by David McGuffin | Jul 14, 2008 | Adventures in Tour Guiding
I’ve been writing about my experiences planning and leading tours in Europe. This was brought on by a friend at church asking me how I liked my recent “vacation” there. Don’t get me wrong, traveling in Europe is a blast and I wouldn’t do it if I did not really enjoy myself. But, there is a lot of work in it too. In the previous episodes I’ve collected the group from the airport, gotten them on a bus, traveled to Paris, unloaded the bus in heavy traffic, gotten them checked into the hotel, and headed out on foot to see the sights. Now it’s time to get off the metro and explore the city.
It turns out to be a success! Can you believe it? We all made it via metro to the same place, gotten off together, and now the group is standing on the platform waiting for me to tell them which way to go. I figured this would be a good teaching moment, so we have a lesson in French. Sortie means EXIT, Correspondance means the way to another metro line. We want to get out of there, so we go towards Sortie.
Up the escalator, then up one flight of stairs, and we finally get out into the fresh Parisian air…
Popping out of the depths of a subway and into a new locale has always been an adventure for me. There’s something about going from darkness to light that just adds to the adventure. So, no matter what city I’m in, if I have a tour group I try to maximize the effect by choosing a “wow” moment for our subway exit. In Paris there are many, but today I choose the Trocadero Metro exit to help me work the magic of Paris.
So out we come into the bright sunlight and I have my twenty-odd followers all intent on not loosing sight of me. After going up the stairs, out the exit, and through the gauntlet of “vendors of worthless crap”, there it was… the Eiffel Tower! It was right there in front of us just begging to be photographed. The group who would not leave my sight twenty seconds earlier now abandon all thought of staying together, and all I can do is try to corral them just for a second to give a rendezvous time and place. Once that is established, off they go to snap photos, purchase little flying birdies from the vendors, and make their way down the hill to the bridge below where we are to meet.
Thirty minutes later, we all arrive at the bridge. I take a quick head count, noting that everyone is present and accounted for, and then we take our lives in our hands as we traverse the first group street-crossing of our tour. Now you might think, “What’s the big deal about crossing a street?” But you try it sometime with twenty-something people who come from places where they may have never had an occasion to cross a huge street on foot! So eventually, the little green man appears on the “walk” sign and off they go.
Halfway across I see panic in one lady’s eyes as she realizes that for a Parisian motorist, a red light is only a suggestion to slow down and has nothing to do with actually stopping at all. The lady freezes in her tracks, then decides to retreat in the opposite direction. Confused, the motorist lays on his horn in a long blast as if he has done nothing wrong and tries to brake, but not quite soon enough. I look on in panic as I see this unfold before my eyes. The only good thing is that the motorist is driving a SMART CAR which is about the size of a big shoe. He almost comes to a complete halt in time, but not quite. As if in slow motion, I watched as the little car makes contact with the woman. It’s not too bad, but the lady looses the battle and plops to the pavement as the car eventually comes to a halt. Almost in one motion, the lady pops back up and the man jumps out of his car. They both meet in front of the vehicle and he says, “I’m sorry!” while she is saying, “It’s ok I’m not hurt.” I run out and ask the only thing I can think of at the moment, “Are you ok!?” How lame is that… I’ve just seen a lady attacked by a SMART CAR and all I can come up with is, “Are you ok?”
In the end, the lady only suffered a couple of bruises. The driver and the lady, after a few moments of heart-pounding stress, both exchange business cards and email addresses. Who knows…maybe they’ll hook up someday! Ahhh, only in Paris.
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by David McGuffin | Jul 12, 2008 | Adventures in Tour Guiding
I’ve been writing about my experiences planning and leading tours in Europe. This was brought on by a friend at church asking me how I liked my recent “vacation” there. Don’t get me wrong, traveling in Europe is a blast and I wouldn’t do it if I did not really enjoy myself. But, there is a lot of work in it too. In the previous episodes I’ve collected the group from the airport, gotten them on a bus, traveled to Paris, unloaded the bus in heavy traffic, and gotten them checked into the hotel. Now, several hours later, we head out on foot to see the sights.
I’m a firm believer in providing travel skill lessons at every location we visit. In Paris, this means learning how to read a map and how to get around on the metro. You’d be surprised at how many people have never taken any form of public transportation in the USA. So initial exposure to the subway is an intimidating experience for many.
OK, picture this… off I go walking down a crowded sidewalk with twenty-five people in tow. After a few blocks, they stretch out for almost an entire block. I’m often accused of walking too fast, but I really have tried to deliberately slowdown in recent years. Still, it is impossible to all stay together. The sights, sounds, and smells of Paris bombard us from every angle. Dead chickens with their heads still attached attract attention in the butcher shop. A window full of smelly cheeses draws those with sensitive noses. A guy on the street corner holds out a copy of the free daily metro newspaper… and everyone is afraid to take it from him. The hot breeze from a kabab shop hits us broadside as we walk by. Finally, we arrive at the metro entrance.
Hurriedly, I gather my group to one side and explain the Metro system showing them on their maps where we are now and where we are going to go. Then with a big sigh I say, “Let’s all try to stay together and get on the same car.” So down into the Metro we go.
There is always one person, you know the type, where if anything can go wrong it will go wrong with them. So we all get through the metro turnstile and I look back to find one of our group members who can’t get his ticket to work. Hurriedly I fight the incoming crowd, feeling like a salmon swimming upstream, trying to assist the guy with putting his ticket in right-side-up. Ahhh… all is ok, we’re in!
Down the stairs, then an escalator, and finally we arrive on the platform. The big yellow line clearly marks the don’t not cross boundaries… or at least I thought so. Groups are unique when it comes to standing and waiting for something. Where most people simply find a spot out of the way and wait, a group tends to bunch up in wads. I don’t know if this is because they feel there is safety in a wad, or maybe it is just because they want to talk to one another. Regardless of the reason they always stand in a wad, cross the yellow line, and jam the walkway. Check it out the next time you’re in a group and see!
When the train arrives my group gets anxious, so I shout out, ” Get on this train. Remember, three stops and get off!” I take one last look on the platform to make sure everyone’s in, the buzzer sounds alerting imminant departure, I step on, and off we go….
(to be continued)
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by David McGuffin | Jul 11, 2008 | Adventures in Tour Guiding
Recently, I’ve been writing about my experiences planning and leading tours in Europe. This was brought on by a friend at church asking me how I liked my recent “vacation”. Don’t get me wrong, traveling in Europe is a blast and I would not do it if I did not really enjoy myself, but there is a lot of work to it too. In the previous episodes, I’ve collected the group from the airport, gotten them on a bus, traveled to Paris, and unloaded the bus in heavy traffic. Now we are piled into the hotel lobby waiting to get room keys.
As we walk through the lobby, the guests at the bar (invariably French businessmen or vacationing Europeans) look at the the sea of people and suitcases with amusement. I often wonder what they are thinking… Do they pity me? Do they wish they had visited a bar down the street? Or maybe it’s just that they want a pair of those bright white tennis shoes! At any rate, I make my way to the hotel reception desk, speak with a clerk, and with relative ease get our electronic key cards and hand them out. As I send my friends on their way to their rooms, I tell them, “We’ll meet here in the lobby at 5:00 p.m. and will be out the rest of the night”. Also, I remind them to “Be sure to bring a sweater, an umbrella, and wear your money belt”.
Thinking all is finished, I grab my bag and head to the stairs. Just then, I hear a comotion from around the corner and find my entire group crowded in the tiny elevator lobby waiting to get to their rooms. Remember the coffin-sized elevator at the airport? Well, this one is coffin-sized for a midget! It will take an hour to get all these people and their luggage upstairs. Consequently, I begin telling the younger ones to take the stairs. Meanwhile, a couple get on the elevator, the doors close, and off they go. We wait, and wait, and wait. Finally, the doors open and there stands the exact same people who left minutes ago! The lady is confused because she was told her room number 333 was on the third floor. They went three floors up, held the elevator door, looked around, and found only rooms with numbers in the two hundreds. “Can’t they count around here!” she exclaims. “Well uhmmm, I forgot to tell you that the first floor is really zero, and the second floor is really the first,” I say weakly. “So your room is really four floors up”. Off they go again, and so begins the elevator overuse. I walk away to the sound of the elevator overload alarm buzzing through the lobby.
Thirty minutes later I’ve dropped my bags in my room, checked all the floors where my group’s rooms are located, and it appears everyone is in! I grab my journal and head down to the lobby bar for a much needed drink. Just as I get my pen out and open my journal, one of the ladies appears from the midget-sized elevator, marches over to the reception desk, and speaks to the clerk. I can’t hear what’s going on, but I know she’s not happy with something. Reluctantly I get up and go over to offer my assistance, only to find that she has gotten her answer and doesn’t like it. It seems that the shower is too small, the air conditioning does not work, and the bed is too low to the floor. The clerk ducks her head and rolls her eyes as I tell my client that this hotel has no air conditioning, the showers are small all over Europe, and the beds are typically low to the ground so people can fall into them, not climb into them. She replies, “I know you said it would be different, but I didn’t expect this!” Then, I guided her towards the bar and ordered her a nice cool glass of Chablis. As we sipped I began talking about what I love about Paris, the Champs Elysees, Eiffel Tower, neighborhood markets, and the solitude of the Place des Voges. The wine and my descriptions seemed to change her tone. As she left for her “small’ room, she said she wouldn’t mind “falling into her bed” after a good French dinner!
(more to come)
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by David McGuffin | Jul 10, 2008 | Destinations, Essential Travel Resources, Uncategorized
A couple of days ago, I wrote of my experience in Siena while walking to the main town square known as Il Campo. I had changed into a pair of jeans and a sweater and was mistaken for a local by an Italian couple who was lost in the maze of narrow streets in Siena. That got me to thinking about the current fashion in Europe.
It’s about 10:30 p.m. Earlier, the city was drenched with flooding rains that ran everyone inside. Even now, there is a dampness and chill in the air. As I look into the sky beyond the bell tower, I can see the weather is still a little “iffy”. Hoping the rain is gone for good, I grab a table at one of the cafes surrounding Il Campo, making sure I get one with an umbrella and a view. The waitress arrives with a slick little Bluetooth PDA on which she taps in my drink order and hurries off to another table.
Soon my wine arrives accompanied by the obligatory “free” bowl of chips and peanuts. I sit back and take in the “fashion scene.” Let’s see, I’ll pretend the square is like the face on a clock. So if the bell tower is at “12”, then I’m sitting at about “8.” Every guy I see is wearing jeans or cargo pants. Fifty percent of the girls are wearing tight fitted jeans and the other fifty percent are wearing capris or pants. It’s a young crowd. Some guys are wearing polo shirts and invariably, their collar is totally “popped.” Many guys have on logo jackets made of cotton which are always zipped all the way up to the neck. A lot of the guys and ladies are wearing these “Emo” type glasses. They seem to be very popular in Italy this season. You’ve seen them… brightly colored, rectangular frame, low profile. It must be the “in” thing.
Most of the guys are drinking bottled beer. Tennents and Budweiser seem to dominate. The girls seem to lean toward mixed girly drinks. From inside the small “bar,” the sounds of Donna Summer’s “Last Dance” blast from the stereo system. No one is dancing, instead everyone is standing around, laughing, talking, and generally having a good time.
All the tables at every cafe are now full. There is probably a hundred people spilling out onto the square, all with drinks in their hand. Glancing up, I notice the moon has peeked out from behind the clouds lighting up the sky. It’s 11:15 and the party goes on. No rowdiness, yelling, or horsing around as in American bars. These people are not here to party, get drunk, and make a scene. Instead it looks like a perfectly natural setting to gather and visit.
I’ve just about finished my drink and snacks and it’s getting late. Leaving, I walk across Il Campo to the sounds of “Y.M.C.A.” blasting from the PA system… but no one out here cares.
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by David McGuffin | Jul 9, 2008 | Adventures in Tour Guiding
Recently, I’ve been writing about my experiences planning and leading tours. This was brought on by a friend at church asking me how I liked my recent “vacation” in Europe. Don’t get me wrong, traveling in Europe is a blast and I wouldn’t do it if I did not really enjoy myself, but there is a lot of work to it too.
I’ve gathered the group from all the bathrooms and ATMs in the airport and have them on the bus. Finally, we are heading into central Paris. It’s early afternoon by now and the folks are excited to see the countryside, road signs in French, and the little cars. Things go well. I get on the microphone and begin telling the group about Paris’ history and how we are going to explore the city in the next few days. I talk about the hotel in Paris and try to prepare them for something quite different than what we have in the USA.
We hit the ring road around Paris and have timed it just right. There are no traffic jams! In just a few minutes we leave the highway and are in the heart of Paris surrounded by crowded streets, no lanes, horns blowing, and pedestrians everywhere. From behind the bus windows, the folks are struck in awe of the little shops selling fruits and vegetables, the chic clothing boutiques, and the facades of the 17th century buildings lining the streets. It’s just so… Parisian!
Soon we come to our hotel, our home-away-from-home for the next three days. Of course there is nowhere for a big bus to park so the driver just stops, turns on his emergency flashers, gets out, and opens the cargo doors. I remind everyone to take all their stuff and not to leave it on the bus because you’ll never see this bus again, and then I say it two or three more times just for emphasis. We have to dodge traffic while getting everyone’s luggage off the bus. The Parisian drivers hardly seem to care that we are there. Imagine a big bus blocking the road, twenty butts sticking out of the cargo hold trying to find their luggage, and the others standing around waiting for theirs to appear. You’d think the typical defensive drivers of Paris would at least slow down. But no, their solution is to increase speed, blow their horns, and rush to the next traffic light 30 meters up ahead. Whew, what an adventure!
Once everyone has their luggage and we are on the relatively safe refuge of the sidewalk, the bus pulls away. Now to get into the hotel, get everyone checked-in, and into their rooms. Sounds easy, right?
(to be continued)
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