Nice meeting! Myriam & Pierre, founders of Wheeled World.

Can you introduce yourselves and tell us about your journey?

We are Myriam and Pierre, two nature and vast space enthusiasts. We met in June 2015 and immediately began traveling together, first in France and then across Europe. But on November 13, Pierre was injured in the Bataclan and became paraplegic: that day, we discovered the world of disability, which we knew nothing about— a huge leap into the unknown.

Beyond relearning how to live daily life with a wheelchair, we quickly wanted to start traveling again. But beyond the obvious physical limitations, there are many psychological barriers to traveling in a wheelchair: you think it will be complicated, you're afraid of what you'll find when you get there… Especially since there’s very little information available for travelers with disabilities!

So, in 2018, after our first experiences, we decided to create Wheeled World, the adventure media for everyone, with two goals: to inspire people to travel and to allow everyone to do so with peace of mind, whether on two feet or not. Since then, we’ve been exploring the world, discovering accessible outdoor experiences, which we share on our blog and social media.

In early 2021, we partnered with Nicolas, our long-time friend and photographer, to live our passion, continue to develop this project, and take it as far as possible!

Your first autobiographical book has just been released. Was it important for you to share your story?

This book was a real milestone, and it was very important for us to write it. Because after the first six months of our world tour, we really wanted to share what we had learned. We post beautiful experiences, victories, and happy moments every day on our networks. But it was also important for us to talk about our journey of reconstruction and the steps we went through, from the toughest moments to the most beautiful. We wanted to give some perspective on our story, to invite people who are facing difficulties, no matter what they are, to never give up. Today, we live our best life, but there were darker moments, and there are still difficulties. We wanted to be honest about that.

When and how did the Wheeled World project come about?

The idea to create Wheeled World came to us during our honeymoon in 2018. Our first trip far from France was in Canada in 2017, and it was quite difficult. We were convinced it had become impossible for us to go out into the wild, and we missed it terribly; we were very frustrated.

So, for our honeymoon, we decided to go to the parks of the American West to reconnect with that feeling of immersing ourselves in vast spaces.

At the Grand Canyon, we could hardly access the cliffside hikes, so to fully experience the lunar landscapes, we decided to fly over it in a helicopter. It was breathtaking, and we felt an incomparable sense of freedom. Especially since the company had told us over the phone that it wasn’t accessible and that we wouldn’t be able to do it. But we tried, and it worked. From that point on, we didn’t want to put up any more barriers, and we did everything we could to live fully. We made it a point to break through these limits so that others could do it as well.

How did your encounter with Espigas happen? What inspires you about Espigas, and what brings you together?

The magic of social networks… Not all of Instagram is good, but it really does allow you to discover great projects! We immediately connected with Espigas' story, its local and disability-friendly commitment, and our shared passion for adventure.

If you could have a superpower, what would it be?

Teleportation, definitely. Being able to go wherever we want, whenever we want, to see our loved ones wherever they are, all without worrying about our carbon footprint… It’s hard to dream of anything better!

Tell us about your ideal day?

We don’t necessarily have an ideal day because everything we’ve discovered so far has been a pleasant surprise, making our travels extraordinary, even when we didn’t expect it. But if we had to give a few ingredients:

• It starts at dawn with a beautiful sunrise.
• It’s spent with people we love or with beautiful encounters.
• Preferably in nature.
• It’s different from the day before.

What’s the best 20€ you’ve spent?

Buying a beer for friends. Not for the beer… but for the shared moment.

Are you working on any new projects? Can you tell us more?

There are no shortage of projects! Becoming full-time travel bloggers means constantly working on new projects, in France or farther afield. But our biggest project for 2022 (or at least the most ambitious) is climbing Kilimanjaro in July. It was an adventure we were supposed to do in 2020 as part of our world tour, but it was canceled due to the health situation. We haven’t shared many details about it yet… Stay tuned on Instagram in the coming months to learn more!