Hi guys,
Progeny, who is sponsoring my travel and (most of) my hotel costs, has a
dilemma to resolve. They've kindly left it to me to resolve it. :)
As most of you know, I'll be traveling with my wife Michelle, who is
paraplegic and cannot move without a wheelchair.
1) Stay at the Radisson SAS Espoo that's very close to the conference site,
but does not have wheelchair-accessible bathrooms. I called the hotel
and they told me that the doorways were wide enough for her to get her
wheelchair through (64 cm from handrim to handrim -- in practice, a
little more is needed for the fingers and maneuvering space).
http://www.radissonsas.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=RadissonSAS/integration/hotelInfo&hotelCode=helzs&language=en&backURI=/reservation/rateSearch.do&origin=Rates%20And%20Availability
PROS
----
* within walking distance of DebConf, even with a wheelchair
* other DebConf people will be staying there so there's more opportunity
for socializing
CONS
----
* Makes no claim to be terribly usable for wheelchair-bound people.
This means Michelle will need my help a lot more, particularly in the
bathroom.
* Their URL (see above). :-P
2) Stay at the Radisson SAS Seaside Hotel.
http://www.seaside.helsinki.radissonsas.com/
PROS
----
* Claims to be wheelchair-accessible. Their website says their rooms
were renovated in 2003.
CONS
----
* The public transportation stops running at 2200 (I'm told), and not
all of it is wheelchair-accessible. On top of having to plan around
the tram/bus schedule, the fees will add up, and if we have to take a
taxi that can *really* get expensive.
* It's downtown, so more interesting for after the conference when
Michelle and I take a mini-vacation and see the sights in Helsini
(we're not departing until 21 July).
The good part is that the room rates are nearly identical, so we don't have
to pay more for wheelchair-friendly accommodations. At first the only
wheelchair-accessible rooms we could find were going to be USD 160/night,
which would really break the bank, especially for the non-DebConf days when
I'm responsible for the charges (I'm paying for Michelle's plane ticket,
too).
Hopefully some of you folks local to Helsinki can make a recommendation.
Will it be challenging or expensive to get between the Radisson SAS Seaside
and HUT?
--
G. Branden Robinson | If God had intended for man to go
Debian GNU/Linux | about naked, we would have been
branden@debian.org | born that way.
http://people.debian.org/~branden/ |
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