Since retiring I have been home about 10 days: I took a fabulous tour of the Costa Rica Natural Paradise from Caravan in early March, returned home for a few days, and then headed up to New York for a high school drama reunion at a performance of The Miracle Worker and am staying until Passover. So much has happened since then, and I have been neglecting my tour guide blog. I decided to take a few minutes before heading over to the Passover seder at my sister's house to catch up.
After a lot of leg work, consternation about the process, and trips to the Alexandria police station and the DC Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, I successfully submitted all of the paper work for my DC tour license guide and have my appointment for the test on April 27th. It wasn't easy. I have never seen as much red tape as in the process for securing a tour guide license in the District. In the process I have learned that the DC Tour Guide Guild has successfully lobbied to revise the test, but that will be after my examination. In the mean time, I have secured a study guide for $110 and have spent about 60 or more hours researching the answers to the questions that the guide doesn't provide. The argument is that you will learn the details better if you have to research them yourselves. I will let you know if this argument is supported by the results. Some of the test is outright absurd -- matching addresses to sites with almost 100 addresses to memorize for perhaps two questions or so (I will most likely get these incorrect since it is an impossible task) and identifying photos that are old, taken at odd angles, and perhaps are inches of a large statue. I still have about 5 I have not been able to identify. But after hours of research and reading, I know have an 80-page study guide, and on tap for tomorrow's seder is a question and answer period with my 11-year old wonderful niece, Sophie.
My first job interview was before leaving for the Big Apple. It is one of the largest student tour companies, and they are primarily interested in my doing work in DC; I am supposed to let them know when I have my license, and it seems that they will make me offers then. Although most of the spring tours are fully staffed, there is a possibility of the need for last-minute fill-ins and then work next spring. In the meanwhile, they suggest that I shadow tours, and that is what I have done and will continue to do so. They set me up with one of their "star" guides, and I followed him and the students around to the Capitol, National Cathedral, Jefferson Memorial, and the FDR Memorial. I learned a lot (less is more) and look forward to continuing the process.
But, the most amazing thing is that the job offers have started to come in! After meeting with one of the owners of a student tour company that specializes in tours for music and theater groups, I have secured a tour of New York theater in April. Are they really paying for me to see Wicked, In the Heights, and Mary Poppins, as well as touring all of the usual spots in New York? Transportation, hotels, meals, sightseeing, and plays -- the pay isn't great, but the environment and opportunity to do something I love even if it is working a 16-hour day is my idea of bliss. I also have a step-on guide for the tour part of New York, so I can act as the tour escort without the New York license, a distant goal.
There is another company that creates tours for college visits; I didn't even know there was such a thing! They are more interested in tour leaders with educational backgrounds, and with my work in the IB as well as teaching, they have showed a great interest in my participation. For my first job I am going to show a young man looking at the top schools in the nation, including UVA, around DC before they head up to New Jersey and Princeton. Is life grand or what? I hope to be able to do more of these tours with this very innovative company.
So, although I thought it might be a long time coming, and those international tour directing jobs with Tauck, Collette, or Globus might be, it seems I am actually on my way to fulfilling a dream.
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