Blind and traveling USA to Cambodia in two days!
Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2019 5:28 am
Hello everyone!
I have met a wonderful Cambodian woman online and six months ago I bought a plane ticket to travel to Cambodia to meet her.
Here’s what isup. I am blind, I only see a little bit of light. I am very self sufficient though. I have lived alone for 13 years. I do use a guide dog for assistance, a 5 year old Golden Retriever named Monty. I have traveled a lot inside the USA as I am an accessibility trainer advising businesses how to provide accessible facilities and services for people with visual impairments. I also teach orientation and mobility to visually impaired children.
I have never traveled outside the USA alone before. A buddy of mind was going to join me on this trip but his wife is having a difficult pregnancy and he told me two weeks ago that he cannot go, which I understand completely.
I am flying business class on American Airlines and Cathay Pacific and the airline staff will help me make the connections in LA and Hong Kong and go through immigration in Phnom Penh. Monty can’t fly in cabin from LA to Hong Kong so the staff in Hong will help me collect him and then he will fly in the cabin with me to Cambodia.
My girlfriend will meet me at the airport when I arrive and I have booked into Raffles Hotel for twelve days. She also wants me to visit her village in Kampung Chnor provinces.
I have few questions. I have a blind friend who visited Cambodia fifteen years ago and he said it was difficult to walk anywhere because of obstructions on the sidewalk and potholes is that still the case? Are there any pleasant places to walk without obstructions near the Raffles Hotel?
ATMs in the USA have braille markings and a headphone jack so visually impaired people can plug in and receive spoken instructions. Am I correct that this does not yet exist in Cambodia but that I can withdraw from my visa ATM card over the country in the bank?
Will Cambodian staff at restaurants understand that Monty is an assistance dog and not a pet? How about in small villages? I prefer that people do not try to pet him when he is working will people understand that?
Lastly we are planning to tour Angkor What and I understand that visitors can still touch the temples and stone carvings but not climb on them is that still the case? If no touching is allowed at all I may reconsider going.
Thank you very much for you help and expertise.
I have met a wonderful Cambodian woman online and six months ago I bought a plane ticket to travel to Cambodia to meet her.
Here’s what isup. I am blind, I only see a little bit of light. I am very self sufficient though. I have lived alone for 13 years. I do use a guide dog for assistance, a 5 year old Golden Retriever named Monty. I have traveled a lot inside the USA as I am an accessibility trainer advising businesses how to provide accessible facilities and services for people with visual impairments. I also teach orientation and mobility to visually impaired children.
I have never traveled outside the USA alone before. A buddy of mind was going to join me on this trip but his wife is having a difficult pregnancy and he told me two weeks ago that he cannot go, which I understand completely.
I am flying business class on American Airlines and Cathay Pacific and the airline staff will help me make the connections in LA and Hong Kong and go through immigration in Phnom Penh. Monty can’t fly in cabin from LA to Hong Kong so the staff in Hong will help me collect him and then he will fly in the cabin with me to Cambodia.
My girlfriend will meet me at the airport when I arrive and I have booked into Raffles Hotel for twelve days. She also wants me to visit her village in Kampung Chnor provinces.
I have few questions. I have a blind friend who visited Cambodia fifteen years ago and he said it was difficult to walk anywhere because of obstructions on the sidewalk and potholes is that still the case? Are there any pleasant places to walk without obstructions near the Raffles Hotel?
ATMs in the USA have braille markings and a headphone jack so visually impaired people can plug in and receive spoken instructions. Am I correct that this does not yet exist in Cambodia but that I can withdraw from my visa ATM card over the country in the bank?
Will Cambodian staff at restaurants understand that Monty is an assistance dog and not a pet? How about in small villages? I prefer that people do not try to pet him when he is working will people understand that?
Lastly we are planning to tour Angkor What and I understand that visitors can still touch the temples and stone carvings but not climb on them is that still the case? If no touching is allowed at all I may reconsider going.
Thank you very much for you help and expertise.
