New York

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Last summer I was a guide with a group of partly blind people. In fact with each blind is one sighted and the blind in the groups are called VIPs (visually impaired). These groups usually consist of 16 up to 26 people. The last eight summers one or two groups from this travel agency have come to Iceland and I have been their guide. The owner of the travel agency, Amar his name is, has been blind since teenage years, but still he can see difference of daylight and darkness. Amar has always enjoyed traveling and got the brilliant idea that blind people could enjoy traveling more if a sighted person would assist and explain landscape for instance. The sighted travelers usually pay a little less for these trips, after all they are kind of working.

This past summer the atmosphere within the group was great, as is always the case. Myself and my better half have always enjoyed being with these groups and assisted with leading the blind, if needed. In my case it has been ‘a limping leads a blind’ as I have had a hip-replacement so sometimes I am limping. Usually there are more women traveling than men and so my better half has assisted some of the blind men in the dressing rooms of the Blue Lagoon in Iceland. I, as a guide, think it is enjoyable to assist a blind passenger while walking towards a snout of a glacier, over the black pebble beach to the restless sea or wherever we take our groups. After seven trips to Iceland Amar has ‘seen’ me and my better half working with his groups and in our last tour Amar asked if my husband and I ever go on holidays. Yes, we do, usually after the main tourist season in Iceland is over – was my plain answer. Then Amar asked if Kristjan (my better half) would care to join one of his tours as sighted passengers. A tour to the Bahamas, sailing from New York in December. That could be fun, I answered a bit uncertain. With that Amar said Kristjan and I could join his group if we took care of paying for our flight from Iceland to New York. I was afraid Amar was joking, but we made a gentleman’s agreement there and then so it was decided – New York, Florida and Bahamas, here we come with the Norwegian Star. And since my hubby and I have never been to New York we decided to stay there three extra nights before the group arrives.

Shortly before our departure we got the names of the other passengers and it seems there are five in the group who have been with us on tours in Iceland. Will be nice to meet those people again. In our group are 12 VIPs (7 women, 5 men) and 14 sighted travellers (nine women, five men). Every morning we have a short meeting where it is announced who is with whom that day and that way each person gets to know the others in our group.

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