Tour Guiding ....... why I do it & who helps me to do it

Original image credit and appreciation to Alice Childers Guisiano.

Kokopelli

Visiting my great Uncle Joe in New Mexico as a teen I discovered the Kokopelli; Traveling spirit spreading seeds of music, merriment, fertility, abundance, and mischief from village to village. Depending upon which legend you read, this Hopi Indian spirit is credited with many magical gifts including being a prankster, a healer, and a fantastic storyteller. By every account it carried a flute and traded songs for good fortune and joy. For years I wore only one pair of earrings, sterling silver Kokopelli’s, symbols of my own traveling spirit.

Tour guiding gives me a chance to practice what I preach - Love is the answer whatever the question and kindness is the way – all while feeling appreciated for what I do and who I am.

Tips are a bonus, and they help pay the bills. Feeling like my existence makes a difference in someone’s life for even a moment, or a few short days, takes me to the moon. Equipped with my magic wand, senses of adventure, and humor, I am my own version of a Kokopelli, with a magic wand in place of a flute.

Contextually, this sort of tour guiding is to accompany a group of people for 8 – 15 days through different cities, villages, terrains, countries, and experiences. It is full on 24/7 presence to a group of between 6 to 42 people aged 13 to 90, depending upon the organization and the tour itinerary. It is a dynamic mix of logistics, accounting, research, entertaining, and most important, listening. Which prompted me to the tagline – ‘soul, city, and meditation guide’ -  on my business card, aligning all my core competencies with one thread.

This entire tour gig started as a whim. In 2017, fulfilling a required job search evolved into an unexpected, wholly logical extension of every experience I have had to date, both personal and professional. I am a people person who loves to travel and has a burning mission to make a difference in the world, even for one person for one moment. I have been ‘guiding people’ in one capacity or another for most of my life, unconsciously and with each passing day, consciously.

A little background….

After receiving university degrees in finance, marketing, and communication I went out into the world to ‘make my mark’. As an only girl child to modest blue-collar parents, a lot was expected of me. My first job was basically as a corporate spy in a managing consulting firm. America in the early 90’s, I was lucky to have a job at all and for a while I made the best of it. It afforded me the chance to live in Washington, DC, a longtime dream, and every weekend I would walk endlessly to every nook and cranny of the city, exploring this playground of history, culture, cuisine, and politics.

Disillusioned with the corporate world, I switched to the world of NGO’s and worked for some time as a fundraising campaign organizer. For a while, this, along with my DC explorations, were satisfying and maybe I would have stayed longer even if I still did not feel I was making a ‘real’ difference. Luckily, fate forced my hand in the form of a near death experience in the form of a car crash.

I can still see the look on my father’s face when he and my mother arrived at the hospital in Maryland. A veteran police officer, he knew very well when the hospital called at 5.30 am to notify my parents that I had been in a serious car accident, anything was possible. In the two-hour drive to the hospital from their home in New Jersey he smoked 2 packs of cigarettes, and my mother alternated between praying and crying. Later that same day when my father saw the totaled car, he told me categorically that in his (at that time) 20 years’ experience on the police force he’d not seen a single person walk away from such twisted metal alive. “Count your blessing, it is a miracle you are alive.” Writing this, more than 30 years later, I am still moved to tears at the power of this moment, a clear crossroads, a prompt to live gratefully. A week later when I was back to work, I applied to Teach for America (TFA).

Part of Americorps, TFA brought non-teachers into understaffed urban and rural classrooms across America. For two years I was an elementary school teacher in urban Shreveport, Louisiana - an entirely other story -  and categorically to date the hardest job I have ever done. The first year was a constant effort. I have never in my life worked so hard or felt so amazingly grateful to do the work. There was purpose and meaning in this job, teaching. Living in Louisiana was a bonus too, and whatever free time I had was invested in exploring, by bicycle in Shreveport, and by car every other part of the state. Louisiana is a culture all its own and from zydeco to jazz, grits to crawdads, I was fascinated.

My horizons were expanding and while I was loving my Louisiana life, I was acutely aware that it was not sustainable for me. The grueling hours invested in planning and teaching in a way that felt right to me were exhausting. Moreover, emotionally, the reality of the urban school environment in America at that time was both eye opening and heart breaking. Teaching felt right for me, and the crumbling structure and rigid schedule did not appeal to me long term.

Dilemma: What does one do after Teach for America?

Logically, I applied to be a US Peace Corps volunteer. Again, fate stepped in. At this time, Peace Corps (PC) was setting up to open in South Africa and my best friends in Shreveport, were an extraordinary South African couple (Di & Keith with whom I am still friends, they were even the witnesses for our marriage), so this is where I wanted to go. Months of applications, references, group and individual interviews later, I was given a choice; wait a year for the ‘projected’ opening of the PC office in Cape Town or go in 3 months’ time to Vladivostok, Russia.

Celebrating that I was accepted into PC at all, we popped the cork on a bottle of South African red and drank it while we poured over the atlas spread out over the living room floor, where was Vladivostok? It was 1996 and Yeltsin’s coup had made it all the way to the shores of the Sea of Japan and PC was forging ahead to bring market economies to the Russian Far East (RFE). Another life changing choice magically made.

Nothing I had ever experienced prepared me for living in the RFE - another series of entirely different stories – and all these years later it is still the city at the center of my universe. Quite possibly it was the most formative time of my life – socially, principally, educationally, personally, and professionally. As a PC volunteer (PCV) life was a constant series of inventions and reinventions, resourcefulness, adaptability, possibilities, and choices. For the scope of this story, I summarize by saying that this one choice, to be a PCV in the RFE (relishing the use of all these American abbreviations) completely changed the course of my life in every single way.

From the beginning the experience exploded every idea, prejudice, and belief I had. For 10 years I lived in Russia, two as a PCV, two as the Director of the American Cultural Center in Moscow, and six as a contract worker for USAID in the RFE. It is thanks to this time and the remarkable people I met that I speak Russian and have an endless appreciation for the culture, history, and psyche of Russia all the while humbly knowing I know nothing at all. Like I said earlier, another series of entirely different stories.

It is also during these 10 years that I embraced every chance to travel and explore the vast world outside the borders of the USA. By train I traversed the RFE, as far as Siberia and Lake Baikal. By plane, Magadan, Sakhalin, Kamchatka, Moscow, the Stan’s, India, the Balkans, Latvia, Lithuania, South Africa, Bali, the UK, and Turkey. The last being the next stop on my places to live.

At a certain point I read the writing on the wall. Political tides were changing rapidly and soon Russia would be out of favor in the NGO world. Money and policy were moving to the Middle East, and I was not. Slowly I began to move my life to Turkey, a country that had captured my heart from my first visit to Istanbul – yes another entirely different set of stories.

For a time, I traveled between contracts in Russia and doing pro-bono development work in my chosen Turkish haven. During this time, I was blessed with being part of a family and had a chance to play a role in the evolution of two precious souls. In seven years living in Turkey, I welcomed every chance to experience the language, food, culture, history, and magnificence of this diverse, ancient culture live and up close.

These years living between Russia and Turkey were full of meaning, exploration, adventure, and constant evolution. Then, slowly an old restlessness began to creep in, so when I was offered a chance to live in Italy, another long held dream, my heart told me to ‘carpe diem’. The year of this transition was full of uncertainty, heartbreak, and discovery. Then came the next fork in the road. In a tiny mountain village equidistant from Cortina and Venice, in the foothills of the Dolomites, I met a man whose shadow walked over my heart. Next thing I knew, I was in love and living in Paradiso (yes, this is a real place), Italian speaking Switzerland.

If nothing I had experienced prepared me for living in the RFE, everything I had experienced fooled me into thinking that living in Switzerland would be easy. Turns out, of all the transitions in my life, it was the hardest. Certain I had found the love of my life; I did not realize that love can be a rocky road that would test my sense of self and purpose in ways I had never dreamed of. Having always stood on my own feet, working since I was 12 years old, here in Switzerland none of my qualifications, degrees, or experiences seemed to matter. Unprepared, I found myself torn between my fiercely independent American self and my soft, feminine self who wanted to be taken care of.

Ever optimistic I made lemonade, I put my energies behind learning Italian, exploring Europe, taking care of my (now) husband, and believing it would all work out. Naturally entrepreneurial, and still committed to teaching, I re-invented myself. Exploring all parts European and in particular Italy, Switzerland, France, Spain, Moldova, and even Transnistria my traveling spirit continues her journey. With a shared love of travel, Claudio and I have even flung ourselves as far as Africa, parts Asia, India, and the US. At a certain point I started this blog, worked for a time at a university graduate program, got a master’s degree in Nutritional Therapy, and always continue teaching in various forms. Over the years I have self-published four children’s books, all dedicated to my niece in a hope that she may know me.

Few of these ‘outcomes’ are how I imagined my life playing out, with the exceptions of teaching and travel. Guiding, tours and souls, is where the red threads in my life tie together in conscious, responsible living -  Love is the answer whatever the question and kindness is the way.

Now a note to the people who help me do this job, thank you…..

Raffi; whose love of history and talent as a natural teacher has informed every aspect of my Swiss knowledge, historical and modern day. Banking, politics, society, traditions, legends, war, peace, etc etc. It is entirely thanks to Raffi that in total confidence I can share with guests so completely my adopted country.

To ALL colleagues, at the ‘mother ship’ as well fellow guides who share the road; Thank you each and every one for your input, support, generosity, laughter, practical advice, and comradery – I am honored to be in your company.

Special mentions:

Stefan; from the first moment of my tourism incarnation Stefan, colleague, soul friend, sharer of stories, inciter of raucous laughter, and optimist more mythical than myself, you are a gift.

Susy; full of life, ready for adventure, generously willing to share her Italian ‘marcia marcia in più’. Thanks to you I love my current tour.

Damiano; Long before we met in person Damiano’s consistent optimism, uplifting way to communicate, and straight-shooting sense of humor instilled in me a sense of ease and possibility.

Elena sees me; whose professionalism and personal courage inspired me to get started and stay on this journey even when it felt like too much

Equally, in general the collaborators and vendors on our tours - hotel staff, drivers, local contacts who open home and business to us and our guests, wait staff, restaurant owners, shop keepers, and local guides - make THE difference on every tour.

My hat is off to all of you and special mentions:

Hans; gentle giant, poet farmer whose kindness and humor always make hearts smile.

Eva; diplomat, teacher, champion of the values and realities of Swiss life, every encounter with Eva is a stimulating joy.

Marie Therese; magical keeper of the keys who surprises every time with her unassuming nature, vast knowledge, and quick wit.

Roberto; gentleman bus driver whose voracious reading is matched with his kindness, generosity and sense of humor

Marc; quick witted, straight talking, full of character Marc dazzles guests with his combination of knowledge and style

Last, but by far not least, guests on each tour; curious, funny, challenging, generous in astonishing ways. Along the way I am lucky enough to call some of you friends, long after our tour time is over and even in the fleeting moments shared, learning from you enriches my life and motivates me to continue to guide. I honor you all here with some photos from

Thank you. Grazie. Danke. Merci. Teşekkür ederim. Спасибо. ありがとうございます。

Stay tuned for all the ‘entirely different/other’ stories referenced here. With the consistent support of Leslie, professional writer and chief cheerleader and Bartolomeo, patient teacher and sharer of keys my writing voice is activating.

Reference, when I began I worked with several groups and now focus with:

OAT – Overseas Adventure Travel is a part of GCT - Grand Circle Travel, an American based organization committed to changing people’s lives by offering high-impact experiences to our travelers and building local communities through philanthropy, social entrepreneurship, and volunteerism. Overseas Adventure Travel offers unique small group adventures worldwide to Americans over 50. By land and sea, we explore on—and off—the beaten path with a resident O.A.T. Trip Experience Leader, immersing ourselves in local cultures, sampling unique modes of transportation, and staying in authentic lodgings that reflect the essence of your destination