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Glyn Evans has traveled with the same tour company 30 times and he can still pinpoint his favorite moments.
On a trip to Las Vegas, he served as best man for a couple on the same trip who wanted to get married on a whim.
Unlike most weddings, however, the bride and groom are both visually impaired, said Evans, who is from Lincolnshire, England.
For 25 years, Evans has been traveling with a travel company called Traveleyes, which organizes trips for the blind and visually impaired. The tour group also includes an equal number of visible travelers. In exchange for discounts (sometimes as high as 40%), travelers like Evans help their fellow travelers by describing trip details, from planned activities to assisting them with ordering meals.
“We rented a church and I helped the bride choose her wedding dress. It was the best experience,” Evans said.
From volunteering to traveling
Itinerary at travel eye Similar to what you would find on any other travel website. Visitors can go whitewater rafting in Costa Rica, go on wildlife safaris in Swaziland, and hike up volcanoes in Spain. Some tours include activities such as bungee jumping, skydiving, skiing, snorkeling and pizza making.
For Evans, a longtime volunteer working with the blind, traveling with them was a natural next step. He met the company’s founder, Amar Latif, through his work in the blind community, and said joining TravelEyes’ first tour as a sighted guest was an obvious decision. CNBC Travel.
Latif said he was blinded by a genetic disease at the age of 18 and founded Traveleyes in 2004, when he was 36.
Evans and his partner Caroline now travel regularly with Traveleyes and have traveled to Canada, Sri Lanka and South Africa with the company, he said.
Latif and Evan in San Francisco.
Source: Glynn Evans
Sometimes traveling brings about sensory experiences that other travelers don’t usually get. Evans said he and his fellow Traveleyes were allowed to feed the lions on the safari, an experience he said he would never forget.
Visually impaired travelers (“VIPS,” as TravelEyes calls them) can also touch artifacts ranging from Inca relics in Peru to the Terracotta Warriors near Xi’an, China.
But Evans said his favorite part of traveling with Traveleyes isn’t the events or discounts, but the friendships made.
“The best part is in the evenings, we sit together drinking and talking. You get to meet people you wouldn’t normally have the chance to meet. It gives me a lot of joy,” he said.
different levels of detail
Evans said he and Caroline stayed in touch with many of their fellow travelers. He said they once hosted a seven-course dinner for 12 Traveleyes friends from across the UK, with Evans and Caroline picking them up from the train station where they stayed overnight.
Evans now has extensive experience guiding blind travelers on vacations, whether hiking through nature reserves or day trips to big cities. He learned that people wanted different things from travel.
Skiers with visual impairments often ski with the help of a guide or assistant and wear vests to alert other skiers of their condition.
Mickey Ansing | Archive Photo | Getty Images
“Some people want to know every detail about where we are, and others really don’t care about any details,” he said.
Evans said some people prefer to talk about the latest football game.
“If we were visiting a church, I would say to the person, ‘Do you want more information, or less information – or do you just want to talk about Arsenal?'”
equal relationship
Traveleyes founder Latif said he started the company after being rejected by traditional travel agencies. He said they told him he could only attend with a caregiver, and even then, although he was healthy and independent, he couldn’t participate in activities like biking, skiing or hiking.
He said the relationship between his company’s travelers – seen and unseen – is based on equality.
“We are all equal. We all had a great holiday,” he said. “Sighted people are not caregivers. Yes, they will guide, be the eyes, describe things, and in return they will get a discount, but they are also on vacation. It is very important that we sighted travelers enjoy it, Because ultimately, if they’re not there, then we can’t offer holidays to blind travelers.”
Evans helps a visually impaired traveler paraglide during a trip to Tunisia organized by TravelEyes.
Source: Glynn Evans
Traveyes’ guests don’t need any experience working with blind people, Latif said.
“There is a video I do YouTube content on how to tour guides, and our tour managers also do tour guide training,” he said. “But every VIP likes to be guided in a different way. It’s all about communication. It might be a little nerve-wracking at first, but within half an hour, you’ll forget about being blind. “
Sighted travelers should describe what they see, Latif said, but they do not act as caregivers. “Travelers who book a trip are able to be independent – they’ve packed their bags, they can get dressed, they can take responsibility for themselves.”
Traveling with a blind person also allows others to see the world in a different way, Latif said.
Latif and Evans take a mud bath during their trip to Türkiye.
Source: Amal Latif
“We live in a world where people always take pictures and move on. But when you’re faced with something amazing, you have to be involved, present it to your VIPs, so you actually end up getting a taste of you have more meaningful and vivid memories of their vacation experiences,” he said.
The experience can also inspire people in their own lives and future travels, he said.
“Our sighted travelers also really get a real kick out of it because they see what the VIPs don’t see, but they don’t have friends and family on the other side of the world, and it makes them look at their lives in a different way.”
