Easy Access Adventures, located in North St. Paul, is one of the few travel agencies in the United States specializing in arranging individual or group travel for seniors and people with disabilities and/or special needs.

Agency owner, Karen Kolodziejczyk explained, "As a travel agent working in this unique area, I feel it is my responsibility to inform people of the growing number of accessible destinations available. However, at the same time, I feel very strongly there needs to be more awareness of the limitations that still exist in the area of travel. Without communication, how will people know they can travel and how will travel providers know where improvements need to be made?"

Communication seems to truly be a strong point with Kolodziejczyk. When in her office, if she's not explaining the details about a trip and accessibility to a client, she's often quizzing suppliers for answers or pressing upon them the need for changes to keep them increasing their accessibility. Outside of her office, Kolodziejczyk has been a speaker at group functions on the subjects of senior travel and travel for people who have disabilities.

Feeling there is strength in numbers, Kolodziejczyk aligned herself with a nationwide agency network, Connie George Travel Associates, which specializes in accessible travel for people with disabilities. "We're proud to have Karen and Easy Access Adventures as part of our network. Clients are comfortable with her and she's tenacious in lobbying for accessibility with our travel suppliers. It's agents like Karen which have made us the largest producer in North America for booking guests with disabilities on Royal Caribbean and made changes like convincing another cruise line that we will not follow their policy of requiring disabled clients to produce a doctor's note." The thought, "Rebels with a cause" comes to mind. And in this case, Kolodziejczyk, George and others are creating positive policy changes.

Kolodziejczyk noted, "Anyone who wants to travel should be able to enjoy this freedom. We want to help them to do so and to help make the world a little more accessible. Education is the key."

I would welcome being interviewed for an article about accessible travel for seniors and people with disabilities. Also, please feel free to add me to your list of sources when you are writing travel-related articles and need to interview travel agents for feedback.

Easy Access Adventures can be reached at 651-770-1956 or e-mail: info@easyaccessadventures.com