A holiday organised by TravelEyes is a unique experience for solo travellers and a chance to view the world in a different way. From being partially sighted to blindness, all visually impaired travellers are welcome as long as they are independent.
Travel groups are made of visually impaired and sighted travellers. Sighted travellers are asked to describe the sights to their new, visually impaired friends.
Here, we find out more about TravelEyes…
What is TravelEyes?
TravelEyes is a tour operator that enables people who are visually impaired to enjoy quality package holidays, by organising groups of visually impaired travellers and sighted travellers.
Sighted travellers are offered a discounted priced holiday while acting as a guide for the visually impaired. This innovative company was established by Amar Latif. By the time Amar was eighteen he had lost 95% of his sight. Yet he was determined to fulfil his dream of travelling the world. He had struggled to find tour operators that would let him book on their holidays, so he established his own travel company.
Why choose TravelEyes?
TravelEyes organise trips all over the world for solo travellers. These include city breaks to Copenhagen, Berlin and Minsk. Their discovery tours go to destinations as diverse as Peru, Uzbekistan and Burma (Myanmar).
Walking tours are also popular and venture through the countryside of Bulgaria, Portugal and Tenerife. Other activities include tandem cycling in Thailand and a winter wonderland adventure in Finland. For those who simply want to laze on a beach, Ibiza and Mexico are on offer. Holidays in the UK are also featured in their brochure and include short breaks in Winchester, Newcastle and Oxford.
Not only is there something for everyone but everyone is welcome. Single travellers, couples and friends are all welcome to join their groups. The pairings are changed daily so it is easy to get to know the members of the group.
As TravelEyes is an international company it draws travellers from all over the world.
I’ve not guided anybody before, can I go?
No particular skills are required so anyone can take a trip with TravelEyes. An experienced tour manager travels with each group. Their first task, when they meet the group at the airport, is a brief introduction to the skill of guiding. They will explain that the most important aspect of this is finding out from the visually impaired how they like to be guided. Finding out which side they would like you to be is important or whether they like to link arms or rest a hand on your shoulder.
At first, it may feel awkward, but within a short space of time it becomes second nature.
How are the holidays organised?
The guides are not expected to do any more than guide as the visually impaired travellers must be independent. Once they have been familiarised with the layout of their hotel room then their partners just have to collect them and take them back to their rooms.
Each visually impaired guest is assigned a virtual room-mate and this is the person who takes them to breakfast every morning. Before going out they will hand over to their partner for the day.
The holidays are a mixture of included excursions and free time. When a group has some free time, every effort is made to ensure people wanted to do the same thing are paired together. This is helped by the fact that usually there are two spare guides in a group so the sighted travellers will get some free time when they are not guiding.
Ready to see the world?
If you’re interested in taking a trip with TravelEyes, you can find out more information here.
After you’ve booked, remember to make sure you have comprehensive travel insurance. That means making sure your medical conditions are covered and that the full cost of your holiday is covered for cancellation.
Read more from Valery at https://experiencedtraveller.com
