Glyn Evans has made 30 trips with the same travel agency, but he can still pinpoint his favorite moment.
On a trip to Las Vegas, he was best man to a couple on the same tour who got married on a whim.
However, unlike most weddings, the bride and groom were blind, said Evans, from Lincolnshire, UK
For 25 years, Evans has been traveling with the travel company Traveleyes, which organizes trips for blind and visually impaired people. 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 companions with details of their trip, from planned activities to help ordering food.
“We rented a chapel and I helped the bride choose her wedding dress. It was just the best experience,” Evans said.
From volunteering to traveling
Trips further Travel eyes similar to those on any other travel website. Travelers can go rafting in Costa Rica, go on a safari in Eswatini and take a volcano tour in Spain. Some tours include bungee jumping, skydiving, skiing, snorkeling and pizza making.
For Evans, who has long worked as a volunteer with blind people, traveling with them was a natural next step. He met the company's founder, Amar Latif, through his work in the blind community and called it an obvious decision to join TravelEyes' first tour as a sighted guest, he said CNBC Travel.
Latif went blind at age 18 from a hereditary disease and founded Traveleyes in 2004, he said, when he was 36.
Evans and his partner Caroline regularly participate in Traveleyes trips and have visited Canada, Sri Lanka and South Africa with the company, he said.
Latif and Evan in San Francisco.
Source: Glyn Evans
Sometimes trips involve sensory experiences that other travelers don't usually experience. Evans said he and other Traveleyes were allowed to feed the lions on safari. It was an experience he said he would 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 his favorite part of the Traveleyes trip isn't the activities or discounts – but the friendships made.
“The best part is in the evening when we sit and have a drink and talk. You meet people you would never have the chance to meet on a daily basis. It gave me a lot of happiness,” he said. he said.
Different levels of detail
Evans said he and Caroline keep in touch with many other travelers. On one occasion they hosted a seven-course dinner party for 12 Traveleyes friends who had traveled from all over the UK. Evans and Caroline picked them up at the train station and stayed overnight, he said.
Evans now has extensive experience in guiding blind travelers on vacation, whether it's hiking through nature reserves or a day exploring a big city. He learned that people expect different things from travel.
Skiers with visual impairments often ski with a guide or helper and wear vests to warn other skiers of their condition.
Mikki Ansin | Photo archive | Getty Images
“Some people want to know every detail about where we are, and others just don't care about any of the details,” he said.
Some people prefer to talk about the last football game, Evans said.
“If we're walking around church, I'll say to the person, 'Do you want more information, or less, or maybe you just want to talk about Arsenal?'”
Equal relationship
Traveleyes founder Latif said he started the company after being turned down by conventional tour operators. They told him he could only join under the supervision of a guardian, and even then he would not be able to participate in activities such as cycling, skiing or hiking, even though he was fit and independent, he added.
He said that the relationship between his company's travelers – those who can see and those who cannot – is based on equality.
“We are all on equal footing. We're all having a great holiday,” he said. “Seers are not meant to be guardians. Yes, they will guide, be eyes and describe and in return they get a discount, but they are also on vacation. It is very important that our sighted travelers are happy because ultimately if they are not there, they will not be there. “We will be able to offer holidays to blind travelers.”
Evans helps a visually impaired traveler paraglide during a trip to Tunisia organized by TravelEyes.
Source: Glyn Evans
Latif said Traveleyes guests do not need to have any experience with blind people.
“Is video a YouTube video I did on guiding, and our tour managers also organize guide training,” he said. “But every VIP likes to be led in a different way. It all depends on communication. It might be a little stressful at first, but within half an hour you forget about your blindness.”
Sighted people are expected to describe what they see, but they do not act as caregivers, Latif said. “Travellers who book trips can be independent — they can pack their bags, they can get dressed and they can be responsible for themselves.”
Traveling with blind people also allows others to see the world in a different way, Latif said.
Latif and Evans take a mud bath during their trip to Turkey.
Source: Amar Latif
“We live in a world where people are always taking photos and moving on. But when you're in front of something amazing, you have to engage with it, bringing it to life for your VIP, so you end up with more meaningful and vivid vacation memories,” he said.
This experience can also inspire people for their own lives and future journeys, he added.
“Our sighted travelers are also truly inspired because they see that VIPs cannot see and yet they are on the other side of the world with no friends or family, which allows them to look at their lives in a different way.”