Tapoos Travel
After years of volunteering with organizations providing outdoor adventures for people with disabilities, husband and wife Aisha Nystrom and Laurent Roffé founded San Francisco-based Tapooz Travel in 2012. “While I volunteered as a sea kayak guide and Aisha as a ski instructor, we were always inspired by how much people with disabilities can do with a little help,” Roffé said, adding that they decided to reach more of the world out to this community by starting a travel company specifically catering to the disability market.
The company offers a comprehensive selection of independent and hosted trips. Trips last from five to 21 days and clients visit 30 domestic and international destinations. Popular destinations in the US include California’s Wine Country, the Pacific Northwest and National Parks. Popular international destinations include the Netherlands, Nepal, Scandinavia and Switzerland.
Given the couple’s backgrounds, the trip is packed with adventure, including hot air ballooning, kayaking, skiing, skydiving and surfing. These activities are made possible thanks to assistive devices and guides with extensive experience working with people with disabilities and the elderly. “It makes a big difference to have a guide who really understands the psychological and physical issues,” says Loffey.
For more information, please call 415-275-2009
Turning the World
Despite being paralyzed by a spinal cord injury, Chilean Alvaro Silverstein trekked through the mountains of Patagonia’s Torres del Paine National Park in 2016 with the help of a friend and a modified wheelchair. “Reaching the summit gave me confidence,” Silverstein says. He also learned that with the right attitude and a little help, anything is possible, despite his disability. That realization inspired him to start a four-year-old company that provides the support people like him needed to have amazing travel experiences.
Though it’s still in its infancy, Wheel the World has grown quickly and now offers multiple travel services. The company plans to offer accessible group tours to five destinations in 2022: New York, Costa Rica, Greece, Israel, and Morocco. On a five-day trip to the Big Apple this summer, travelers can explore an accessible Central Park, visit St. Patrick’s Cathedral, stroll the streets of Little Italy, and much more. International trips vary from seven to 10 days.
For those not interested in group travel, the company maintains an online platform where travelers can book hotels, activities, and multi-day travel packages in more than 80 destinations in the U.S. (particularly popular are Maui, Miami, and San Francisco) and abroad. The platform provides detailed accessibility information based on thorough vetting by the company’s customer service team. For example, hotel listings include information such as whether the front desk check-in counter is low, whether restaurants have steps, and how much turning space the guest room bathrooms have. Activity listings include whether there are accessible bathrooms and whether wheelchair users will encounter obstacles.
For more information, please call 628-900-7778
Teri Marshall is a New York-based freelance writer whose work has appeared in such publications and websites as Girl Camper Magazine, World Footprints.com, and TravelingMom.com.