stuff. The total weight of the trailer is 80 kg We carry the rest of the luggage in our backpacks: 15 kg each. The key of such a travel is lodging. It is crucial to prepare the itinerary very carefully, in order never to have more than 80 km between two towns, and it is not that easy in the USA. It is impossible for us to spend every night in a hotel, for different reasons : it is way too expensive, we can't assume there will be a motel in every little town we have to spend the night in, but most of all, our objective is to meet people. Camping is almost impossible too, because of my disability. And let's not forget we need electricity. So we have to set up an accurate itinerary along which we try to contact people, whether by calling the local priests, as we did in the Pyrenees, whether via couch surfing, as we did in the USA. Couch surfing is a worldwide network of people who are interested in traveling and being hosted by local people, and to host travelers in their own houses. If you like the kind of stuff we tell on this website, you will love couch surfing, sign up on their website http://www.couchsurfing.org. It's free, and being a member doesn't mean you have to accept anybody in your home. The travelers send you a request to surf your couch, and, depending on your schedule, and after having checked their profiles, you decide whether you agreed their request or not. It's up to you. Participate in creating a better world, one couch at a time! The picture besides illustrates the importance of that network: every point on the map figures a member living in one of the four states we crossed during our trip in the USA (i.e. members from the other states are not shown). FinancingOur travels are cheap, because we want it that way. We want to travel very simply, stay with local people in their own homes, or in the cheapest hotels possible. It's not a matter of money, but a way of life. We would rather pay to eat corned beef and sleep on a sofa in the home of someone who welcomes us than to spend our nights for free in three-star hotels. Moreover, as explained on the page Welcome us, we of course would agree to pay our meal, our accomodation and our minimal energy consumption to whoever opens his door to us. In the Pyrenees, we fund every expenses ourselves, except for the renting of the second Segway and the batteries, that equipment had been lent by Segway France. We successfully searched some sponsors for our American expedition. If you wish to help us by any way (financial support, gift or loan of equipment) don't hesitate to contact us at the following
address: |
