Honestly, it's not that much different. Do consider though if a night flight may impact you, and plan in that case to be able to have a hotel ready for an early check in (may require paying for the night before, for example) Or plan to book/confirm a more comfortable seat, recognising that you won't be able to book an exit row seat.

The reality is that anyone with special needs ends up paying more money, and more time, than someone who is more capable. That's a sad fact. But you can still plan ahead and minimise that. You don't need to pay for a personal guide, but for example you can seek out recommendations. Like if you are going to Bali, then find a recommended driver from a friend/etc and negotiate a day or week price. That's not going to cost you more than someone else doing that who is sighted.

Actually, that raises another difference I've seen with Uber. In Germany, I write a note that I'm VI, and the drivers all seem to be super helpful. In places like Canada, they don't seem to like that much, or at least the drivers I get. It's really unpleasant to have a driver screaming at you from across a busy road, expecting you to cross.

I'd say if you feel comfortable with the idea and with the flights you've done before then yeah, you'll probably be fine. There's not much I can think of that's a huge challenge about flying internationally over flying domestically. I was mostly worried about not being able to see signs that would show me where to go through customs and such (and that turned out to not be a big issue) but you might have other difficulties to work around.

edit: it didn't occur to me until I saw the other commenter say it but if you feel like you want it, requesting airport assistance is also a super stress-free option. I haven't used it for that specific purpose but I needed it for something else and it was great.

Getting around the city and going sightseeing after arriving is something I personally have more trouble with, so if you have a hard time with new places then you might want to think about that too.

On Lufthansa you can request on the website in advance, and say exactly what you need. They are trained by local agencies although some are better than others to be honest. And I may be biased, but MUC is always warmer/friendlier than FRA, but that's generally a cultural thing.

SO many things, besides the fact that they were arguable more closed than even Australia and NZ.... and still have many restritions in place.

- in major airports like Toronto only passengers allowed inside the terminal, and only if fully vaccinated. That means in theory a helper is not allowed inside

- 2-3 hour waits in a 'holding pen' for special services

- 2-3 hour waits for security

- 2-3 hour waits for immigration

- flights land, no ground staff available, so sit for 1-3 hours waiting for a gate

- flights cancelled due to lack of staff

- still do 'random' testing on landing, which can be half a flight or more of people


Basically, they closed down for 2 years and tried to make travel as difficult as possible (only western country that requires fully vaccinated for domestics travel ie plane, bus, or ferry) Now they don't have staff, and since they didn't hire early enough, and pay low wages, and the immigration programs were stopped, not enough staff. Those that were left for Air Canada for example were the ones with seniority, who are still bitter about a merger 25 years ago, and who are generally quite nasty and unpleasant.

But the biggest thing? The mandatory prearrival app is not set up for the visually impaired, and in July 2021 when the various agencies for visually impaired raised this, the government officials responded with 'well, those kinds of people shouldn't be travelling'.

AND thousands have become permanently VI/Blind due to the government policies banning in person eye specialists for the first several months of the pandemic, coupled with a decades old overloaded healthcare system.

Any government interaction like passport renewal, permanent resident status renewal, immigration etc is taking months and months, if even being processed. That means that PRs cannot even leave to go elsewhere, as they cannot return to the country.

It's a massive disaster.

And then add in the generally poor state of sidewalks in 'wealthy' places like Vancouver, abysmal public transport in cities and virtually none in towns, lack of any visual support for these systems, etc and I would suggest to avoid.

I've been to almost every corner of the globe, including your multiple times.

I learned early in life not to wait till retirement to travel, as we may not be able to buy then depending on health.

I'm blessed to have seen the best, and the worst, that the world has to offer.

Enjoy! We spent a lot of time in Italy during corona, used to work And live there. I used to live in France, Paris metro is better than London tube, but German transport I still find easiest.

No problem.

Nope not at all.