[Travelandtourism] Europe tour information.

[Vicki Ratcliffe]

Hello Reese.

     I am totally blind and whenever I get the chance, I love to travel
either with a group or on my own.  I use a white cane and am an independent
person.  Having said this, I have tried on several occasions to go on group
escorted tours with sighted people only to be told that I needed to have
someone with me.  It should not be this way but I have found the travel
industry, in terms of tour companies, not to be the most open-minded in
terms of attitudes.  Their attitude is not based on ability but only on fear
of what could go wrong.

     Having said this, here are a couple ideas.  I have taken many cruises
over the past ten years and have always found the cruise industry to be
open-minded about taking visually impaired travelers alone.  I have done
three European cruises and I know that royal Caribbean has one-week cruises
in Europe.  On all the cruises, I went on tours in each port and did not
have any problem.

     Another idea is that your client could choose one or two cities and do
tours in those particular areas.  It would require a little more research
but in many cities, you can write in advance and even set up a tour of a
facility for yourself with a guide.  Before doing a cruise from Holland to
the U.K., I contacted the Ann Frank House, for example, via email and asked
if someone could show me around when I arrived.  Upon taking a taxi from my
hotel to the house, I was given Braille literature to read and a guide took
me all over the house and even up to the hiding place.

     These ideas do not eliminate the issue that companies need to be more
openminded about accepting blind travelers on tours.  I was also told that
if a tour operator is based in a country where they do not have
discrimination laws, they do not have to follow our U.S. laws.

     Let us know how things go.

Vicki Ratcliffe