On the Job: A Guide's Story

Nancy Connors works as Reservations Manager at Mayflower Tours, a large tour company based near Chicago, Illinois. She has been in the tour business since 1981, when she answered a newspaper ad for tour escorts. After an initial interview with her tour company, Nancy was sent on an "observation tour" to New Orleans - essentially a free trip during which she could observe a professional tour manager in action and decide if she liked this type of work. She loved the trip and the customers, and jumped into the business head first. After some classroom instruction and three training trips, she was on her own, leading her first group to Door County, Wisconsin. Nancy's subsequent trips included a tour to New Orleans and several New England fall-foliage trips. Nancy is a natural for the tour business. For starters, she really loves to travel.

Even if I was visiting a place for the fifteenth time, I was the first person off the bus with a camera.

I really loved traveling. Every time we visited a place, I'd find something new to visit, find the area in a new season, or see a new part of a museum. An even more important quality for a successful tour guide, however, is getting along with all types of people. To do the job well, you really have to love the people and care about them. Some guides get into the business because they love to travel, and they really focus on the travel instead of the people, which makes them poor tour guides. Guides that don't really love their customers usually don't last long.

I also found that despite its glamorous reputation, tour guiding is still a job, and a demanding one at that. It's the hardest work I've ever done. Escorts were responsible for virtually everything on the trip and were the all-around problem-solvers. I confirmed all the scheduled events, was the business agent and narrator for our customers, and dealt with all the vendors on tour. I also acted as travel companion, encouraging single people on the tour to mix, and even disciplinarian for those customers always late for the coach.

Tour guides also must deal with occasional emergencies and make snap decisions. One time I was leading a tour in Alaska and found out that one of the women in my group had been complaining about shortness of breath to fellow travelers. Even though she insisted she was all right, I called an ambulance. She was so upset she threatened to sue our company, but it turned out she had suffered a heart attack and had to stay several weeks in an Alaskan hospital.

After several years on the road, one day I woke up and decided I wanted an apartment, a garden, and a boyfriend in the same zip code. I chose to take a job in another tour company as Reservations Manager, which enables me to work in one location but still go on trips once in a while, which is ideal.

There are no real requirements for guides - it's something you can learn, and you don't need any computer training like some travel agents do. What you do need is the ability to interact well with all types of people, have good problem solving skills, good judgment, and a real desire to please customers. Most tour directors are very dedicated, take pride in their destinations, and really do their homework, and that's what employers look for when they're interviewing.

I've met a lot of fascinating people, seen customers meet and get married, and I still keep in touch with some of them. Sometimes I look back and can't believe I did that for a living, but it's the most rewarding work I've ever done.

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