by David McGuffin | Jul 8, 2008 | Culture & Customs, Destinations
Maybe I need to modify my European wardrobe. For years I’ve preached that guys wear solid shoes, khaki pants, and collared shirts. They are easy to care for, blend in, don’t yell “American”, and are comfortable. Now maybe I’m not so sure. Fashion in Europe is a big deal and I’m beginning to notice changes.
This article is for the guys, but you ladies can take note too! I bet if you look around in Paris or Rome you’ll see the same trends in your fashion as well. I’m not Clinton and Stacy from “What Not to Wear”, but I do have a little fashion sense!
Siena – A couple of weeks ago….
Although it was dreadfully warm earlier, the afternoon rain ushered in a cool front across the hills of Tuscany. Earlier, I had dined with my tour group and walked back to the hotel afterwards. I went to my room, but found that I was restless and not really ready for bed. I decided not to waste a night sleeping when I could be on Il Campo, the main town square. Because it was chilly I changed into a pair of jeans, threw on a sweater, and headed out.
As I exited the hotel doorway and walked toward Il Campo, a car with a guy and a girl drove by. Soon they realized they were in a pedestrian area and made a U-turn back towards me. As they were driving by, the girl leaned out and asked, “How do you get to Il Campo?” She spoke only in Italian and I was amazed that I understood it all. Without thinking, I told them they could not drive to Il Campo, they must park here, outside the walls, and walk. I said all this in Floridian-Italian and got the funniest look from the girl. It was like she realized she was hearing the right answer, but it was from the wrong person. After a couple of seconds we both laughed. I said in English, “I’m a tourist” and she responded in English as well, “You don’t look like it.” Then, off we went in opposite directions.
A few weeks before, I was in Florida leading a tour preparation and orientation meeting. When the subject of packing and clothing came up, I gave my ususal spiel about how Europeans generally “dress up” more then we Americans. You don’t see them in shorts or flipflops unless they are at the beach. You’d never catch them in a “warm-up” suit unless they were in a sporting event, and most often they don’t wear jeans. I was challenged on that last statement by someone who had been to Europe the previous year who said, “They wear jeans all the time!” That got me to thinking…
So, now I’m making it a point to notice the fashion this season and see what changes I should make to my packing list. I’ll keep you updated and give you a new list if needed.
-David
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by David McGuffin | Jul 7, 2008 | Adventures in Tour Guiding
In the last post I talked about planning a tour. This was spurred by a comment at my church last Sunday when someone asked (after I was in Europe for three weeks), “How was your vacation?” I laughed and it got me thinking that most people don’t have a clue what I do when I’m in Europe. Let me tell you it ain’t a vacation all the time, but it ain’t a bad gig either!
So my tour is planned, I’ve got people signed-up and paid to go, and they are all flying off from different destinations in the US to meet me in, let’s say Paris. My job here is to get to Paris before them, beat the jet-lag, and collect them all in one location at the airport so we can get to our hotel. Sounds easy, but have you ever had a flight delay or cancellation? Imagine a group of 25 people all trying to get to the same place in Europe from multiple destinations in the USA. Something is bound to go wrong.
Let’s say it’s now about 1:00 p.m. and everyone has arrived, and I’ve even secured a shuttle bus to take the group from the airport to our hotel in central Paris. So we all try to get to the bus, and then there is this guy who just now remembers he needs to get money from the ATM. I smile, point out the ATM, and then wait with the whole group while he goes to the machine. Here we are, 25 people with luggage in tow, blocking the elevator, and waiting on this guy to get cash from the ATM. Finally, I go over to him and try to help him out without looking at his secret PIN#. The screen is all in French because he did not choose the “English” option at the beginning and now we both are caught up in some unending jargon about fees, service charges, and exchange rates…all in French! I tell him it’s ok, just push the “Yes” button and his euro currency will be delivered from the little slot below, just like at home. But no, that won’t work! He cancels the transaction, swears a bit, and then we rejoin the group…without cash.
Terminal 1 at Charles de Gaulles airport is an icon. It was featured in a James Bond film when the villain chased Bond through a maze of “space-aged” lexan tunnels. Now, after about 40 years of decay, they finally started to spruce up the joint. Unfortunately it’s still under construction and many of the exits are closed. So, we look for an elevator to take us down three levels to the bus.
Imagine 25 people with luggage trying to crowd into an elevator just a little larger than a coffin. Soooo…forty-five minutes later we arrive at the bus just three short floors below. Sixty percent of the people heeded my lessons about packing light. The other forty percent arrive red-faced and sweating with their one VERY large bag and one very large carry-on. The bus driver and I groan as we load ’em in the cargo hold.
Everyone is on the bus, the luggage is loaded, and we all can take a deep sigh….
(to be continued)
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by David McGuffin | Jul 5, 2008 | Adventures in Tour Guiding
I returned home yesterday from a three week stay in Europe where I visited Italy, France, and Switzerland. While at church this morning several people asked me, “How was your vacation?” I laughed and replied, “We had a great time!” While at the same time I was really thinking, “They don’t have a clue what I do when I’m gone.”
Yes, I understand traveling to Europe is something that only a few of us take advantage of in our lifetime. For many it never crosses their mind, or maybe only pops up when they see the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, or the Colesseum in a movie. But for those of you who have traveled with me or have gone to Europe on your own know the magnetic draw to return again, and again. I love traveling to Europe, but there is a lot of difference in going on a tour and leading a tour. So in this post I thought I’d tell you a little about the work that goes into organizing a tour before anyone ever gets on the plane.
Well, let’s see it all begins at least a year in advance when I begin dreaming up tour itineraries and destinations. In some cases this is easy, especially with “proven” itineraries such as Paris to Rome or Venice, Florence, and Rome. However, every year I do try to come up with some new city pairing or itinerary. Once an itinerary is established the chore of nailing down hotels begins. Now-a-days it is not so bad because I’ve got an established reputation with many hoteliers and if they’ve got room they’ll give it to me. As you can imagine this takes some weeks to get responses from eight or nine hotels to all mesh with my planned itinerary. With a little tweaking the tour itinerary is set.
Now that I’ve got a tour planned I’ve got to get people to sign up and go on it! So then begins the tasks of tour promotions at trade shows, on the Internet, and by word of mouth. If all goes well I’ll have enough folks signed up for the tour by the time mid-February rolls around. By this time the vendors and hoteliers in Europe are asking for a deposit so I’ve got to decide how to pay. You know the euro-to-dollar rate stinks right now. For one or two travelers it’s not a real big deal if the exchange rate goes up by two percent, but when working with a group of twenty-five people that’s a big difference. So I’ve got to be a bit of a gambler when pricing the tour twelve months in advance. Luckily I projected correctly five out of the seven years I’ve been in business!
It’s now mid-March and let’s say I’ve got the tour planned and even have it filled with people who want to travel to Europe with me. So now all I’ve got to do is collect the final payments, get on an airplane and meet them in Europe. Well that’s a story for the next post!
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by David McGuffin | Jun 18, 2008 | Destinations, Experiencing Europe
Recently I’ve been writing about my travel experiences in Venice and the “slow life” of staying on the Lido. I’ve got another experience to share that only happens when all the right elements fall into place. Somehow I’ve got a knack to stumbling into these situations. For me it takes going out on a limb and getting out of my “comfort zone,” but when it happens, it is magical.I made it to the island of Burano by about 4:30 p.m.
This island is the way out toward the place where the Venice lagoon empties into the Adriatic Sea. Burano is a fishing village and is most famous for finely handmade lace. At first glance it seemed the island survives only on tourism, but as I was about to find out, there is a lot more culture here than meets the eye. From the boat dock I walked up the “main drag” and found my tour group right where I expected them…at the first bar in sight. Now don’t misunderstand me here, hanging out at a bar is not a bad thing, so I decided to join them for a few minutes. By 5:00 the whole area was shutting down. The bar was handing out tabs which is highly unusual for Italy. I asked our waiter, “what was up?” and he said most tourist take the 5:20 boat back to Venice and there is no tourist business to speak of after that time. The restaurants in the area only serve lunch and are closed for dinner.
My group decided to return to Piazza San Marco for some shopping and more of Venice. I decided to hang around a while longer and checkout this village. So off I went in the direction away from the boat dock. Soon I discovered an amazing array of freshly painted buildings sporting every imaginable color of a rainbow. Red, blue, orange, yellow, and green seemed to be the dominate hues. The place was charming. Had I not known better you could have been in and Irish fishing village, not one on the Venice Lagoon. Strolling here I discovered I was actually in a residential area. Lining both sides of the sidewalk (there are no cars are on the island) were open doors covered only by a thin sheet of cloth flapping in the breeze and surrounded by pots of flowers in full bloom. This lent even more color to the already beautiful scenery. Kids were out playing, riding tricycles and bikes, and just generally being kids. Soon I came to the end of the island where it dropped off into the lagoon. In the distance I could see the harbor entrance defined by jetties jutting out into the Adriatic.Turning around I walked in another direction and after a few minutes found myself in the town square. Now this was what I was looking for! It was about 6:30 and the square was alive with action. Lining both sides of the “street” were every type of shop imaginable, each with its own awning sporting its name and purpose. Every shop was filled with people looking, shopping, and making purchases. These were the local folks, they lived on the island, and each one knew the other. It was my kind of town! I sat down at a café so I could get a good view of the action, ordered a drink, and took it all in.
After a few minutes four men sat down at the table next to men ordered a drink. The waitress was a happy woman, dressed in black, with deeply dyed red hair. After getting the guys their Apelrol’s she appeared with an accordion and gave it to one of the gentlemen. Within seconds he had it cranked up and was pumping out a tune. The other fellows joined in belting out song in rich baritone voices. It did not take long for them to gather a crowd and soon other men from the community took a seat and joined in. By this time I knew I had happen upon something special for me, but not at all unusual for Burano.
I couldn’t help it so on the next song I joined in. Now I’m not too shabby of a singer and I think the guys at the next table picked up on that. They needed a tenor and evidently I was doing a pretty good job. It was fairly easy for me to hear and belt out the harmony. I found that by watching the “leaders” mouth I could even get all the vowels correctly. I just got lucky with the consonants. All songs have a form and once you know where the verses and choruses fit it is easy to follow along.
After five or six songs one of the guys ran across the street, took a jar of retrieved a jar of anchovies offered by the shop tender and return to the table. By this time I had been invited to join the “choir” at their table and we all feasted on anchovies, bread, and vino! Yummmmmy! After licking the oil off his fingers the accordion player started up again and more men sat down and joined in . It seemed this was a normal thing, these guys passing away the late afternoon in song! By now it was getting to be 7:30 or so and I began to see the men watch their watches. I don’t speak Italian very well, and certainly do not understand the Venetian dialect, but I did pick up that their wives were expecting most of them home for dinner soon and they had better wrap it up. I think we had gone through three of four liters of vino and I did not know how they were going to go home and pretend they had not “stopped off for a cocktail” after leaving the office! HA! But no, I was made to understand that was not the way it was. Waiting for them was at least a one hour dinner with more vino and a relaxing evening at home.
At precisely 8:00 the waitress arrive and pried the accordion out of Eugenio’s hand and took it to a back room of the café. Everybody got up, said their “ciao’s” and were on their way home. You can’t manufacture this type of an experience. You’ll only run across it by getting off the beaten path, out of your comfort zone, and stick with the locals. You’ll get lucky about 10% of the time!
Ciao,
David
by David McGuffin | Jun 18, 2008 | Uncategorized
I took my group to Murano today. Murano is an island in the Venice lagoon and is most famous for finely hand-made glass. The island is far away from the tourist crowds of Piazza San Marco and is a welcome change, although it is still quite touristy. Upon arrival we visited a glass factory and watched a demonstration. Of course a “heavy sell” followed but no one in my group took the bait. Soon we were out of the shop and into the sidewalks taking it all in. The sidewalks ran along each side of a canal with little alleyways (calle) jutting into the depths of the island. Soon I could see the ladies wanted shop and the guys were obliged to hang around with them. I was not tied down by a shopper so I decided to explore other parts of the island I did not know. I had a great little lunch along one of the canals but for the life of me I cannot remember what I had. I know you’re not surprised. You probably think I had more vino than food, but actually in this case it was not so. We have just had so many good dining experience this one blended with all the others. However, I do have a pretty decent sketch of the canal scene in my journal that I made during the time I sat at the café.
About the time I was finishing up my lunch I noticed a number of my tour group walking by in search of the boat dock. We talked for a few minutes and decided to go to the island of Burano and see what was there. We agreed to meet by 3:30 at the boat. Well, by the time I paid my bill I was pressed to get to the boat on time. So I took off at a fast walk in the direction of the vaporetto dock. En-route I saw a bead shop (perle, in Italian I was to learn) that drew my attention. Now I’m not too interested in beads, but my wife is and I had been giving marching orders to find some Murano glass beads and bring them home. Well not really marching orders, but it would be a nice thing for me to do, ya know. So I entered the shop and this old lady had drawers and drawers full of Murano glass beads for sale. Not really being an expert of Murano glass bead, I started picking up some I liked and collecting them in my hands. When the lady saw the quantity I was collecting she jumped off her chair and offered me a basket for the beads. Actually this was a smart marketing concept…my hands were about full, but the basket would hold a lot more! In the end I walked out with lots of beads for my wife which I think she will like. The lady at the shop made out too because I don’t think she will need to sell anymore beads for the week! I got to the boat dock a short while later and found I’d been left by the boat and my tour group. No problems…another one arrives in twenty minutes. Ciao,David
