I've just returned from some Winter Sun ...with a difference. This time, as well as soaking up some rays, reading by the pool and exploring cultural highlights, I also acted as a guide, accompanying visually impaired (VI) travellers.
Traveleyes was set up by the charismatic and immensely likeable Amir Latif to enable sighted and VI travellers to discover far flung destinations together. The result is a travel experience like no other.
I must admit I was a little apprehensive at the start of the first day - I hadn't guided for any significant length of time before - but within twenty minutes my VI partner and I had worked out each other's style and were nattering like old friends embarking on a new adventure.
In fact the whole group (all twenty five of us) were of the adventurous sort. Although we were diverse in many ways, the common threads between us helped us - in just a few days - reach that deep level of rapport that many groups never achieve. That's not to say we were in each other's pockets all the time - there was plenty of free time and we 'swapped partners' daily to mix things up a bit.
Activities on our Tunisian getaway included camel trekking, scrambling, parasailing, jet-skiing, offroading, visiting ancient sites and touring unusual landscapes. These were all optional of course, and many preferred to chillax by the pool and perhaps indulge in an "Massage with 8 hands!" or a Hammam scrub.
I first heard about Traveleyes through a press release about a business award - Outstanding Young Business Entrepreneur of the World! - that Amar had received from the Chamber of Commerce International in 2005. Like the best ideas, the Traveleyes model is simple, elegant and inspired: VI travellers get to enjoy exotic locations knowing that they will have a guide and sighted travellers get to enjoy a wonderful holiday at a remarkably discounted price. In fact, the experience is so much more than this but I will let you find that out for yourself...
As for Amar - with spending the majority of him time living it up abroad, running his own business based on his passion for travel and combining this with speaking engagements and media work, he certainly has a life that many of us Renaissance Souls can be inspired by.
