Comments on: Emergency Tour Prep http://www.itmitourtraining.com/blog/2007/04/11/emergency-tour-prep/ A Blog for ITMI and its Alumni Community Tue, 11 May 2010 07:58:53 +0000 hourly 1 By: Ken Thompson http://www.itmitourtraining.com/blog/2007/04/11/emergency-tour-prep/#comment-7 Ken Thompson Thu, 23 Aug 2007 19:35:55 +0000 http://itmiadmin.powweb.com/alumni/secure/blog/?p=24#comment-7 I once got a call on Monday, telling me to be on a plane Wednesday headed to Europe to do a London-Paris tour. I had never been to Paris in my life! And I wasn't even home at the time. I had to fly home, call the company and start begging for any information I could get. I had to do laundry, pack, fax confirmations for hotels, coaches, dinners, step-ons; type up my pax/baggage check list forms, and learn to speak French. I basically had 24 hours to get this done. The London portion didn't bother me. I've done tours in London a few times before plus have been there personally about 20 times. The Paris portion of the tour terrified me. But you know what? I pulled it off! Yes, it did help that I had two full days in Paris with a step-on guide but it takes more than that. Having a tour prep routine one always uses (thus the term "routine") is a big help. I just slid into automatic pilot and did my thing. The pax never knew I was a Paris virgin. In fact, one of my pax was a veteran tour director on holiday with her husband. Her post tour survey said "Ken was okay in London but he really shined in Paris!" So, at the end of the tour I left the night lights of Paris with a smile on my face. But I wasn't going home. I was flying straight back to London to meet another group at 6:00 AM. Twelve hours between tours and I'm off on a 12 day UK tour! "Organize or Die" is my mantra! I once got a call on Monday, telling me to be on a plane Wednesday headed to Europe to do a London-Paris tour. I had never been to Paris in my life! And I wasn’t even home at the time. I had to fly home, call the company and start begging for any information I could get. I had to do laundry, pack, fax confirmations for hotels, coaches, dinners, step-ons; type up my pax/baggage check list forms, and learn to speak French. I basically had 24 hours to get this done.

The London portion didn’t bother me. I’ve done tours in London a few times before plus have been there personally about 20 times. The Paris portion of the tour terrified me. But you know what? I pulled it off! Yes, it did help that I had two full days in Paris with a step-on guide but it takes more than that. Having a tour prep routine one always uses (thus the term “routine”) is a big help. I just slid into automatic pilot and did my thing. The pax never knew I was a Paris virgin. In fact, one of my pax was a veteran tour director on holiday with her husband. Her post tour survey said “Ken was okay in London but he really shined in Paris!”
So, at the end of the tour I left the night lights of Paris with a smile on my face. But I wasn’t going home. I was flying straight back to London to meet another group at 6:00 AM. Twelve hours between tours and I’m off on a 12 day UK tour!
“Organize or Die” is my mantra!

]]> By: Bill Schuler http://www.itmitourtraining.com/blog/2007/04/11/emergency-tour-prep/#comment-5 Bill Schuler Tue, 15 May 2007 17:06:52 +0000 http://itmiadmin.powweb.com/alumni/secure/blog/?p=24#comment-5 Good advice, Reminds me of the time I came into the tour office to debrief from a previous tour, then take a week of well deserved rest. Instead I was given a plane ticket for a flight departing in 2 hours. Good advice,

Reminds me of the time I came into the tour office to debrief from a previous tour, then take a week of well deserved rest. Instead I was given a plane ticket for a flight departing in 2 hours.

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