Active Blogs Elsewhere

Blogging has exploded.
Blogger has been joined by WordPress and Ning and even social networks like one-liner Twitter; now there truly are 100 blogs on every subject. Which one to choose? How to keep track? How to sign up? How to keep them organized?

These are the questions that we get asked often and there's no way around it, you have to put some time into organizing them. We've found Flock to be the best portal to organize our RSS subscriptions in the neat one-column action bar that appears on the left side of this browser. Knowing a little about RSS helps first, download Flock once you do, and start leap-frogging yourself thru the internet to find blogs that you want to subscribe to. Like magazines you trust, some blogs and topics are really like free magazines; tourism pictures, trusted writers, educational topics, and links upon links to other avenues for continuing your "education."

Here's what we're reading and writing...
In the Deep - a monoskiers ski blog
Marketing to Travelers with Disabilities - learn tips on marketing to this growing niche
CO History of Inclusion Tourism - for Scott Rains' TourWatch

Rolling Rains Report - Universal Design and more
Barrier Free Travels - Candy Harringtons' Travel Blog (unfortunately and discouragingly without an RSS feed)
Photopreneur - Making money with photography
Almost Fearless - When a CEO quits corporate and travels for a living
Nathan Lovas Photography - Wildlife and Conservation Photography


Your Blog:
If you start your own blog, make sure to get traffic to it by pinging to Google and Yahoo often and adding it to groups like Technorati, Blog Network, Digg, as well as double-posting it to your various social network pages like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn.

Winter Calendar of Events, Trips, and Sports Camps

Christmas Week, Myrtle Beach SC
- We hope to help make Myrtle Beach a top destination for adaptive golfers

January 12-15, 4th Annual All Mountain Ski Camp, Steamboat Springs, Colorado
- Advanced adults adaptive skiers, snowboarders, 3 trackers, and monoskiers
- Camp includes 3 days skiing at Steamboat and 1 day in the backcountry with PowderCats
- View photos and videos from previous camps here

January 16, 1st Annual Legends of the Deep Powder Invitational, Buffalo Pass, Colorado
- 6 world-class powder skiers unite for bragging rights in the powder
- Look for this event in the future to be featured on major channels with big name sponsors!

March 2-4, Houston, TX, 2nd meeting of the Continental Airlines Disability Advisory Board
- 12 Consultants for Travelers with Disabilities help make this airline best in the industry

March 8-17, Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Xian China with Spring Tour of San Francisco
- 30 participants get to experience Spring Tour's first accessible tour to China
- Four cities, luxury hotels, dinner shows, and more!
- Contact Jimmy Deng for sign up and pricing: ytbchina@spring-tour.com, (800) 627-0886

March 21-23, 1st Annual Kids Ski Camp, Steamboat Springs, CO
- 12-15 kids from around the country join together to improve their adaptive skills

April 2009, Puerto Vallarta and Cancun Mexico
- Spreading accessibility to our southern neighbor, stay tuned for our update, improvements, and suggestions in these areas!

New Government, New Ideas

We find this highly inspiring and had to share... now he just needs to put a #5 in there, Adventure Travel for Everyone!

Obama's Commitment to Accessibility:

"The Obama Administration has a comprehensive agenda to empower individuals with disabilities in order to equalize opportunities for all Americans.

In addition to reclaiming America's global leadership on this issue by becoming a signatory to -- and having the Senate ratify -- the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the plan has four parts, designed to provide lifelong supports and resources to Americans with disabilities. They are as follows:

First, provide Americans with disabilities with the educational opportunities they need to succeed.

Second, end discrimination and promote equal opportunity.

Third, increase the employment rate of workers with disabilities.

And fourth, support independent, community-based living for Americans with disabilities.

This commitment to accessibility for all begins with this site and our efforts to ensure all functionality and all content is accessible to all Americans."

Flippin' Wheelchair Record

Stolen from the AP, we had to post this... Aaron Fotheringham has done it, he's rolled into the Guinness Book with his famous wheelchair flip that he's been doing for nearly 2 years. Now 16 years old, he's a master at it, and they had Guinness there this past Saturday at Doc Romeo Skate Park in Las Vegas to prove it.

Sponsored by Colours Wheelchairs and several other companies, Aaron's famous flip has been getting news for some time. But not until Guinness's notation of the trick did he and his family truly believe he was the first to accomplish such a feat.

Born with Spina Bifida, Aaron has used a wheelchair full time since he was 13 and first accomplished his famous flip into a gymnastics-type pit of foam only a year later. Ironically Aaron wasn't shooting for the first wheelchair flip, which Guinness awarded him, his goal was to accomplish the most consecutive flips in 45 seconds, proving that his standards are much higher than he's given credit for. But the entire Fotheringham family is pleased with his Guinness recognition, and he'll keep trying for more.

We should all be so aspirational...

Aaron, you SURE you don't want a GADA Belt???

China FAM Trip

This trip has been updated to February and is open to all travelers with disabilities. Look for upcoming articles on this event in both Palaestra and Action! Magazines.

Spring Tour and Access Anything are hosting a 10-day trip to China
February, 2008

$1599 +$430pp tax includes:
Air from Los Angeles
Huating Hotel (Shanghai), Sofitel Hotel (Hangzhou), Xian Shangri La, and Loong Palace (Beijing)
Transportation between cities
City Excursions (such as Great Wall) and Dinner Shows
Bi Lingual Tour Guide

Assess this tour for your clients so you can begin to book SpringTour's China trips on commission.

LIMIT 30 persons

Andy Kennedy: andy.kennedy@accessanything.net
Jimmy Deng: ytbchina@spring-tour.com


NOTE: Unfortunately at this time we are discouraging power wheelchairs until our first dry run has confirmed that we can acomodate them.