My friend, Sue, has recently returned from
a trip to Mexico. She and her husband had stayed in an all-inclusive resort.
Although they loved the warm temperatures and the beach atmosphere, Sue was not
enamoured with the hotel. In her email to me she wrote, “The hotel was awful to
walk around, hard echoing floor surfaces, steps and canned music all the time.”
All of these can certainly be challenging for
someone who either doesn’t see or doesn’t see well. I always find that I need
to concentrate when steps or stairs are involved. With familiar places, I am most
often counting. I know that there are fourteen steps to our basement. I know
that when I visit my sister, there are four steps to her unit. At a condo where
we often stay there are two sets of nine steps each to reach the first floor
landing. If I know that I am going to come down steps that I have recently
climbed up, I will count the number each time.
As for canned music – well, noise can be a
distraction at any time when concentration is required. Sometimes I find it
difficult to carry on a normal conversation if I am moving about in an
unfamiliar place. Basically, I find that I need to focus more on where I am and
where I want to move to next. I try to tune out distracting extraneous noises
of any kind.
I am hoping that the hotels Lyle and I have
chosen on this next trip to Italy won’t present too many challenges to my
independent mobility. We’ll soon find out because we leave tomorrow!
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