What It’s Like Traveling the World As a Little Person

For Travel + Leisure’s column Traveling As, we’re talking to travelers about what it’s like to explore the world through their unique perspectives. We talked to Dr. Jennifer Arnold, who starred on TLC’s The Little Couple, about the hurdles she faces as a frequent world traveler. Here’s her story… 

I’m a neonatologist, but I was born in a time when they didn’t routinely do prenatal ultrasounds, which can often identify a fetus with skeletal dysplasia. So when I was born, they didn’t know that I was a little person. I was average size at birth, but had some respiratory complications. I was about 2 years old when my new pediatrician, who had trained at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, sent my parents and me up to its genetics clinic, where I was diagnosed with a type of skeletal dysplasia called spondyloepimetaphyseal dysplasia, Strudwick type.

Growing up with working class parents in Florida, we didn’t get to travel the world as much as I would have liked. We found a surgeon who dedicated his entire career to kids with skeletal dysplasia, so I benefited greatly from his amazing care. But we spent many of our summers traveling to see him in Baltimore.

As a little person, or for anyone with a disability, you have to think about travel and plan ahead. For my graduation present when I was 18, I asked to travel to Europe with my aunt, who was like my best friend. We explored northern Italy, Germany, and Switzerland, and had a blast. With family, you recognize the challenges, but you figure it out. We had to be creative about how I could reach a sink in a hotel or open the door, but I learned to navigate rooms.

As I started doing more travel on my own, particularly for work, I recognized the need to be prepared. I have to make sure I can reach the lock on the hotel room door and that towels aren’t kept up high. I used to ask for a tub because I can use it as a backup sink, but now more places don’t have tubs. A single-step stool is not enough for me. Sometimes, housekeeping will have a double-step, but some hotels don’t want to share them because they’re afraid it’s a liability. But then I have to use a rolling desk chair, which is even less stable.

It’s interesting how many biases and obstacles there are when you’re a little person—because even ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act) rooms are not meant for us. The sinks are often higher to accommodate a wheelchair user, so it’s even more difficult than a typical room.  

Jennifer with her friends at the airport and at The Taj Mahal Palace hotel.

Dr. Jennifer Arnold

There’s just so much you can’t predict, but I love to travel. I love to experience the world, and I travel so much now. I was on four different trips in just one month. When there’s time to prepare, I’ll email the hotel and ask for a double-step stool and a room closer to the elevators; some hotels are big and long, and dragging my suitcase across the carpeted floor is not easy.

Despite being short statured, I don’t pack light, so I need to make sure I can push my suitcase. I’m embarrassed to admit it’s as big as I am. Oftentimes, I have to pay the overage fee because it’s more than 50 pounds—and I weigh 56. I wish I was a lighter packer since it would make things so much easier. I’m working on that. 

Airports are big and hard to navigate. The more I travel, the more I get to know each one and decide if I need a wheelchair for the distance. They used to be so systematic in how they handled wheelchair requests, but now you don’t know what the wait time will be. There are times I make it halfway there and realize my gate is farther than I thought. I used to be able to stop and call someone, but now you have to walk all the way back to the wheelchair counter at the beginning. I’ll already be halfway there and feel stuck. 

The TSA doesn’t always know how to support travelers with disabilities, particularly short-statured individuals. Many little people like myself have had a lot of surgeries because of our orthopedic complications, and we oftentimes have joint replacement. I’ve got metal in my back. I’m on my second round of hip replacements and probably need a new knee soon.

I’m half-mechanical, so going through the regular metal detector is not fun. Can I do it? Sure. Am I going to get a pat-down every single time? Yes.

When you travel on planes 10 times a month, you get tired of being felt up. There’s the body scanner, but kids can’t go through and some agents think the limit is by height. I’m 3 feet, 2 inches, and I’m not a kid. I can hold still and put my arms in the air. But a lot of TSA agents see me and say, “You’re not tall enough.” I have to pull out my Twitter account and show AskTSA, asking them to let me try because it saves me from a full pat-down.

On top of it, there are fewer female TSA agents, and you end up waiting a long time for that pat-down. You try to educate the agents so that the next person who goes through is hopefully supported the right way. I’m not asking for anything special; I’m just asking for what [I know] is possible.

It’s also extraordinarily hard for me to rent a car. Some places have pedal extensions, but they’re usually four inches long, and I need a foot. So I’ve learned to bring my own, as well as my own seat cushion that’s big enough. It has been a big limiting factor in traveling on my own because public transportation is not an option for me in many cities. Plus, I have orthopedic issues, so walking a ton is not possible.

Unfortunately, the world is not getting easier as an individual with a disability. But the one thing that is easier is having Uber. Now, I don’t have to worry about renting a car.

It’s nice when a hotel asks if there’s anything they can do to help accommodate my needs. Then, I know they’re willing [to make adjustments] after I scope out the room because it’s variable each time. When I was traveling to Houston before we ended up moving there, I checked into a hotel and they offered me a step stool created by another reality star little person, Matt Roloff. It really makes it easy for little people to navigate their rooms. The person at the front desk actually had watched my show and asked if they could buy it [before my stay]. I was so impressed they did that. 

Sometimes, there’s stereotyping or people are annoyed they have to find you a wheelchair, Or, there just isn’t a good system in place for supporting an individual with a physical disability, so they’re not proactive. But 27 percent of the U.S. population has a disability, and it matters. It’s evident when you’re in a place that is accommodating versus one that is not.

While there are challenges, I don’t want it to stop me from seeing the world. If I can’t go to the top of the Eiffel Tower, it is what it is, but at least I can go to the bottom, experience the people around it, and see how beautiful it is—and enjoy some really good French food. There are many ways to experience the world. 

A family photo.

Dr. Jennifer Arnold

Now, I get to travel with my family, but we’re all short statured, so we have to figure it out. Being the parent of two internationally adopted children, traveling to India and China to bring them home with us were my most memorable trips. Obviously, the best part was getting to meet our kids for the first time, but from a travel perspective, the ability to see where they came from was special. 

We tried to integrate into the environment, understand the culture, and get to know the locals, even with the language barriers. I love to experience everything from the ocean to mountains to the architecture when traveling, but where I get the most excitement is meeting people and seeing what everyday life looks like for them.

I want to instill in my kids being unafraid to travel because my parents, as supportive as they were, were nervous about me traveling independently in the beginning—rightfully so. There are all these physical barriers, obstacles and challenges, and the world is not always an easy place to navigate. Not everyone is receptive toward individuals with disabilities. Particularly when you’re a little person, the bias and discrimination are just so profound.

So I want my kids to feel empowered and excited to travel, but I also want them to be safe. My husband, Bill, and I both have had the opportunity to travel to so many great places, and we want to give them those practical tips. Over time, I hope there’ll be fewer obstacles for them.

Jennifer and her kids on an airplane.

Dr. Jennifer Arnold

It’s important to travel because life is short—no pun intended. We have an amazing, beautiful world out there, and I want to experience as much as I can. There’s the culture, the food, and the vibrance of the people. Every place is unique and fascinating, and the biggest challenge is not having enough time to see it all.