The biggest event in my life, though, and I can’t remember whether it took place before Jane and I were engaged or afterward? In the scheme of things, I am sure it must have been before. I had a hereditary eye condition which could be passed onto our grandchildren through any female line. I had to work up the courage to inform her of my potential disability and try to demonstrate how it might affect our life, that of children and grandchildren in the future. My grandfather was still alive at this point so I could show an example of how I might be at some stage. I informed her of everything of which I could think. I said that she should take time to think on her answer. She probably didn’t take nearly long enough to decide. She gave me an answer there and then. She wouldn’t let something so small as blindness get in the way of our future together. That, to this day, remains, without any doubt, the best day of my life. Many women, and indeed men, and who could have blamed them, would have headed for the hills at this news but not my Jane. She is as strong as an English oak.

So, here we are, nearly forty years later, just returned from a trip of a lifetime to mark her 60th. In truth she is not due to hit the big six-O for another few weeks.

We booked the holiday back in February and spent almost everyday updating each other about how long away it was. Once we had settled on an itinerary we sat down at least once a week to plan our excursions and other days out. It really is good fun having something to look forward to during the winter months. Neither of us do winter that well.

Inevitably 17th December arrived and a car was with us at ten-past-four in the morning. We had booked business class as a treat and a chauffeur driven journey to the airport was included in the package. This is where my first criticism comes in. This one has nothing to do with blindness, it is merely a piece of advice I offer up to Emirates Airlines. The carrier only offers free transport within a 75 mile journey from the airport, in this case Heathrow, with additional charges for those outside this distance. Why can the airline, therefore, not calculate an all-inclusive price to include getting to the airport from wherever we are in the country? Surely this is not beyond the wit of man. Jane, and I don’t think I am being unfair here, is someone who likes Ts to be crossed and Is to be dotted well in advance. Despite booking the car in plenty time they were unable to confirm the actual cost and that we were going to be collected until a couple of days before our departure. She is quite often crossing bridges well before I am even aware there is a bridge to be crossed. Flights are booked so why can’t all the ancillary costs be confirmed, and paid for, in line with the rest of the booking? Then, there is no need to check calendars on what needs to be done to start the holiday. Unnecessary stress.

Another gripe is the procedure to obtain assistance at airports. Our travel company, Freedom Destinations, informed me that it was down to me to organise such matters, as if it was so frivolous I was being unreasonable expecting them to do it. Come on travel companies, how about you organise the entire package, as you advertise, rather than just pick the sexy bits. None of the disabled community asked to be disabled, at least not to my knowledge in any case, so do your job properly. Booking assistance at the airports was a lengthy procedure. I had to contact all the airlines separately, along with the inevitable hold whilst listening to music you wouldn’t even wish on your worst enemy. Then there was the challenge of explaining I simply needed a guiding hand to get through the airport, I didn’t need a wheelchair. All sorted with Emirates and Malaysian Airlines, it only left one company to sort it out with, Bangkok Air. To be able to book this online I needed a reference identifier that would have been issued at the time of booking. There was nothing on any of the correspondence containing this. Even the telephone number on Bangkok Air’s website led us to what sounded as though it were a domestic phone in someone’s front room. It simply advised that the number was busy and to try again later, with no facility to leave a message. This went on for days on end. Not having a great knowledge of world airlines outside of the household names I began to wonder what sort of company we had been booked with. I was picturing biplanes with crank handles by now. Maybe the pilot could not take the craft too far as he needed to keep the string tight to maintain communication through the tin cans at either end.

Note to all travel companies: don’t pretend to offer a door-to-door service when you leave disabled customers to do half of your work for you.

After negotiating security at Heathrow. Sort of! Somehow, I managed to set off a type of scanner which, according to Jane later, managed to indicate a substance on my wrists.

Note to Yves Saint Laurent: maybe you should stop making your Eau de Cologne out of explosive material so that in future I can get through security without a hitch.

I panicked and wondered how on earth I could have set off the alarms. A security guard met me the other side. Bear in mind my symbol cane had been put through for scanning, the guard told me to hold my arms out like this. Not the greatest, nor the clearest, instruction to a blind person.

“Like what?” I asked.

He, obviously, repeated the visual demonstration and said, “Like this.”

I was none the wiser. I could tell he was getting frustrated by this awkward customer. By this time Jane had got through the hoop and informed the frisker that I was blind. To be fair to him he apologised immediately.

Note to airport security: why do you need to take symbol canes off passengers? You are taking away our only means of communicating our condition to your staff in advance. If they are such a risk, why not put them through manually and hand them back to us before we pass through the hoop?

One day, with someone more aggressive, it might cause a massive flare-up which would be totally down to your lack of correct procedure including the adequate education of your staff. To be fair to the company the staff need to realise that just because someone can walk they do not have a hidden condition. Strangely enough, you take the white cane away from me and it makes everyone around me, in turn, blind. Without holding my badge of blindness, I am afraid it makes my disability invisible.

During most of my transit through Heathrow Departures I was in a wheelchair. I only got out to go through the security ring. I really do feel a fraud being placed in a wheelchair, especially when I can get out of it to walk in certain areas, much like that character in Little Britain who used to jump out of his wheelchair as soon as everyone’s back was turned, but it is a tremendous assistance to Jane who only has to concentrate on carting our carry-on around without guiding me in-and-out and around all sorts of obstacles, animate and inanimate.

Note to passengers who can see: you have the luxury of having the gift of sight, how about you try and use it sometime?

The best thing about being disabled is that you get the chance of going on board before everyone else. It is bliss for a while enhanced by being in Business Class. Fruit juices brought to our seats. Don’t have too many, Robert, you are only saving up trouble for later. Settle down, take off, land. Pretty much that is what it was.

Dubai Airport was always going to be challenging. I think, under the initial schedule, we only had just over an hour to transit through the airport. For those of you who have never been to Dubai Airport before, it is massive. It is so big that I am convinced they keep the city tucked away in a special room with computer enhanced imagery giving the impression of a thriving town. The wheelchair was a boon to our getting across to Departures. I was pushed through at such a frenetic pace that Jane was having to run to keep up. Periphery vision can be dangerous on its own. You perceive danger where there is none yet you miss genuine danger with near catastrophic consequences on other occasions. WE were progressing at such breakneck speed I was convinced I was going to wear the occasional dawdling passenger on my lap. No alternative but to keep my eyes tight shut. We got to the gate just in time to be ushered through. No time for the bathroom!