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.