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Glyn Evans has taken 30 trips with the same tour company, but he can still pinpoint the moment that stands out as his favourite.
On a trip to Las Vegas, he was best man to a couple on the same tour who married on a whim.
However, unlike most weddings, the bride and groom were visually impaired, said Evans, who lives in Lincolnshire, UK.
For 25 years, Evans has traveled with Traveleyes, a tour company that organizes tours for the blind and visually impaired. They include the same number of passengers who can also see the tours. For discounts (sometimes up to 40%) travelers like Evans help them describe the details of their trip, from planned activities to help ordering food.
“We hired a chapel, and I helped the bride choose her wedding dress. It was the best experience,” Evans said.
From volunteering to traveling
Trips in progress Travelers just like any other travel website. Travelers can go rafting in Costa Rica, go on a safari in Eswatini and climb a volcano in Spain. Some trips include activities such as bungee jumping, skydiving, skiing, snorkeling and pizza making.
For Evans, who has long volunteered with blind people, traveling with them was the next step. He met the company’s founder, Amar Latif, through his work in the blind community, and said it was an obvious decision to join TravelEyes as a sighted guest on his first tour. CNBC Travels
Latif went blind at 18 due to a hereditary condition and founded Traveleyes in 2004, when he was 36, he said.
Evans and his partner, Caroline, regularly join Traveleyes tours and have been with the company to Canada, Sri Lanka and South Africa, he said.
Latif and Evan, San Francisco.
Source: Glyn Evans
Sometimes travel comes with sensory experiences that other travelers don’t normally have. Evans said he and his Traveleyes passengers were allowed to feed the lions on safari, an experience he said he will never forget.
Visually impaired travelers, or “VIPS” as they are called at TravelEyes, can also touch relics from Inca artifacts in Peru to the Terracotta Warriors near Xi’an, China.
But Evans said what she likes most about a Traveleyes trip isn’t the activities or the discount, but the friendships made.
“The best is in the evening, when we sit and have a drink and chat. You meet people you would never have the chance to meet in your everyday life. It has given me so much happiness,” he said. he said
Different levels of detail
Evans said he and Caroline stay in touch with many of their fellow travelers. Once they cooked a seven-course dinner for 12 Traveleyes friends who had traveled from all over the UK, Evans and Caroline picked them up from the train station and stayed the night, he said.
Evans now has a lot of experience in what it takes to guide blind travelers on holiday, whether it’s a walk through nature reserves or a day out in big cities. People have learned that they want different things from their travels.
Visually impaired skiers often ski with a guide or helper, and wear vests to alert other skiers of their condition.
Mikki Ansin | Photos from the archive | Getty Images
“Some people want to know every detail of where we are, and others don’t care about anything,” he said.
Some people prefer to talk about the last football game, Evans said.
“If we’re walking around a church, I’ll say to the person, ‘Do you want more information or less information, or do you want to talk about Arsenal?'”
Equality relationship
Traveleyes founder Latif said he started the company after being rejected by traditional tour operators. He was told he could only enter with a carer, and even then he wouldn’t be able to participate in activities like cycling, skiing or hiking, even if he was fit and independent, he said.
He said that the relationship between the passengers of his company – those who can see and those who cannot – is based on equality.
“We are all the same. We are all having a good time,” he said. “Sights should not be caretakers. Yes, they will be guides and eyes and describe things, and in return, they receive a discount, but they are also on vacation. It is so important that our sighted travelers enjoy themselves.” because, at the end of the day, if they are not there, we cannot offer holidays to blind travelers.’
Evans helps a visually impaired traveler paraglide on a trip to Tunisia organized by TravelEyes.
Source: Glyn Evans
Traveleyes guests do not need previous experience with the blind, Latif said.
“There is one the video How I drive on YouTube, and our tour managers also do driving training,” he said. “But every VIP likes to drive in a different way. It’s all about communication. At first, it can be a bit nervous, but within half an hour you forget about the blindness.’
Sight travelers are expected to describe what they see, but they don’t function as caretakers, Latif said. “Travellers who book trips can be independent: they can pack, they can dress and they can take care of themselves.”
Traveling with the blind also allows others to see the world in a different way, Latif said.
Latif and Evans take a mud bath on a trip to Turkey.
Source: Amar Latif
“We live in a world where people are always taking pictures and moving on. But when you’re in front of something amazing, you have to engage with it, bringing your VIP to life, so you really end up with more meaningful and vivid memories of your vacation experiences,” she said. .
The experience can also inspire people in their lives and future travels, he said.
“Our visual travelers are also really inspired because they see that VIPs can’t see, but they’re halfway around the world without their friends and family, and they see their lives in a different way.”
