I am fortunate enough to be able to travel often. I received excellent orientation and mobility training throughout my entire pre-college education. As a result, I am very comfortable in unfamiliar places. My fiancé is also blind. Together, we have traveled around the United States, across Europe, and to Puerto Rico without a sighted companion. This isn’t extraordinary, many blind people are well-traveled, but we couldn’t do it without a cane or guide dog. I know many who also use navigation apps to augment their travel experience, but until recently, my old school methods have done the job perfectly. However, I have started using Supersense to locate objects while on the go, and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to turn back!

It all started at around 1:30 in the morning. Like most people, I searched for the cheapest possible flights, but this one had me landed in Boston 90 minutes past midnight. I had my bags but still needed to catch a Lyft home. I requested the ride, and my first driver canceled. The second accepted but wanted to meet in a strange parking lot on the opposite end of the airport. I couldn’t hear anyone around. With few other options, I enabled Supersense, selected the explore screen, and chose object finder. With the app searching specifically for people, I slowly walked through the airport in what I believed to be the right direction. Eventually, the app let me know it saw a person. Following my camera, I was able to ask for directions to the parking lot and made it to my Lyft!

Since then, I’ve used our object explorer and find features to navigate in a variety of different situations. I’ve found reception desks in hotels, exit doors in unfamiliar areas, trash cans in a cafeteria, and available seats in a meeting, all by discreetly scanning the area with Supersense. It’s gotten me out of a variety of situations that would have been quite an inconvenience otherwise. While I believe that the cane, Guide dog, and your own senses are always the first line of defense, apps like Supersense and Super Lidar can ease some of the load as well.