Role Models

For the past few years I have taken the advantage of quizzing each of my tour managers: how did you get into the business? Do you like it? What are the drawbacks? Each tour manager had his or her strengths and very few weaknesses. Here are some of the tour managers I have had in the last few years:

This is Richard from Scotland. He only does a couple of tours a year; his "real" career is teaching Scottish history at a university. What better background could one have? Although I got tired of castles and sheep and sheep and castles, his knowledge of Scottish history never became tiresome, and he gave us 9 days of history and culture that were phenomenal. Lesson number two: know your stuff!

This is Manuala from Portugal; actually, I am not even sure that is how she spells her name. Manuala, like Richard, was tremendously knowledgeable although a little more reserved (no kilt!). Manuala was patient, an extremely important characteristic for a tour guide. I believe I have a lot of patience, but when I was trying to get my cousins and sister together to pick up our tickets for the Princess Diana exhibit in Philly, I realized just how difficult that can! It was also obvious that Manuala loved her country, and her pride made us see Portugal in a very positive view. Portugal was one of my favorite group trips; it is a gorgeous country, but Manuala gave it depth.

Finally, my favorite tour guide -- Colleen, our Globus guide for Scandinavia -- a two-week excursion to Oslo, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Stockholm, and St. Petersburg. Colleen was everything to us; she was friend, confidante, historian, story-teller, shopping expert, and tour guide. Colleen is the fourth woman from the left in the white jacket; the rest of the passengers are some of the wonderful women on my tour. (There were men, as well, but the company of strong, beautiful women was greatly appreciated.) I drilled Colleen: how did you become a guide? what are the benefits? drawbacks? She told me that although she loved what she did, there are lonely nights. She is married and British; the Scandanavian trip was one she did frequently. Although she befriended us, she told me that she could never forget that the trip was her responsibility. She understood our differences and our needs, and she was successful in making the trip meaningful to us as individuals. She also had the greatest patience for one of the older, more difficult travelers.

So here I am, just a month away from the possibility of following my role models!

A Dream

I love to travel. I know that has almost become a cliche, but I do. I have taken advantage of every opportunity to travel: student tours when I was teaching, staff recruitment when I was a camp director, conferences as an instructional leader, and site visits as an IB volunteer. Now that I am retiring in a month (24 more working days) and will have the safety net of a pension, I am going to model the risk-taking of the IB learner profile: I am going to pursue a career as a tour manager.

I have signed up for a course with the International Tour Management Institute and a couple of days after I walk out of the Lacey Instructional Center, I fly out to sunny Los Angeles for a 16-day course certifying me as a tour guide and tour manager. http://www.itmitourtraining.com/

I always knew what I wanted to do, but until I started searching for appropriate training, I didn't even know what it was called. I want to be that person on the bus who makes sure everyone has a room and a key to open it, tells everyone what time to be back on the bus, gives advice on where to eat and what to see, and does a little guiding along the way. Now I have a title, actually two -- tour director or tour manager.

Last night I had my first dream about being a tour manager; I interpreted that as a sign that I was ready for the transition to my new career, even though the dream sometimes bordered on nightmare. The destination was France, and I was being trained, not quite ready to go solo. As part of the learning process, I was also responsible for driving the bus, which was a lot more difficult than the 16-passenger van I mastered in camp. We were on our way to Versailles, and the only passenger was my son, Josh, although he was a bit younger than his current almost 31 years. We passed some type of ride along the way, sort of a cable car (it was a dream, after all, so it's not quite clear), and he demanded that we stop for a ride. Despite the tour manager instructor's argument that we had to keep on schedule and head to Versailles, I argued that we should stop. The tourist always comes first. I guess my dream was a head start on the institute.

So I hope others may join me on this journey as I move from a career in the "central office" of education to my "dream" career as a tour manager.