ED REX – Founder, Chief Editor and European Contact

Let’s learn more about this handsome creature. It’s question time!

1: Name

Ed Rex

2: Travel Blog and Social Media

Blog: RexyEdventures.com                                                Facebook: /rexyedventures

Twitter: @rexyedventures                                                  Instagram: RexyEdventures

Google+: +RexyEdventuresPage

3: Deafness

• Profoundly deaf in both ears
• Wear a hearing aid in one ear and I have a Cochlear Implant on the other
• Went to Mainstream School with hearing impaired unit
• Uses the Natural Aural Approach to listen and speak

4: Description in 3 words

Cheeky, Handsome, Cheesy,

5: Where have you travelled and where was the best and worst?

Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Argentina, Brazil, USA, Uganda, Ethiopia, UAE, UK, Ireland, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Malta

Best: New Zealand                                     Worst: (South) Thailand

6: Best 3 Countries for Deaf Awareness

UK, Germany and Australia

7: One way being deaf is an advantage in travel?

I get the VIP status in transport particularly on airlines! Airport lounge, check! Free drinks and food? Check! Why? Because they don’t want to be seen discriminating deaf people!

8: One way being deaf is a disadvantage in travel?

There’s hardly not that many but I can’t wear my hearing aids swimming which is a bugbear for me. I would love to hear what’s going around me but there’s a hilarious story I got to tell you about this…

9: Best Advice for Deaf Travellers?

Just relax and have fun! Don’t worry about your deafness all the time. Your deafness is a great conversation starter and you can break stereotypes immediately!

10: Best Deaf Awareness Advice for hearing travellers?

Always ask if the deaf traveller understands what’s going on and keep them involved. It’s always appreciated tremendously.

11: What Deaf Equipment do you carry when travelling?

It really depends how long I’m travelling for. When I was away for a solid nine months, I had to take a lot of batteries, my cochlear implant battery rechargers, spare tubing, a spare hearing aid, a spare ear mould, spare parts for the cochlear implant, my t-loop headphones, drying containers and letters to bypass the x-ray machine at airports due to my cochlear implant.

12: What’s the most daring activities did you have to do that affected your deafness?

I had to take out hearing aids and cochlear implant external device to do the skydive and bungee jump. (I got a right telling off from my Cochlear Implant provider for doing those activities.) I also had to take them out when I was white-water rafting. I relied on my hearing aids totally when I was caving in pitch blackness and that was a huge challenge. Most of the time, if I felt that an activity was going to blow off my hearing aids, then I would take them out and put them in a safe and dry place!

13: Where’s next for you in 2014?

Hopefully North America! It’s the only continent bar Antarctica that I haven’t been to properly in the world! Then I’ll be travelling from the Baltic to the Mediterranean in Europe!