Guest post by Ali Krage: Blind Staycation, Part Two

Ali Krage’s last guest post was Part One of her two-part series on how a blind couple (Ali and her boyfriend Joe) arrange and enjoy a hotel stay on their own. Here’s Part Two.

by Alicia Krage

I was up at 6 a.m. the day we’d be heading to the hotel. I’d gone to sleep early the night before and was too excited to sleep anymore. I used VoiceOver, the speech synthesizer app on my iPhone, to text Joe shortly upon waking up in the morning, as per usual. “The day has finally arrived!” I texted, followed by a countdown until he would arrive at my house.

Joe arrived at 10 a.m., and we departed at about 11:45 for our Italian lunch. I used Voiceover to text the Uber driver that I am blind and to please come get me upon their arrival. The ride to lunch was short, and it was timed perfectly: it was almost 2 p.m. when we left the restaurant and headed to the hotel.

When we arrived at the hotel, I knew exactly where the front desk was. With my purse over my shoulder, my duffle bag in my left hand, my cane in my right and Joe holding my right arm, I proudly walked in and went to the front desk to check in. When I requested assistance to our room, an employee seemed happy to help us to the third floor.

Once we got to our room, our helper asked if we needed any more assistance. Not wanting to answer on behalf of both of us, I asked Joe if he needed anything. He said no. We both wanted to explore the room ourselves first. Before the employee left, though, I did ask, “Is there a special button on the phone to reach the front desk, or do I just press 0?” She confirmed what I had already suspected: I would just press 0.

We spent a couple hours exploring the room, chatting, and relaxing, since we knew we had some time to kill before my parents would be picking us up for dinner. When the time came,the walk from the room to the elevator was simple enough. The walk from the elevator to the front door went well, too. People who saw us passing offered assistance. It was nice knowing friendly people were around and willing to help out, but we were okay on our own: we had this.

When we got back to the hotel, we changed into our swim suits and made our way to the front desk. “Anything I can assist you with?” The receptionist asked. I said we were going to the pool area. “We’ll need some towels, and someone to escort us there.” I heard a friendly smile in her voice when she said she’d be happy to help.

“Do you want to hold my arm?” she asked me as she approached my left side. I smiled, knowing that she might already be familiar with the sighted guide technique. She led us to some chairs in the pool area, and I asked if it would be okay if we moved the chairs close to the railing so we could find our things. She said yes. She led us to the steps leading into the hot tub, and we moved the chairs close to the railing.

We enjoyed the pool and hot tub for about an hour and a half., and finding our stuff afterwards was as simple as I had expected. We climbed out, following the rail around to the right until the two chairs were there. After we were dry and ready to go, I used my cane and walked carefully to avoid slipping on the wet floors (or falling into the pool). It took us a little while to find the doors, but when we did, I proudly announced, “Here it is!”

The rest of the night and following morning were relaxing. I was only a few miles from home, and this felt like a mini vacation. It was definitely worth the wait. We had a 12 p.m. check out time, but we checked out a little early because we were meeting a friend for lunch.

We neared the front desk and were met with the usual, “Do you two need assistance?” I informed them that we were checking out and proceeded to hand over my room key. Joe did the same, and the receptionist led us to the front door. As we stood waiting for our Uber to arrive, holding hands and smiling,
I turned to Joe and said, “We need to take trips more often!”