The company pairs travelers with the visually impaired.
Glyn Evans has been on 30 trips with the same travel company, but he can still point to his favorite time.
On a trip to Las Vegas, he served as best man to a married couple on the same tour.
But unlike most weddings, the bride and groom are visually impaired, says Evans, based in Lincolnshire, UK.
For 25 years, Evans has traveled with Traveleyes, a tour company that organizes trips for the blind and visually impaired. Tours also include an equal number of travelers who can see. In exchange for discounts — sometimes as much as 40% — travelers like Evans help their friends by explaining the details of the trip, from planning activities to ordering food.
“We hired a chapel, and I helped the bride choose her wedding dress. It was a great experience,” Evans said.
From volunteering to travel
Trips are on. Traveling eyes It is similar to those on any other travel website. Travelers can go white water rafting in Costa Rica, take a safari in Iswatini and climb a volcano in Spain. Some trips include things like bungee jumping, skydiving, skiing, snorkeling, and pizza making.
For Evans, who has long volunteered with the blind, traveling with them was a natural next step. He met company founder Amar Lafi through his work in the blind community and called it an obvious decision to join TravelEyes’ first tour as a guest, he told CNBC Travel.
Laff, who went blind at age 18 due to a genetic disease, founded Travelies in 2004 at the age of 36, he said.
Evans and his partner Caroline now regularly join Traveleyes tours and have traveled with the company to Canada, Sri Lanka and South Africa, he said.
Latif and Ivan, in San Francisco.
Source: Glyn Evans
Sometimes trips come with sensory experiences that other travelers don’t have. Evans said he and his fellow travelers were allowed to feed the lions on safari, an experience he will never forget.
Blind travelers, or “VIPS” as they are known by TravelEyes, can touch artifacts from the Incan ruins in Peru to the Terracotta Warriors near Xi’an, China.
But Evans says his favorite part of a Traveleyes trip isn’t the activities or the offer — it’s the camaraderie.
“The best thing is when we sit in the evening drinking and chatting. You know people you never get a chance to meet in your everyday life. It gave me a lot of joy.” he said.
Different levels of detail
Evans says he and Caroline meet a lot of travelers. From the United Kingdom, Evans and Caroline picked them up from the train station and hosted a seven-course dinner for 12 of their Traveleyes friends, and Caroline picked them up from the train station and spent the night.
Evans now has a wealth of experience in what it takes to guide blind travelers on a vacation to a natural resource or a big city sightseeing day. He learned that people want something different from their trip.
Blind skiers often ski with a guide or helper and wear a vest to alert other skiers of their condition.
Mickey Ansin | Save photos | Getty Images
“Some people want to know every detail about our place, and other people don’t care about any details,” he said.
Some prefer to talk about the latest soccer match, Evans said.
“If we’re going around a church, we’ll ask the person, ‘Do you want more information or a bit of information – or do you want to talk about Arsenal?’ I say it.
An equal relationship
Traveleyes founder Laff said he founded the company after being turned away by casual tour guides. They told him he could only be accompanied by a carer, and even then he could not participate in activities such as cycling, skiing or hiking even though he was fit and independent.
He said the relationship between his company’s travelers – those who can see and those who cannot – is based on equality.
“We’re all on equal footing. We’re all having a good time,” he said. “Sighted people don’t have to be carers. Yes, they guide and be the eyes and explain things, and in return they receive a discount, but they are on holiday. It is very important that blind travelers enjoy it. Because ultimately, if they are not there, we cannot give blind travelers a holiday.”
Evans helps a blind traveler paraglide on a trip to Tunisia organized by TravelEyes.
Source: Glyn Evans
Travel Eyes guests do not need previous experience with the blind, Laff said.
” he said Video On my how-to guide YouTube, our guides also provide guide training. “But every VIP likes to be guided differently. It’s all about communication. It can be a little nerve-wracking at first, but within half an hour you’ll forget about the blindness.”
Blind travelers are expected to describe what they see, but they don’t act as caregivers, Laff said. “Travelers who book on the trip can be independent – they can pack their bags, they can dress up, and they will be responsible for themselves.”
Traveling with the blind allows others to see the world differently, Laff said.
Laff and Evans are bathed in mud on their trip to Turkey.
Source: Amar Laf
We live in a world where people are always taking pictures and moving. But when you’re in front of something amazing, you have to bring it into your VIP life and engage with it. “More meaningful and vivid memories of your holiday experiences.”
The experience can inspire people in their own lives and future journeys, he said.
“Our blind travelers are really inspired because they see that VIPs can’t see, but they’re halfway there without their friends and family, and it makes them see their lives differently.”
