Sunday 17 July 2016

Deaf Girl in Tenerife

So I thought I would write a short blog about my Tenerife adventures with my hearing boyfriend... 

Before going on holiday I had contacted Thomas Cook regarding inflight entertainment and the provision of subtitles... I was let down and incredibly disappointmented to be told that the provision of subtitles was not possible. This made the flight for me particularly boring at points. I did have the lovely company of my boyfriend, but watching the tv screens for me was frustrating as I wasn't able to enjoy the programmes like everyone else! That is a complaint that I will take further at some point.

Apart from that, the flight went smoothly. My tinnitus was particularly bad during and after the flight, stress was involved, but I always find that my tinnitus is worse after landing, probably something to do with the pressure when being up in the air and when your ears go weird...  I absolutely hate that part! 

I've always been impressed with the visual instructions provided on the flights about the emergency procedures. I watched the flight attendant's demonstration, but being able to hear what was said would have been helpful. Unfortunately that isn't possible for me-obviously! So I just read the laminated handout during the demonstration.


The holiday was overall fab. We did plenty of activities! We went to Europe's best water park, Siam Park, a zoo called 'Loro Parque' and we also tried out some water sports! (Fly fish, parascending and jet skiing!). 

All activities were scary as I had to just 'go for it' not really knowing what was going on half the time as I had to leave my hearing aids on the beach. We told the men who took us out into the ocean about my hearing and to my surprise they were absolutely lovely and brilliant about it. Most of the time when I go on holiday the people over there are not understanding at all. Two years ago in Ibiza I went to go jet skiing with my friend and they told me I wasn't aloud to go on my own jet ski as I was deaf. I was so upset, so had to sit on the back of my friend's jet ski. I did get to have a go at it in the end as my parents put a word in and convinced the guy that I'm capable of driving one! I won't even go there... 

These guys in Tenerife were very understanding and even tried to include me. One thing that made me laugh... The guy cranked up the music really loud on the speed boat which meant I could feel the vibrations of the boat... I don't think he fully realised how deaf I was. He was hoping it would allow me to hear, bless him! I wasn't actually too worried about hearing... I was more worried about bloomin' sharks! Don't ask....


 I haven't got any parascending pictures yet as my boyfriend has them on a memory card. I'll make sure I post a few in a different blog another day!


The hotel was amazing too! It looks a bit like a jungle! 







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