Traveling blind is all about the preparation. The more effort one puts into it, the more one will get out. But when it is over-planned, there is no room for flexibility. Planning is worth to try to cover all possibilities, but there should be room for changes, especially when we find out during the trip that we have misjudged something, or there was inaccurate information.
Certain things, however, are necessary to plan in advance, such as how to get there, where to stay, where to find food and what to do. One can only get by without the things to do, but then the trip is very boring. The tips and ideas in this post are not all necessarily unique or specific to blind people, but without vision some are just inevitable.
Being blind doesn’t allow much of going with the flow. It is certainly possible, but many things can go wrong, and I can find myself at a loss of what to do, or if I don’t have a good place to stay, it can increase travel time and cost. I would rather have an idea of what I’d like to do, and change the plans on the fly if something even better comes along.
Having said that, I have done a few go with the flow trips when I didn’t have time to plan much ahead, and for the most part they worked out, but it was more luck than skill.
Of course, there is something to say about a go with the flow plan, understanding that there are many more moving components than for sighted people. One example would be to book a room for a favorable price just to find out that it is out of the way, there’s no public transportation, and ridesharing is ultimately more expansive than going with a more expensive room at a more central place. Though this trip is primarily about longer trips, components of it can be used for day-trips or just any outings. Planning is always the key to success.
Where to stay
Finding a place to stay takes quite a bit of work. There are certain criteria I try to plan around. It is important that the place, is at a walkable area, so that I can get some food, walk to a pharmacy if needed, or if nothing else, not be stuck inside the hotel if there’s nothing else around. Though I’m mostly talking about hotels, much of this applies to any other type of accommodation. Another important thing is good transportation. Since ride sharing services emerged, it takes much less time to get somewhere, but it is also important how long does it take to get a car.
One way to find that out is putting the hotel location into Uber, and any random destination of interest. This will give me an approximate time of arrival and distance. Of course that’s not set in stone, but if it is 25 minutes that’s already not a good sign. I usually try to assume a few more minutes plus what I initially get from the Uber app, unless I’m somewhere in downtown where it almost doesn’t matter, usually I can get an Uber in 2-3 minutes.
A hotel needs to accept a guide dog. In some countries it goes without asking, I don’t register my dog, I arrive with him and we are together. I never had anybody ask questions, for example in the United States they can only ask two questions, is the dog a service animal required because of a disability, and what work or task has the dog been trained to perform.
In other countries, however, even though there is legislation to allow guide dogs, there are some places where they will refuse a guide dog, and once I have a reservation there isn’t much I can do at arrival. Therefore, during or right after the reservation, I call the front desk and let them know that I will be arriving with my dog, and to not make it look like I am only calling because the dog, I try to ask for a room near the elevator as an accommodation, and maybe ask a few questions about the hotel. I never had a problem at a hotel, though restaurants sometimes have issues. But this way I can avoid unnecessary problems. I understand that some people look at it differently, they would rather not volunteer this information, just assume that since it is the law, a guide dog will be accepted. As experience shows, negotiation is sometimes not sufficient.
Another consideration when booking a hotel is if I have stayed there before. It is time consuming to figure out where things are, and once I like a hotel there’s no reason to change it to something else. It is a great feeling when I arrive, I know where to find the front desk, the elevator, or an area for Baldwin. It is also great that often they know me and know how to help, or not to help. I have some favorite hotels, not necessarily the best places in town, but the staff and the location is excellent, and I know I will have to be in town several times a year. It is also a kind of loyalty to the company. This also saves quite a bit of planning time. Being blind and reading hotel reviews on some sites isn’t always as simple as it sounds, but more about this later in another post.
If I haven’t stayed at a hotel, the best thing is to check online reviews and recommendations. They are not always available and sometimes all I have is a location research, but if a place has a few reviews that can be useful. Normally I don’t consider 1-2 reviews sufficient, it can be quite subjective, but once there is enough info out there, it is easier to average out the experience of others. When one can see, the pictures besides the review can give information that I will lack. Often the reviews tend to have the best recommendations for places to eat nearby, things to do, or items to order from the hotel menu.
Places to eat
During the preparation it is important to ensure at the very least that during my stay there will be access to food. I love to try all kinds of good and local food, which can also be a consideration, but most importantly at the minimum I need to find some kind of reasonable food. Reasonable is affordable, and nutritious. It is important to understand that within reasonable distance there is something to eat, for the times when things go wrong, bad weather, unavailable rides, no late night buses. Generally, I try to limit the available food to a short walking distance. These days, ordering is also an option, but due to the previous reasons, to play it all safe, it is more reliable not to keep it as an option.
One other option is starting by shopping for the minimum necessities when food is not available nearby, but in this case it is helpful to arrive when grocery stores are still open.
Generally, when I evaluate the nearby food options, I try to make sure that their opening hours and menus are available online. Opening hours are relatively reliable, the menus are not all the time. This is important to make sure that it is within the budget. Sometimes, even with a generous budget, surprises can happen. When the menu is not available, it is always an option to call the place during planning and ask about the general type of food they serve and the price range.
Things to do
After I know where I will I stay and where I can find food, the next thing is to think about what I will do during the trip. If the trip has a particular purpose, for example a work assignment, or a visit it is much easier, but I always like to make sure that I spend my time wisely and get to know the place as thoroughly as possible.
Planning is particularly important because to find things which can be done without vision might be limited, thus it takes much longer. I’d rather spend the time on this at home than during the trip. Of course, I’m always open for the new and unexpected, but it is better to have too many ideas than not enough.
Transportation
Aside from the regular planning that goes into transportation, the most important thing is safety and convenience.
Usually, I use Uber to get from one place to the other, but it is also important to know of an airport allows Uber rides, or if the particular town has ride sharing services. Of course, Uber is not necessary, but it is convenient, as I use the same app, the same credit card, I don’t have to worry about cash. I had some bad experience with taxis but that’s another story later. If Uber is not available, I try to get a sense on how I can find a ride from the airport, and note the local taxi numbers in advance.
If there is a long layover, I would only take it if I can find a reasonable hotel nearby, things to do at the airport, or the layover is long enough to visit the city. This is how I got to Copenhagen or Lisbon for example. It is a free trip after all if I’m not in a hurry.
Useful and relevant locations
It is one of the most important tasks to collect a list of locations with addresses and possibly phone numbers. With the help of some of the news apps it is relatively easy, I just need to add them to my favorites. But I always need to know what I’m going to do and how will I get there.
When planning a trip, I would find the following locations in advance:
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Airport, train station (obvious, but it is a good central point to measure distances from)
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Hotel, hostel, etc.
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Work location if it is a business trip
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Nearby restaurants and grocery stores
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Pharmacies
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Interesting places to visit
The rest is optional. But the basic places allow me to quickly plan my trip. For example, I can simulate the arrival airport’s location, and quickly know how long it will take me to get to the hotel or the work location, so I can plan out my days when timing is important. This is also relevant when planning the travel budget, an Uber ride can be $6 or $30, and if I have to take that rout many times, maybe it makes sense to pick another hotel.
For the most part, I just add the locations to my GPS app’s favorites, but if there is a contact person I add them to my contact list, and sometimes when I expect that the internet won’t be reliable, I print out the most important information in braille.
Understanding the area
Culture
Before even talking about the area, I like to understand the culture. It is possible to visit a place and take it all in without getting into what it is like and why, but I feel the more I know about the people and the environment, the more I am able to appreciate it.
Culture has so many aspects to it that I won’t even try to get into it, but there are a few things which are important from a perspective of a blind person.
Probably the most obvious is eating. Coming from the US, it is perfectly ok to eat as I would at home, but it is not only interesting to learn how people eat at different parts of the world, but it allows me to better understand the culture around food. If I never learned to eat with my hands, I would never know why they serve certain food in a certain way in India.
The other important thing for me to understand is business. In a multinational corporation, one is safe to assume that we can do business the American way, especially if the corporation is headquartered in the US. However, it is a good idea to understand what time means to people around the world, when to arrive accurately or be fashionably late, or how to give and accept gives. In China, for example, I tried to hand business cards to people using both hands if I didn’t forget about it, or it is also a good idea to know what kinds of gifts are appropriate and if I should open or take gifts home.
Language
Language is equally important. When preparing for a trip, for the most part it is difficult to become conversational within a few weeks. But there is no need for that. So far, I have always been able to communicate one way or another, in the worst case, using Google Translate. However, I do have a natural curiosity for languages. When I go to a country I have never been to, or I just need to brush up on the language, before the trip, you would find me listening to their radio just to get a sense of the language, maybe read a few pages even if I don’t understand it, but most importantly, learn a few words. It is not only fun to learn new words, but it makes a huge difference when people know that I care enough about their languages to learn some of it. If possible, I never go to a country without being able to say hi, thank you, please, yes, no and the numbers.
I found that people exactly know how much I have learned. If it is just a thank you, they let you know they appreciate it, and if I happen to speak the language in some level they are always excited to respond in their own language. Sometimes a more complex conversation is difficult, but that’s another story altogether. And there is nothing better than learning a language by its speakers, where it is spoken.
When it comes to complex conversation, where it is obvious that my hosts English is better than my language skills, the conversation often continues in English. I would love to struggle through my obstacles and try to speak and understand, but sometimes it is just not practical. In a more casual setting aside from work, I usually try to make a point of communicating in the local language if I can.
The environment
When I scheduled my hotel in Bangalore, I had to work at two offices. One was 4 miles from the hotel, the other was about 2. I thought 10-5 minutes one way, 5-10 to the other. Depending on the traffic, the farthest office was about 1-1.5 hours.
Understanding the amount of time needed to get to work or to the airport is crucial when making plans.
This is just one example that planning ahead is not always as easy as it looks. I have to take the traffic into consideration, walkability, etc. At the same place in India, I found many restaurants within 500 feet. When I got there, it turned out that it was inside a mall, across the street, which I wouldn’t cross on my own if I didn’t have to. I don’t even know where the intersection was, if there was such a thing, the street was so loud I wouldn’t know where I am and when to continue moving. In a way such an environment would be easier to navigate with a dog, however, Baldwin is simply not trained to navigate that kind of traffic.
Another time, when I stayed in Ottawa, there was an Italian restaurant near the hotel which sounded good, but there wasn’t a road or sidewalk to get there. I had to cross a grassy area and a parking lot to get to it. This is something that a GPS virtual navigation wouldn’t tell me, at most I wouldn’t be able to find a road leading to the place I’m trying to get to, but it still doesn’t mean there isn’t a sidewalk or a path.
These are the things I need to either know, ask somebody, or find out the first time I arrive to a location. Often when I call a hotel and ask for places to eat nearby, the answer is yes, but nearby to them means a few miles by car. So, when I clarify that I am a blind person and I need something that is easy to walk to, a few things happen. They have no idea how a blind person would navigate the environment, so the answer is no. They think walkable means that there is a way to get to it, which may not be an obvious or easy enough way to get to without assistance. There are only a few places which can give me a good idea of what is around. For the most part, I try to find useful places when I go somewhere for the first time, and keep those in mind if I need to return.
Of course, there is always the option of asking somebody at the hotel to help, but I prefer to find things on my own and at most ask for directions. I know they are happy to help, but their job is not to guide me around town. I will accept extra help if I can’t manage otherwise.
Another thing is finding a walking area for Baldwin. Normally I don’t ask the hotels about it in advance, as his needs are not equal to a pet dog’s needs. I don’t need to take walks with him, he is trained to go on command if he needs to, on grass or on concrete, and I know how to clean up after him. So, when I arrive, the first thing is to walk around the hotel to find a good spot. This is something that I can manage on my own, as it is important to find something very close to the hotel. Sometimes people insist that I take him to a grassy area, once in New York it was some four blocks away, past a busy intersection. Imagine, if this is how far you had to walk each time you had to go to the restroom. When it is time, it is time. Especially in the morning. Another consideration is that it may not be the safest thing to do in the middle of the night if we need to go out.
Making reservations
Reservations can include plane, bus and train tickets, car service if necessary, hotel, activities.
Theoretically, I would just have to schedule it online these days but it is not always so easy.
Certain web sites are not fully usable with screen readers. This can mean many things, without going into the technical details, which is otherwise part of my job, an example would be that a web site is easy to use with a mouse, but doesn’t work with the keyboard.
Fortunately, more and more web sites are fully usable, but sometimes I may end up with the one which doesn’t give me the best options, but it is the easiest to use. It is possible that I check best prices using a comparison service, but the site which has the best price is not working with my screen reader. Usually, best prices don’t have a phone option, so I either need to ask for help, or find another site to make the same reservations.
Other times, the site can be usable but it is complex to use, if I can I try to make the reservation over the phone. Often this means additional charges. At the time of writing this book, the Greyhound site is practically not usable for me. There is an agreement that when blind people call the reservation line, they waive the extra charge to reserve over the phone. Though it is helpful, I wish I could just make a reservation on my computer of on the phone just like anybody else.
Planning after the reservation
Once the paperwork is done, tickets are purchased and I know where I’m going to stay, the fun begins. It is time to plan out the trip. However, some of the planning needs to take place before the reservation so that I have easy access to what I want to do.
The first step is usually to read about the place I’m going to visit. If the trip is not too soon, I can spend quite a bit of time on it, I would start finding some books online which I can read with my screen reader. There is a service called BookShare, which makes books available for people with print disabilities, which of course includes blind people. I also like to get Kindle books which are also very usable with a screen reader.
I like to start with books, because I don’t have to deal with web sites which I may or may not be able to read well. Some discussion forums can be difficult to navigate, but I like travel blogs. After I am done with the book reading, I try to find anything on the internet. The more I know about a place, the better idea I have about what I am going to do, unless I visit a place with a specific purpose. It also helps when one has a hobby to organize events around, for example for me it is coin collecting.
I also subscribe to mailing lists and try to find local people, or people who had been to my destination and ask questions.
Next I browse Meetup or EventBright for events which take place during my stay. This is a great way to meet local people to get useful information. If I want to attend a meetup, I try to do it as early as I can, during my trip so I can use the information I receive.
Depending on the locations I want to visit,, I need to decide if this is something I can do on my own, or if I need help. For example, visiting a museum is possible, but it is very difficult, and I prefer not to do it on my own if I don’t have to. I usually write to the museum and ask them if I can get a hands-on tour. Nobody ever turned me down, there were instances when I couldn’t get in touch with anybody, but once I find the responsible person, they are happy to help.
Packing for the trip
I don’t want to go into all the details for packing, most things just depend on the person and the location. I do have a packing list which contains all the things I would ever need for a trip, or I ever took with me. It contains some 150 items. It is not all that much, especially considering all the technology I need to take with me, for example the phone needs a charger, a charging cable, power bank, headphones. I break the list down to the smallest item I need.
When I start to pack, I make a copy of my list into a separate file, and first go through it and delete anything I will not need. The winter coat for Mexico for example. Then as I pack, I check off each item once it is packed. That is packed, not that I thought about it or set it by the suitcase. For the item to be checked off, it has to be where it is going to stay in the bag, no exception. Usually the last thing is my phone which has the list.
This is of course no different from what sighted people do, but when a list of packed items comes in handy is when packing up on the way home. Just looking around what’s left on the bed or table is not such an easy thing. But packing up based on a list makes it easier what I’m missing and where it is. I have to say the only time I left things behind was when I was sure of myself and I didn’t use my own method.
Of course, no packing list is perfect, and each time I forget to take something with me, I immediately add it to the list. This has worked out very well over the last 20 years. The original list had some 20 items, mostly categories, which evolved into a very useful list. I can’t think of a recent trip where I forgot to take something I needed.
There are certain things I would do differently than sighted people.
I need a working phone so I can schedule rides, know where I am, make payments or emergency calls. A phone not working is not an option unless it breaks. That happened too, I was traveling to Washington DC for a one day business trip. After landing, I had about two hours until my presentation and my phone didn’t speak when I turned it on. It was many years ago, when iOS didn’t have a quick way of turning the speech on without sight. I used to live in the area, so fortunately I knew that there was an Apple Store on the way, I stopped by and asked them to turn the speech on. Fortunately, it was an easy fix.
The other component of a working phone is extra batteries. I travel with two battery packs, and every time I have a chance to charge, I make sure I charge my phone and batteries as full as I can. Maybe I overdo it, but I don’t want a slight chance of running out of battery. It is not only about figuring out how many hours worth of charge I need, if I stay at a place where there is a poor data connection and I don’t notice it, the battery can die in a few hours.
But what happens if the battery dies? I can of course ask for help, go to a store and ask if I can make the necessary calls to get me where I need to be, but just to be on the safe side, I print the most important numbers in braille I may need. The people I have to meet at a certain time, the hotel address and phone number, a local cab number. This is also over-worrying, and I admit I don’t do it all the time, but ideally I try.
I also take an extra collapsible cane with me. It is quite small, it fits into a larger pocket. In case anything happens with my guide dog, he gets sick or injured without him I would have no other way of getting around. So far, I only needed it once. I was in Washington DC, and on the way home we met Baldwin’s puppy raisers. We went out for dinner, and had some play time outside. He was so excited that practically his work was not reliable. It didn’t happen before or after, there are times when he pays less attention, but it is always safe going with him. That night, it just wasn’t, so I decided to give him a break, I led him on the leash and used my cane.
I also have tracker devices which I can attach to my keys, suitcase, anything I need to find. When the device is nearby, I can activate it from my phone and it makes a sound. This is a great way to quickly locate my suitcase on the belt, or if I am not traveling with Baldwin, I leave one in my hotel room so I can quickly find the door. Of course, there are braille and raised numbers on each door, but who wants to dust it off? I am even more conscious about reading braille in public places, but more about that later.
I also try to make sure I have the most frequently used medicines just in case anything happens, upset stomach, fever, etc. Especially in another country, it is much more difficult to find a pharmacy and get what I need. At least I have something until I get help if the issue is more serious. Of course I can’t think of everything. I had an ear infection in Romania, I could hardly hear and I needed to teach the next day. I asked the concierge to get me eardrops from the pharmacy. I feel silly to pack so many things for each trips, but so far I have used all the medicines I have at least once. That’s what happens when you like to explore all the local foods you can try. So far, it has been worth it, just a bit inconvenient, but I heard stories from friends.
Preparing for the unknown
There is always the time when something goes wrong. Delayed flight, lost item, I forgot to bring something or left it at the hotel, etc.
I can decide if I am going to worry about it and make my stay miserable, or go with the flow, and deal with the consequences later. I tend to do the second, though it is important to be responsible. If I am traveling to make a presentation, I can’t leave my materials at home and go with the flow. But certain things are impossible to avoid.
I have one rule I try to follow all the time: I have a form of ID and a form of payment with me all the time. This should be obvious, but there is a little more to it.
All the time also means in case I lose some of my belongings. So, I always try to have two IDs and two forms of payments available, either cash or credit card. If I happen to lose one of them, I can still confirm who I am, I can get home and buy things which are absolutely necessary, such as food and clothes.
Once I was in Malaysia to present at a conference and my suitcase got lost on the way there. I did receive it a few days later after the presentation. Fortunately I had a credit card with me and I could buy a suit the day I arrived. It is impossible to avoid all the unknowns, but there are steps to avoid potential disaster.
This happened over 15 years ago, and since then I’m a more experienced traveler. I can pack for 2-3 weeks into a carryon bag. They might still make me check it, but for the most part they won’t, so first, it is a faster way to get out of the airport, second, it is harder to lose my bag.
If I know I have to check in my bag, I try to pack enough of everything for at least an extra day. Especially dog food, which is probably the most difficult to find somewhere late at night. I do have a plan for that as well, but I never had to use it. In the worst case, Baldwin would eat cooked rice, or chicken. It would still have to be made special for him, and would probably cost an arm and a leg for a late night special service, but it can be done at any restaurant if they are willing to help.
But back to the ID and payment. Especially when I travel for an extended amount of time, I don’t like to walk around with all my money and credit cards. So, usually I hide an id and a credit card somewhere before I leave the hotel. In the worst case, if something disappears, either from the hotel or from my pockets I still have an extra layer of security. Of course, when I’ abroad and my passport would disappear, there isn’t much I can do with my state ID, but at least it is a form of identification for the time being. Fortunately, I never had to worry about it so far.
Another thing I do is carrying the most important items in a laptop bag which are necessary to fulfill the purpose of my trip. For example, if it is a business trip, I make sure I have my laptop and presentation materials, paper notes with me which I will need. I will keep it with me no matter what, and never check them in anywhere. I also do not trust anybody to hold on to these items. If one thing goes wrong, the entire plan falls apart. Even worse, many people who plan around my stay or presentation will not get what they are looking for. Of course, it is hard to prepare for all situations. But in this case, I try to anticipate anything that may become an issue. It did happen once that I lost my laptop and I had to make my presentation by heart. It wasn’t because I checked it in, but in a hurry I picked up the wrong laptop, and so did the person who’s laptop I got, and we both noticed it later. It is a good idea to tape a business card on the laptop just in case it gets lost so if somebody wants to return it they can call me. Though partly this is why I applied for the TSA PreChek service, so that at most places I don’t have to remove my laptop from my bag.
Conclusion
And this may just be the tip of the iceberg, planning makes up for so much that otherwise I would have to see. Maybe I’m overdoing it sometimes, but I never felt sorry for that. It was much worse when I didn’t have plans, I spent the money to go somewhere, and I had to stay at my accommodation because I couldn’t get out to do something interesting.
