The Right Time?

As most of you know leaving my job 18 months ago, while difficult in a few ways, has worked out the way I had hoped. I have seen more of Alaska then most Alaskans and actually know where the Yukon Territory is. I know which roads in Napa Valley are the best for a bike ride and which winery has the friendliest pours. I've taught 4th graders about the short but important history of California and shown them the wonders San Francisco. I have had the opportunity to spend days, instead of hours with my nieces and get to help my sister adjust to one more in the house. This winter I am spending six weeks in Switzerland with the fabulous W's, definitely something I would not have been able to do while working my old career. I love my new life and look forward to taking the next big jump in my career. Can you hear the however coming?

Two things strike me at this point in time. The first, the safety net is gone and second the economy is playing games with my livlihood. Back when I left Cap Bev, I left on great terms, lets face it, they knew that if I could manage it, I would leave that grey window-less office behind to travel the world. Therefore, no bridges were burned and I knew that if the experiment failed I could probably return in some capacity. That is no longer an option. As of the end of the year Cap Bev will be owned by the giant DBI Distributing and my friends, co-workers and bosses scattered to other businesses and industries throughout Sacramento. I send my best wishes to all at Cap Bev, that they find new jobs without too much heartache or financial strain. As for me, I had already arrived to this point knowing that I would never return but now it is so final.

When I made the big decision to leave stability behind, most were very supportive and understanding immediately. For my dad it took a little longer. Of course, he is one of my biggest supporters now but back then I had to do a little convincing. The instability of the travel industry was his biggest worry, it had just recovered from 9/11 afterall, and what would I do if something like that reoccured. My retort was that I had never been in the lower 50% of anything important in my life why would I start now. In other words, if the travel industry was hit hard again, I should be in a position to keep going. The "recession" may put my theory to the test. I am looking to get farther afield in 2009 but that will entail working for new companies. Will they even be hiring? Will people want to bike or hike for a vacation and stay in beautiful places? I am willing to find out but just in case, I hope am right about the 50% and my new safety net is in place.

Stay tuned.

Thanks for reading.

Sea and Air

My first tour started down in Seward and though I may really dislike waking up at 2 am to catch a coach down there, I really like the town. Half of our tours start/end in Seward, the main port for Anchorage. Oddly enough, despite it's name, Anchorage has very few ships dock there, the glacial silt prevents deep water boats from traveling up into the Cook Inlet. Anyway, last year I spent a bit of every tour in Seward and loved it. It has two distinct areas, one near the harbor and one near the Sea Life Center. Both areas have a nice little coffee shop to hang out in while trying to recover from getting up so early in the morning and one of them has WiFi access which is a good way to as the time. There is shopping in both areas though it is better near the SLC and both areas have great food. Of course, something that both have in abundance is amazing views of the mountains surrounding Resurrection Bay and the beautiful green glacial water.

While at the small boat harbor waiting for my guests to return from there Kenai Fjords Cruise, which had been cut short due to weather, I spied this mural:


It isn't new but I had lot of time to sit and look at it, so I thought I would share it with my viewers at home. It depicts the importance of both the underwater world and the above to the livelyhood of Seward.

Thanks for reading.

Back in Alaska

I have arrived in Anchorage. After some late night packing and a restless nights sleep, I was up at 4:15 to get ready. KB drove me to the airport, with a stop at Starbuck's on the way, I had to do something to counteract the lack of sleep. The first flight was full and uneventful, while the second was late and empty enough that I got the bulkhead row to myself. Upon arrival in Anchorage I had to wait a while to get my luggage and in turn missed the shuttle to downtown and had to catch a taxi. One of my roommates that I hadn't even met, tried to work it to come get me but the car our house has access to every other week was in use. The roommates I have met so far are great and we are getting settled nicely into our apartment. This year we get to use our mailbox at the apartment, so hint, hint.

My address:
1320 Denali Street
Anchorage, AK 99501

The best surprise came about 25 minutes after I arrived at the apartment. My supervisor called to tell me that I go out on tour on Sunday. That was fantastic news since there are plenty of people that are sitting in Anchorage waiting for either their first tour or second and one lands at my feet 2 days after I arrive. Woohoo. Now the scary part...it is the longest, most expensive tour and heads out into the Yukon. That's right, I have yet to get out there and now have to lead a tour. Trial by fire, here I come.

Thanks for reading.

My Spring in Pictures

I spent much of my spring outside so here are a few of the shots I took along with one of an awfully cute little one.

1. Poppies on the UCD campus while walking through the Arboretum.
2. The famous water towers.
3. Blue Heron posing at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco.
4. Palace of Fine Arts columns left over from the 1915 exposition.
5. Taking 4th graders to Alcatraz Island on the ferry.
6. Golden Gate Bridge on a beautiful day.
7. Leaving Pier 33 for Alcatraz.
8. Angel Island from Alcatraz Island.
9. Perfect angel during my birthday lunch.































Thanks for viewing.

I Love my Job, I Love my Job, I Love my Job

It finally happened, I actually had to chant this to myself to get through a job. It was my first student tour of the season, so I will admit to being a bit rusty though I had spent quite a bit of time reacquainting myself with the history and stories that I would be retelling. However, I was ready. Sometimes, though, the one thing you can't be prepared for is the people. Warning signs that I should have seen: they were from the Newport Beach area, there were equal number students to adults, including 3 teachers and it was a private school. From the beginning the parents told me how wonderful and smart the students were. Looking back it is shocking that they were so good considering how appalling their parents behavior. The parents mistook this trip for their kids as a vacation for themselves, here is a list of their atrocious attitudes:

1. They did not understand, no matter how often I said it, that we had a schedule to keep. Hence we were always running late to our next appointment and I had to cut short our visits. They were too busy talking to each other.
2. The parents wanted to leave the students with the teachers and myself and go to Morton's for dinner.
3. After being told they couldn't go to Morton's, I was yelled at from the back of the bus for not giving them time to have a leisurely dinner, which they deserved since I rushed them all day. Ahem, see #1.
   
4. Then at dinner the parents all sat together away from their kids and split 4 bottles of wine.
5. They spent much of the time on the bus bitching about me.
6. When one of the students didn't follow the instructions for an Indian bead activity and used twice the number of beads, the leader asked her to return them but he father interjected asking, "Why can't she have what she wants?"
7. With an hour plus ride to the airport I put on some music relating to the Gold Rush, it had barely started and the ring leader parent told me to turn it off, the kids didn't want to listen to it and put on something they would like.
   

I could go on but I am trying to put this episode behind me. In the end, the only thing I need to worry about is whether the teacher was happy and did the kids have a good time and learn something. The answer to both of those was yes. I also learned a lot from the two days. Fortunately for me, I started another two day tour the next day with a great group of parents and students. The trials for that trip were physical and not mental...camping in 30 degree weather but everyone survived and had a good time in the end.

Each group is very different and that is a great part of the job. The season will be a good one, I am very comfortable with the material and logistics so I can focus more on getting the students excited about seeing history first hand.

Thanks for reading.

Movie Night

I am exhausted tonight. After not working for 4 months, I just finished leading tours in Napa the last 7 of 8 days. Not only was it an adjustment for my body to be on the go all day but I also spend two hours in the car everyday. I still love that job, especially when the weather performs like it today. I am happy to have a break for a few days, though I will be using that time to refresh my California history details.

The reward for all that hard work was getting to hang out with my MIA roommate. We were going to go to the movies but decided to stay in and rent, then we debated picking up Thai food but decided it was actually less effort to cook at home. Strange, I know. So I picked up a couple of movies, the one we made it through tonight is called V is for Vendetta. At the rental store, there was a note saying it was one of the best movies of the year it was released and starred Natalie Portman. Though I knew very little about it, it sounded promising. It was not all what I expected. I am not saying it was bad, quite the contrary I really enjoyed it but it was odd. It had me wondering right from the credits where is mention Marvel Comics. I don't want to give anything away but let me just say that I never could have imagined a superhero based on Guy Fawkes trying to save London from a Hitler-esque leader. Oh yeah, don't ask KB about it, she slept through it. Now we are both in bed by 10:00 pm on a Saturday, and I don't regret it for an instant.

Happy Day Light Savings.

Thanks for Reading.

Working Girl

I was beginning to wonder how this spring was going to go since my days hadn't been filling in yet but since March started things are looking up. I am working 6 of the first 7 days of the month in Napa, fortunately the weather has been cooperating. Then, I was contacted by a company that takes high school students on tours of colleges and may have a 3 day gig with them in late March. This job isn't set in stone yet but if it works out I hope there will be more to follow. Finally, both of the student tour companies that I work for are adding days to my schedule slowly. The only people I haven't heard from are the DMC in San Francisco, but I knew that would be sporadic. As for the summer, I mailed my paperwork off to Holland America today, so I will be spending 3 and a half months back in amazing Alaska. Now that I am finally making that commitment, what are the odds that some other company that I applied with will finally get back to me? Oh well, next year.

Work and Diet Update

Last weekend, I did my first work for the DMC in San Francisco and it was terrible. Let me explain. I showed up Saturday morning at 7:30 to meet my boss for the job, the other TG and our contact with the company running the show for Chrysler. My boss was very nice and the other TG had quite a bit of experience in the tour industry, so is a great contact to have. Our contact with Chrysler was running late and he arrive just before the convention opened. He gave us our credentials and took us down to the exhibit floor and showed us our stations. Our job was to man the information booths on the two main corners of the Chrysler area, answering questions for the convention goers and making sure the water coolers were filled. Now we come to the issues with the job. They didn't give us any information, we knew less then the convention goers, a lot less. The people were asking questions about who was in attendance and where they could find out about X but we didn't know how X connected to Y, the titles of each area. So we sat there for almost 8 hours acting like we knew what we were talking about, those few times we were asked. As for the water, our contact never explained anything about it. At 4:30, after a very long day we left, dreading our return in the morning. The next morning we were taken away from our exciting posts over to the franchise meeting so we could help seat the attendees. We arrived 1 1/2 hours before the meeting started, so we got our assignments and then waited for people to show up. We seated everyone, then escorted late comers to open seats after the meeting started, a half hour later I was relieved and went off to lunch. When I returned, I got ready for my exciting afternoon but then my phone rang. It was my boss, she said that we were done for the day and didn't need to come back. Yep, everyone realized that it was a ridiculous assignment and did the right thing. The best news was the we were going to get paid for all of the days that we had been hired for. Nothing like getting paid to not work. Unfortunately, assignments like this are not uncommon, though my co-TG said that this was probably the worst job she had been on. As I get more experience with this company I can get choosier about what jobs I accept. The upside other then getting paid for not working was getting the chance to use my new found time in the Bay Area to explore San Francisco more in preparation for the much more exciting jobs to come.

As for the extreme diet, I am just now seeing some results. I didn't have a hard time giving up the carbs and the sugar the hard part is trying to find something to eat at a restaurant or trying to not be a nuisance when eating at someone else's house. My new best food friends are hummus and tzatziki, they really make all the raw veggies much more interesting. As for the health results, I think the itching is starting to abate, my sister thinks the dark circles under my eyes have lessened and my acne is starting to clear up. I have also lost a few pounds, not as much as I thought I would at this point but I still have 2 1/2 months left.

Thanks for reading.

Good News, Bad News

First the good, I have some paid work coming up and hopefully it will lead to more. Before Christmas, I applied to a couple of DMC's (Destination Management Company's) in San Francisco. DMC's specialize in putting on or supporting anything from conventions to airport pick ups to Christmas parties for companies, particularly ones from out of the area. As a guide my job can range from guiding a tour to the wine country, conducting a walking tour in SF to getting water for convention attendees. Finally, last week I was contacted by one to work a 4 day convention at Moscone Center. You got it, I am going to be a gopher for 4 days. I don't mind for two very good reasons: this is may first paid work since Oct 31 and it got my foot in the door to bigger and better things in SF. I am very lucky to have such wonderful friends allowing to stay with them so that I may take this job. San Francisco is in the top 5 of cities to visit in the world, what better place to lead tours.

Now the bad, I got my first big "rejection" following an interview at Symposium in San Diego. I say first big one because another company had contacted me saying roughly the same thing, "sorry we can't use you right now but we will file your resume," however, it was not one of my dream jobs. This one was. I put rejection in quotes because they didn't tell me that I wasn't qualified, quite the contrary, though that could be a form letter, but I still won't be working for them this year. I thought things had gone very well but I know there are many more qualified people and now I must just focus on strengthening my weaknesses and pestering them until they throw up the white flag and hire me.

For now though, it looks like my work year will resemble last years and I look forward to all of it.

Alaska, here I come.

Thanks for reading.

Sunny San Diego

I have returned to chilly Davis after a week in San Diego and though the weather wasn't at its best, it was certainly nicer than what I returned to. The trip was a two part adventure, the first 2 days I spent time with D & A McP and the rest was spent at the ITMI Symposium.

I flew down Friday and spent the day with D & her great little ones. We just hung out and caught up, we hadn't seen one another for a year or so. Saturday we headed out to the Wild Animal Park. It has been revised a bit, they are changing the trams from an hour trip down to two 30 minute trips. Later as we walked around we stopped to watch the elephants, enamored by the 3 baby elephants, then we got a great view of a lion lounging right up against the barrier and some amazing California Condors. The quiet, well as quiet as a house with 2 children under 4, evening at home was capped off by D & my continued Trivial Pursuit competition. I am not sure who is in the overall lead but whoever it is will lose in the end I am sure. It was great visiting with the McP's but it was time to change gears.

Sunday, it was off to the conference. We were staying along Hotel Circle in the Handlery Hotel for our 4 days of schmoozing, education and interviewing. The first day was a tour of San Diego on the trolley. We chose to tour the USS Midway which has been turned into a terrific museum, eat in Seaport Village and visit the Hotel del Coronado. The weather cooperated, so my friend from Kansas City was able to enjoy some sun and temps about 20 degrees. After returning to the hotel, we easily found our cohorts in the bar and established a plan for dinner. (Note to organizers, find a hotel with a bigger bar) It was great to see a large contingent from my Alaska stint and to see many of my classmates from my two weeks in San Francisco. Our seminars were for the most part very interesting. Our unanimous favorite was a gentleman named Tim Lowery from Charleston, S.C, he spoke last year as well and his storytelling was just as a big of a hit this time around. My other favorite speaker was a history professor that spoke about the part of tourism throughout literature and history. Funny that I enjoyed that one so much. The main reason graduates attend Symposium is for the session of speed interviewing and the opportunity to speak with the tour company representatives in a non structured manner. Prior to attending we fill out a form requesting interviews with certain companies and hopefully we get matched up with the ones we want. Of course, those interviews only last 8 minutes so it is really just an introduction and the opportunity to meet 9 or so tour operators. Before and after these interviews at the various social events it is important to talk with the TO's but not seem to be begging for work. A very fine line to walk. Our final night was a dinner cruise on San Diego Bay with the best food so far and dancing, though I never made it upstairs for that. The next day was our trip to Ensenada and Rosarito Beach and the weather cooperated again. This was my first trip into Mexico and we had a very good time for how quick it was, we shopped in Ensenada, I bought a ring and a purse, my two weaknesses. Then the Rosarito Beach Hotel put on a fantastic lunch buffet with entertainment followed by a tour of the hotel and to top it off we all received a gift bag. This hotel is a historical landmark since it dates back to the 1920's. The tile work in what is now the spa, formerly the main house is exquisite. The slowest part of the day was waiting in line to go through the border check, however it also provided us with the most amusing sight. There were many entrepreneurs wandering amongst the stagnant lanes of unsuspecting tourists and the best item for sale was definitely the Jesus on the cross, borne by more then a couple of vendors. Once back at the hotel we headed to a very fancy dinner at the food court at Fashion Valley mall and then concluded the trip with a drink with some friends in the hotel bar. I flew early the following morning, greeted in Sacramento by rain and a good friend.

It was nice to get home but don't worry, I am not losing my wanderlust, just wearied by constantly trying to impress others but not being in control. Now I sit back and hope that I made the right impression on the right people. I am eager to get my shot at Europe or anywhere in the world really but I, as you all know, am a realist and know that very likely I could work pretty much the same schedule of last year. You know what, that would be just fine. I am just happy to be doing something and meeting some fantastic people in the process.

Thanks for reading.

Anniversary

Over the last weekend I passed a big milestone. A year ago Sunday, I "graduated" from ITMI with big dreams of being a Tour Director. During the two weeks of ITMI '06, I learned a bit, made very good friends and joined a fantastic network. A lot of what we learned was "common knowledge" to me but definitely wasn't for most. That may sound like I am patting myself on the back but it is really to point out that I was made to be a tour director. The past year has brought a lot of change for me and I have to say, there is nothing I regret. Of course, I still have some money in the bank right now. From what I can tell, I have been very successful compared to most from my class. There were a few of us that worked for the student tours and four of us went to Alaska but many have worked other stable jobs in addition to trying the touring experiment.

Though, I could never replace the friends I made in college and could barely survive with out them, I am grateful for the people I have met and friendships I have forged in my new career. During my time in Alaska I met many people but three wonderful ladies will be with me forever. Two of them have been to ITMI and though all three are at very different stages of their lives, from different parts of the country and have different aspirations, they are brilliant, beautiful and successful women that inspire me each time I talk to them.

I may still have to get a temp job but I believe that I will be in much better shape come this time next year. A big part of this business is contacts and persistence and the first comes mostly with time the second comes with desperation. Our Symposium conference is fast approaching and I intend to take full advantage of the contacts while in San Diego.

So after a year of change I look forward to next year, which while having less major change, will hopefully bring more opportunities and I remain optimistic that that will include something a little more exotic then Alaska.

Thanks for reading.

Funny Business at Work.

Working in Napa has been a great experience all around. NBVT has tripled in growth over the last 3 years and really doesn't show signs of stopping. And though we are hiring more guides and expanding the facilities the business still feels small. In the morning everyone is joking around, making digs at each other and having a really good time. And it is encouraged. The people working there appreciate what they have and really put a lot of energy and enthusiasm into there jobs. Everyone does a little of everything. The shop guys drive the vans and lead tours during the winter or in a pinch, the guides wash the vans, change bike tires and check in guests. The supervisors do it all. In addition, the owner's parents have been around lately. Dad was painting door frames and working on bikes.
Sometimes though funny things happen to your schedule. I was originally scheduled to work Monday - Thursday and then start a W2W tour on Sunday. Last week, the Thursday was cut. Then while at work today my boss asked me to work on Saturday since he needed another guide and then I could get things together for our Sunday morning departure. Then in the afternoon he told me he didn't need me tomorrow either. So now I have 3 days on my hands to fill. I think I have some vacation planning that could use some attention.
Other days you have to be serious. On Monday, one of my guests had an accident and broke her arm. That really got my attention since that is the second trip to the hospital in 3 weeks for my guests. Let me just remind you cyclists out there, never use just your front brake, you are liable to end up on the ground. The whole group was a bit shook up about that but we recovered and vowed to have fun for our lost comrades. I love the fact that I can be outside all day, enjoying people that are enjoying life.

In other news:
Thanks to those that have left comments, I enjoy reading them. Unfortunately, not all of the names that show up are identifiable to me. So if it isn't obvious by your screen name who you are, I would love you to give me some more info, either in the comment field or e-mail me, so I know who is paying attention.
I added a link to my new Flickr account. I will still post photos on the blog but if you want to see more, check it out.

Thanks for reading.