Travel is More Than Sightseeing
Lived experience with Anne and Bethany
You might be sitting there thinking, ‘If someone wants to take a holiday, they should just do it.’
While we agree with that sentiment, the reality for many people within the blind and low-vision community is that a stress-free and accessible holiday experience is unattainable.
We have reached out to two uplifting and active community advocates, Anne and Bethany, to share a deep dive into the world of holidaying as a person with low-vision.
Based in Canada, Anne is an entrepreneur, disability advocate, and creator of Purpose in View. An avid traveller from a young age, Anne has particularly fond childhood memories of family road trips around her Province of British Columbia. In recent years, Anne and her husband have taken their own family on international holidays from France to the UK and the occasional trip down to the USA.
Adelaide-based creator of @GrinSpoonGirl, Bethany, has dedicated her platform to disability advocacy and showcasing her lifestyle and adventures as someone who has low vision. Bethany enjoys everything Australia offers, with some favourite destinations including Tasmania, Kangaroo Island, and Queensland.
Travel is a sensory experience.
When you think of going on holiday, the first thing that may come to mind is all the incredible sights you will see, yet when we think about it, a travel experience is so much more than that.
Listen below to Bethany talk about what travel means to her.
ID: Busy street in Japan at sunset with bright and colourful signage - many yellow and pink tones in the photograph.
Every holiday comes with challenges.
Overpacking, underpacking, a missing passport, dodgy hotels - every holiday comes with its own set of challenges. For someone with low or no vision, these issues are amplified and stacked on top of a multitude of other challenges that are brought on by travelling.
Bethany spoke about the challenges that come with entering into unfamiliar environments:
Unfamiliar environments and navigation were the core issues that both Bethany and Anne discussed with us. Anne felt that being prepared for any situation or emergency is a surefire way to have a successful trip, even if that means she has to carry every gadget under the sun!
ID: Female facing away from the camera with long blonde hair and a straw hat sticking her body out of a moving train window. The scenery depicts rolling hills of sandy and grass.
Prior planning prevents poor performance.
When it comes to organising a trip, we all know that planning ahead is everything. Researching, understanding your environment and gathering as much information as you can, is crucial in having a smooth-running holiday. For the blind and low-vision community, this stands just as true. Having a grasp of your surroundings can relieve anxiety during your trip and help you navigate your activities.
Bethany speaks to the benefits of having a guide or trusted travel companion to help guide you through the area - even just as a helping hand or to offer some extra knowledge on the destination.
Some other nuggets of advice provided by Bethany and Anne are:
If you’re travelling to a country where you do not speak the language - try and learn a few keywords and phrases beforehand. The signage and braille will most likely not be in English so giving yourself a few keywords will help immensely.
Travel with people you trust. Being in a new location can be a vulnerable experience especially if you are not with familiar people. If you are with someone with whom you feel comfortable - a family member, partner, or friend can put your mind at ease throughout your holiday.
Be open to new experiences! Travel is supposed to push you out of your comfort zone and expand your mind. The best experiences are always the unexpected ones so be open to opportunities that come your way.
The future of travel is all about audio.
At Vacayit, we hope the work we are doing in providing audio guides and immersive experiences will be beneficial to everyone, with a particular focus on improving the quality of travel for the blind and low-vision community. We asked both Anne and Bethany if they saw themselves incorporating a platform like Vacayit into their travelling experience - here is what they said:
Where to next?
Maybe we are just nosy, but our favourite questions to ask are ‘What is your next adventure?’ and ‘What is on your bucket list?’
Bethany has a wedding to plan first, but when it is time for her honeymoon, she hopes to visit Western Australia with her new husband. After WA is ticked off the list, her biggest bucket list adventure will be to the UK with family ties to Scotland and Ireland.
With international borders opened back up, Anne has wasted no time in selecting Melbourne as her location of choice for the next family holiday. With a long list of Aussie beaches to swim in and the best coffee in the world, we agree that Down Under is the perfect choice for a holiday (but maybe we’re just biased!).
Providing accessible travel is essential
In 2022, there is no reason why there are so many barriers that have been created by the industry for people with a disability, especially when it comes to taking a holiday. Within the tourism industry, there is so much room for improvement - at Vacayit our ultimate goal is to close that gap and make the world a more accessible place.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Bethany and Anne for their time and participation in these interviews and our blog post, their insight was invaluable, and we look forward to seeing the work and advocacy they continue to do for the blind and low-vision community.
Download Vacayit here
Apple: https://apps.apple.com/au/app/vacayit/id1590472663
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vacayit