Super impressive that you did all the work AND led the tour on your own. I couldn t imagine putting

I knew it was going to be hard. I knew it was going to be a lot of work. I just didn’t realize how much work or how stressful it would turn out to be. Earlier this year, I decided to start organizing tours. In May, I put together a tour through Europe and planned to take ten readers on an epic two-week journey through Paris, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and Stockholm.
I now have a new appreciation for every tour guide I’ve ever met in the world. You don’t realize it when you re part of a group, but after being on the other side, I see just how much work goes into being a guide.
Throw in having to deal with messed-up reservations, closed attractions, and lost phones, and you end up dealing with endless stress and fatigue. You re “on” from morning to night, and it’s incredibly draining. I never imagined I’d be so ready for bed by 9 at night. (To every tour guide who runs trips for months on end, I salute you!)
Planning a tour for ten strangers is a lot different than planning a trip with your friends , but in both situations I m getting people excited about travel and sharing something I m passionate about with others.
But this was my first tour, and like anything done the first time, you learn how to make things alaska cruise line comparison better. Mistakes were made, and notes were taken. At the end of the tour, I asked everyone to fill out a survey, and their comments echoed my thoughts. I ll be making many changes to my future tours, including:
Even though this was my first time leading a tour, my group and I were both very happy about how the tour ended. alaska cruise line comparison It wasn’t perfect, but I learned how to improve it and make operations smoother in the future.
That’s probably to be expected, and maybe I m being overly harsh on myself (many people on my tour told me to relax and that things were fine), but I’m a perfectionist and it’s important that your holiday with me is flawless.
Guiding a tour group is exhausting—but fun—work. There’s a lot of pressure—you’re in charge of these people and their holiday. If you mess up, you mess up their holiday. They put their faith into your hands, and while you can only do your best with some things being out of your control, it’s still stressful.
I had imagined a lot more down time. But that never happened (you might have noticed the blog and newsletter were non-existent for a while). The time I d planned for writing on trains? Nope. Working after everyone went to bed? Way too tired. Being a tour guide is a 24/7 job.
In some countries, I need to have a local guide with me (like on my Thailand tour), in others I don t so long as I am not leading people alaska cruise line comparison around alaska cruise line comparison through actual sites (i.e. through the Palace of Versailles).
Kudos to you for giving it a go Matt. I have been a sort of informal guide for people who have just arrived to the place I am staying and even that is harder work than it looks. Most tourists probably don t realise how tough being a tour guide is.
Super impressive that you did all the work AND led the tour on your own. I couldn t imagine putting all that work in AND maintaining a friendly, open, tourguide personality while doing it all. Good for you! Stoked to read about your next go round.
It s great to develop appreciation for another person s job and I hope it was rewarding, which I m sure it was. It sounds like you are doing something right and overtime hoping it will help. Looking forward to reading about more of your tour experiences.
I really hope you start doing more tours and it becomes a regular thing. I d love to take one in the nearby future. Overall, I m happy to hear that it was a great experience. alaska cruise line comparison Do any of the people that were on this tour have travel blogs of their own? I d love to hear about the trip from their perspective as well.
Very much enjoyed your comments about how much work was involved. My friends used to comment on how lucky I was to work for a tour operator because I got to go on all those vacations. alaska cruise line comparison Leading agent tour groups alaska cruise line comparison involved getting up first and going to bed last while always looking happy to be wherever it was. That part was very easy on some trips, not so much on others. Kudos for doing all the organizing and leading yourself. When you are a small company (you), some personal touches can be added that make a huge difference alaska cruise line comparison to the enjoyment factor of the group.
Hard to believe it s not all fun and games, huh? I m going on my third year of tour directing and, no matter how familiar I am with a city, it is absolutely exhausting! Still the best job in the world, though!
Usually things worth doing are hard work. I m glad to hear that you loved it, so more people can continue to grow as a result of your future tours. It sounds like the diversity and the chaos made for great stories. Someday in the future, that group will be proud to say they were on your first tour!
Wow, Matt! It sounds alaska cruise line comparison like a cross between producing a movie and being a mom. And so great to hear that you actually enjoyed the stress! I m sure it was an invaluable experience to have you as a guide. When is the next tour and how can we sign up?
good for you for giving alaska cruise line comparison tour guiding a go! I know of folks who have done it and I have always thought, NO WAY, not me! Too much work, too much babysitting, too much being on but I imagine their can be some amazing aspects to being a guide.
However, inspired by your good example, I m putting together a tour of the north of England. It ll be a month long: first week is small-arms alaska cruise line comparison training and basic survival skills, second week consists of everyone having to survive in the woods while wearing a blindfold (because of the weather, there s no light in England north of Birmingham, and nowhere to recharge electrical gadgets, so you have to rely on sound), and the other 2 weeks will be the tour itself.
Have been thinking of doing day trips ending in my home cooked meals its still in my mind but reading about your experience makes me really want to do it. The only thing I am not sure about is should I be charging people for walking around with them and feeding them. I know it is going to be work but seriously with me looking out for free deals and friendly locals I just want to send some goodness around.
Congrats on that Matt, I am so excited for you to be taking tours now an nailing it! I am sure every participant was enthralled with the travel knowledge of an expertise. This is just creating another ripple effect on inspiring more people to travel through the stories these people will now share, so hats off to you
As someone who worked as a tour guide/ courier/resort representative in the 60 s you have seen nothing! Try having 10 hotels over 10 miles for daily visits on a bike in a uniform with tight skirt in searing heat .arriving at hotels in the middle of the night after a 24 hour transfer to find that your company had overbooked all of them in high season and it was YOUR job to get them a bed for the night, alaska cruise line comparison or having a coach breakdown in the middle of France and having to transfer 40 old people and luggage on to (moving) alaska cruise line comparison trains to get to their destination. I could go on! You youngsters need to think what life was like before mobile phones, internet access etc ..and we pioneers had to think on our feel all the time. We had no training and no support. However, I would not have missed a second as I was young and it was all exciting at the time. (Plus, I met my future husband who was also a courier!!!)