Every trip we take, the same small pile of things comes with us. None of it is exciting. All of it has saved a day at some point.
A RADAR key
The standard key for locked accessible toilets across the UK. A few pounds from Disability Rights UK, Amazon or your council, and it opens tens of thousands of doors. If you buy one thing off this list, buy this. We carry two, because we have lost one in the past and that causes problems.
A basic puncture kit and a decent pump
If the chair has pneumatic tyres, this is not optional. We found these on Amazon. A flat tyre two miles from the car is a completely different problem to a flat tyre you can fix on a bench. Slime or a similar sealant in the tubes as well, if the chair allows it.
A folding travel ramp
A lightweight suitcase ramp handles the single step that stands between you and a shop, a pub or a cottage. It will not solve a flight of stairs and it is not meant to. It solves the small, stupid, extremely common obstacle.
A laminated card for the airline
Handling instructions for the chair, plus our phone numbers, cable-tied on before every flight. Baggage handlers are not trying to break your chair; they often simply do not know how it comes apart.
Spare charger, spare cable, spare battery
For the chair and for the phone. The phone matters more than people think, because it is the thing you use to call the taxi, find the accessible entrance and ring the station when nobody has turned up. We swear by our power banks, I have a dozen or so, but my Anker Powerbank is the one I trust and use the most.
A tape measure
Slightly obsessive, genuinely useful. We know the chair’s width to the centimetre, and being able to measure a doorway settles an argument with a hopeful receptionist in about ten seconds.
Written confirmation of everything
The accessible room booking, the assistance reference, the parking arrangement — printed, not just on the phone. Screens go flat and signal disappears exactly when you need to prove something.
And the unglamorous one
Extra time. Not a thing you can pack, but the most valuable item on the list. Nearly every bad day we have had came from a tight connection, a rushed transfer or a plan with no slack in it. We build in an hour we do not need, and most days we do not need it. The days we do, it is the only thing that saves the trip.
Your turn: if you have experiences of your own — the places that got it right, and the ones that got it badly wrong — tell us in the comments below. Every report helps the next traveller.