Badass Solo Traveller Sylvia Longmire Isn’t Letting MS Slow Down Her Travels

To help overcome such worries, Longmire recommends travellers with disabilities begin with baby steps, such as taking a local bus in their city to gain experience with the process. Or book a stay at a hotel in your city before going to a far-flung destination, as yet another way to do a test-run of the experience.

Another version of the local “baby steps” Longmire suggests involves taking a cheap budget flight somewhere in your home state, simply to get familiar with the experience of flying as a traveller with disabilities.

She also stresses the importance of exploring domestically first while building courage as a traveller with disabilities, before venturing internationally.

Having a well-thought-out backup plan at the ready to address emergencies or the inevitable travel snafus is another important travel hack that Longmire relies upon.

“I always have a backup plan. And that came in handy when I was in Chicago about a month ago, “I took a train, and the only elevator from the train platform was broken.”

Longmire says she had long ago thought through what to do should such a scenario ever arrive: Get back on the train and take it to another station to find a working elevator. And once back at street level at the new station, use a cab to get where she needed to go.

Each time Longmire has pushed through her fears, completing yet another trip, it’s been a truly rewarding experience.

On the other end of her own fears, Longmire has consistently found experiences that renew her faith in humanity.

“I’m a cynic,” says Longmire. “I’m 50 years old. For 15 years, I was one of the world’s top experts on Mexico’s drug war, which is very depressing. You see everything from weapons trafficking, drug trafficking, and human smuggling; it’s awful. And I was in law enforcement in the Air Force…I’ve been in fields where I just got to see the worst of humanity.”

“But when I travel, and I’ve travelled literally all over the world, I am continually moved and touched by the kindness of strangers, especially in foreign countries,” Longmire adds. “They just want you to enjoy their country, and they want you to have a good impression of the people, and they want you to have a good time.”