By Cindy Wentz | From BayLines Express, July, 2021
I love to travel! I get a big thrill out of journeying to distant destinations where the culture, the topography and the history are very different from ours in the US. A legally blind acquaintance of mine once told me she wasn’t interested in travel because she would miss so much in the way of visual information and so the trip wouldn’t be enjoyable enough. I beg to differ.
There are certainly a variety of options for travel for people who are blind just as there are for people who are sighted. I’ve tried many of them but now find that what is easiest for me and my husband, also blind, is to travel as part of an organized group of sighted and blind travelers. Think of it this way: the sighted travelers fill the combined role of sighted guide and audio describer. Making my way through the world independently on a daily basis is one thing: having to do it while in a country where English might not be spoken and public transportation might be limited is not our idea of a fun vacation.
I have found 2 travel companies that specialize in group trips for blind and sighted travelers. If there are others, I’d certainly love to know about them! Mind’s Eye Travel , based in Maine and Traveleyes , based in the UK, are the 2 companies with whom I’ve taken multiple trips. Both were founded and are run by people who are blind. While there are some differences between them, they both accomplish the same thing.
Because both companies run group trips of an average of maybe 15 people, you don’t have the option of tailoring the itinerary to your personal favorite sights and activities. However, each company allows for some free time to wander off in a small group to one of a few particular local destinations suggested by the trip leader or by you or to just kick back and relax. The blind traveler/sighted guide ratio is either one to one or two to one. Both configurations work out satisfactorily. You can not only be assured of description of the sights but can also get assistance when shopping, reading menus or finding the restrooms. It certainly makes travel easier! I have found that generally speaking, both guides and blind travelers are educated and interesting people. And of course with Traveleyes there’s the added benefit of being with a group of people who mostly are from other countries (primarily England). Don’t expect bargain rates on these trips. It’s the sighted guides who get the bargains as their lure for coming on the trip. Nonetheless, assuming you have the money, it’s a great way to see the world.
Mind’s Eye Travel runs approximately 4 trips per year -a combination of domestic and foreign trips. On the docket for 2021 and 2022, pandemic willing, are trips to Colorado, Yellowstone, New Zealand and Fiji, Vietnam and Cambodia, and Maine. Traveleyes, a much bigger company, is still shuttered due to the pandemic. However, in better times they run about 20 trips per year, literally all over the world. Since the company is based in the UK, some of the European trips tend to be too short to warrant a journey across the Atlantic, in my opinion. However, there are plenty of others that are longer and/or closer to home. They’ve run trips to New England, Peru, Italy, Finland (in December!), Africa, India, China, Jordan and everywhere in between! Mind’s Eye Travel has a core of loyal customers whom I’ve seen on multiple trips. Traveleyes seems to have an endless supply of blind Brits and other international travelers. I even met someone from Massachusetts on a Traveleyes trip to the Greek islands. Their trips tend to fill up fairly quickly so it’s best to get on their mailing list and then be decisive.
So by now you may be wondering where I’ve traveled. Well – among other places, I’ve been to Ireland, Costa Rica, Peru, Iceland, India, Bhutan, Norway, cruised the Baltic and the Mediterranean, and more. I plan on being on several of the above referenced Mind’s Eye Travel trips. And that just brings us through 2022. Who knows what travel adventures the future will bring? And who knows? Maybe I will see YOU on one of those adventures.