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I would like to think that I make a difference when I present Seattle to people from all over the world as a driver/guide. My tours are three (three and a half when the “fish are running.”
First of all I relate the complex ethnic demographics of Seattle; it’s roughly 600,000 people in the core city with about 3.8 million in greater Seattle. I show off the Pike Place Market again emphasizing its diversity (new Russians selling food; Cambodians and Laoatians growing and selling the flowers) and the history going back to 1907. The history digs right into the beginnings of Seattle’s Sephardic Jewish population, 2nd largest in the country, starting from the Ottoman Empire, landing in Seattle’s Pike Place Market and endowing our quite new symphany Hall, the Benaroya. What do the passengers notice? The Hills! Nobody in the country or elsewhere seems to be aware that Seattle has enormous hills . . . “oh,” they say, “it looks just like San Francisco.” “Yes,” I reply. “It does.”
Next I present Pioneer Square, the oldest section of downtown Seattle going back to the 1880’s (imagine saying this to a group of Egyptians which I once did as a “step-on” for the Boeing Company) and talk about Seattle’s very active Gold Rush past and its mammoth plumbing problems . . . allowing Puget Sound’s tide to carry the stuff 30 miles to Tacoma before it roiled back again in the afternoon under pressure. So, when Seattle’s great fire occurred, the city rebuilt itself above the old city. Voila, plumbing corrected. Then there are the Gold Rush Belles, the ladies of the night who were taxed voluptuously once they were re-named “Seamstresses.”
I show off our new stadiums (really very attractive although the voters of the county never did approve the bonds). And Seattle’s Chinatown which can’t be called “Chinatown” because, “We are way too politically correct” and in any case was and is multi diverse with a long African American jazz scene(Jimmy Hendrix who was playing “electric blues” was trained by Quincy Jones and Ray Charles who, got his start right here, Filipinos, Japanese, Vietnamese . . . and home to Bruce Lee (he’s buried in Seattle . . . did you know that?) and his son, Brandon, home to Gary Locke, Cantonese speaking Chinese former Governor of the State of Washington and now Secretary of the Department of Commerce.
Then Big Buildings such as Seattle’s “Darth Vader Building,” formerly the Columbia Bank Tower and presently providing the best view in the city through the windows in the Women’s Rest Room on the 76th floor.
Next is Skid Road which provided the model for all “Skid Rows” in the country, Seattle’s homeless population and a tiny bust of the Native guy for whom Seattle is named.
In this account, I will skip over the waterfront, Elliott Bay, Puget Sound, Bell Town, the two year old Settle Art Museum’s Scuilputre Garden, the condo home of “Fraser,” the Space Needle, EMP Experience Music Project” (IMP) dedicated to the memory of Jimmy Hendrix, the grand new and largely uncompleted Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,Building, the Opera House prsently featuring Wagner’s Ring Cycle and shortly to be presenting three Verdi operas and the top of Queen Anne Hill from which, on one of Seattle’s 80 clear days a year, “the Mountain” (14,411 ft Mount Rainier) can be seen.
Moving onto the Ballard Locks where from June 25 to October 15, one can see some of the few wild salmon migrating through on their breeding cycle . . . the contribution that athe forests make to cool their streams and that they make toward providing nutrients toward the survival of the forests upon their deaths after breeding.
Moving right along toward the authentic sculpure of Lenin located in our Fremont neighborhood and the very amusing sculpture of the “Troll” — Seattle’s honoring of our very large Scandinavian population (of which I am one), and the often highly decorated sculpture, “Waiting for the Interurban” featuring Armin Stepanian, the honorary Mayor os Eattle in the 1960’s.  And the end, is the floating home (ala Saucilita) featured in the moving, “Sleepless in Seattle.”
Right now Seattle also provides moorage for the 5 crabbers (fishing vessels) featured in “The Deadliest Catch.” I love to talk about the captains and the crews of these vessels because these largely Swedish/Norwegian sea-goers have suddenly become international “Stud-Muffins” which they find wholly embarrassing. “When,” I ask, “have you ever heard of a Scandinavian man, either in the US or Sweden/Norway/Finland/Denmark, receiving this sort of attention? Maybe, “I say,”Clark Gable’s real name was Hjalmer Halvorson and he ate lutefisk for breakfast, but somehow I don’t think so!
My job is a pleasure . . . I use it as an opportunity to point out the very distinct culture of Seattle, “Don’t walk across the street against a red light . . . forty people will watch you do it, no one will say a word but they will all know that you are not from here; “Seattleites get their clothes from Goodwill where we can get them for $12/lb or Salvation Army;” . . . Seattle has the highest per capita readership of library books, the highest book sales, the highest attendance at movies . . . and as of two years ago we were declared to be the smartest people in the country by Forbes Magazine . . . which we always knew but others always had athe temerity to say was because of our abominable weather.”
My job is slated to end this October 15. My little company, “Show-Me Seattle” has been knocked around by athe economy so hard that it will be run onlly by athe couple that owns it. I have no idea what I will do or where I will go next!
I thank ITMI every day of my life for the gift that I’ve been given . . .to entertain, to enlighten, to learn and to amuse.
Nikki
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Archive for August, 2009
Salute to Local/National Guides and Docents
Wednesday, August 5th, 2009The Good Ole Days – 1978 Class 6 :)
Wednesday, August 5th, 2009Salute to Local/National Guides and Docents
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009A number of years ago a TD told me that he did not like to use “step-on” or “local” guides. He felt it took something away from him. I told him the same story that I tell so many of my tour groups, about having to learn San Francisco in a short period of time and be able to give info whenever Ted or Randy pointed their finger at you.  What a nerve wracking, but exciting learning experience! Since then I have always appreciated the amount of knowledge that a locally trained person can give about a destination. I love having them aboard and I learn so much from them. I work a great deal in Washington DC and I have to give my praise and gratitude to the wonderful guides who make our nation’s capitol come alive for the millions of visitors who come each year. They are indeed very special!!
Kristie
Motorcoach Drivers
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009Ted and RandyI have two experiences to relay right now.
The first was at the symposium in Texas. After our discussion about td and driver relations ship I was told by an ITMI graduate that has been in the field for some time. ( If she gave a driver any recognition that they could add to her tour she would loose a respect of the passengers). She would never do it.
I have been told by a TD not to speak to the passengers at any time on or off the coach. I am not the only driver that has has this experience.
On to the present I was a stepon guide in Seattle at the beginning of the tour I introduced the drive by name. At the end of the tour I thanked the drive for a safe and comfortable tour. Told the passengers to thank him and her (there were 3 tours) as they left the coach.
The result was that the driver got a reasonable gratuity and so did I.
The driver told me that no one had done what I did and that he and the guide had not been getting gratuities this year.
I feel that you have to remind the passengers they will give.
PS do not tell the passengers to give the driver a hand that is all that they will get and maybe all you will get.
I start my first tour with a TD tomorrow I will let you know how that works out.
Alan
I will send more as the summer goes on.
Salute to Local/National Guides and Docents
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009Back in the mid 1980s, I did a series of wildlife photo trips to Kenya and Tanzania. In those days, most of the TDs working in Africa were older expat Brits, many of whom treated the local Kikuyu driver/guides as the “wogs” they perceived them to be. It has always been my experience that local guides can be a great asset both to the TD, and to the tour members, and I treated them as the knowledgeable professionals I perceived them to be. I met them for breakfast each morning to plan the day ahead. At the end of they day, I thanked them for everything they added to the group’s experience. I soon noticed that when members of the other tours compared the lists of the animals they had seen, to those of my groups, our lists were always far longer and more exotic. My driver/guides went out of their way to give the group a better tour.
I’m sure we have all run into the “difficult” driver or overbearing local guide. Sometimes the biggest “management” problem on the tour, is to turn this person into an asset, but it is always pays off. For the comfort of the group, a good TM must at least appear to work with, rather than against, him/her.
Best… smr
Steven M. Russon
Salute to Local/National Guides and Docents
Tuesday, August 4th, 20091) Oh, I am amazed at many of the licensed guides who take visitors across the Gettysburg Battlefield. Where the blue and the grey entered, shifted positions, camped and fought over the three days is really too much for 14 year olds, or anyone, seeing it all for the first time. But the tricks the guides use to pull students in are great. And may possibly get them interested in map studies later when they return home.
One tool I love observing is having students form a single rank or line for Pickett’s Charge. They number off one through four and then charge across the battle field. When the guide calls their number they all fall dead or wounded into the grass. What a great engaging lesson in how horrible it all was.
Another quick exercise I was taught is lining the kids heel to toe up against the short wall at the Mount Vernon Slave Memorial. I am amazed at the number of parents who take part. While they stand there in the same close proximity of slaves in the hull of a ship they get a quick lesson in single packing of slaves on the ships and life before capture, during transfer and as slaves. There is no problem holding one hundred percent of their attention. Being enslaved for three or four minutes is quite enough.
2) I have lived on and off in Norfolk, VA, since January of 1970. Yet for a long time I was more uncomfortable doing guide work here than anywhere. I think it is because much of the local lore I heard over the years and attempting to sort truth from legend. For such a history rich city there is little community activity here in presenting it for visitors. Once you arrive here you are packed on a bus and taken to the navy base. Over the years of guiding I now have a much better feel and a sense of pride for the city and my historic neighborhood. Linking historical events here to other more famous happenings elsewhere has been a good avenue for me. I have discussed tour possibilites here with my congressman. Tourism is not on his hot list these days.
Darrell
Salute to Local/National Guides and Docents
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009Hi Ted, Randy
To answer this weeks question.
When I know I am going to a place whether it be a city or National Park that I am not familiar with it I always request a step on guide. They have been a wonderful help and great addition to the tours I take, especially when I went to Arches National Park for the first time, my guide Preston from Canyonlands by Night was a delight, he knew how to bring the geology of the park to life, I would highly recommend him to anyone who goes there. I believe that docents and local guides can add so much to your tour, I have learnt so much from them.
Thank you all who have ever helped me.
Gwen Mehta
Salute to Local/National Guides and Docents
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009The docent I had at the gallery across from the Iolani Palace in Honolulu went out of his way to show his enthusiasm for the history of the Hawaiian people and there art, and it was so obvious. I don’t have any more details but this particular experience will always stay with me.
Russ Cruickshank
Salute to Local/National Guides and Docents
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009One of the places I visited quite often was Prince Edward Island, Canada. Prince Edward Island is the smallest Province in the Confederation. Most Americans never heard of it. This is the place where the Confederation of Canada was formed.
The building where these historic events took place is still standing and is in use on a daily basis.
When we were there I timed our visit so our guide was a Parks Canada Officer. He was born and raised on the Island just a short distance from The Confederation House. He was a wealth of information because of his back round.
The tour started in a small auditorium where we were shown a 12 minuet slide show. The earliest scenes were depicted in pen and ink drawings (cameras were not in use yet). One slide, showed 2 armies attacking each other. One of the Militiamen carried a banner on a staff which said “IRA”. This was hundreds of years before The present IRA was in the news and I questioned the Officer if there was any connection between the group in the slide and the present day group? He was not sure, but suggested I research the Phinian Revolt. Phinia was the Goddess of War. He told me it was a group of Irish that attacked Canada to try to force England to free the surfs in Ireland and allow them to own land. (Irish Potato Famine)
I won’t tell you the rest of this obscure story because it is part of our job to do research. The Internet 10 years ago was not what it is today. (No Goggle) The Information might be read ly available now. I searched for 6 months and could find no information on the subject. Finally, a local librarian less the a mile from my house found a book for me. I can’t give you the name of the book because honestly do not remember it.
Sheldon
Salute to Local/National Guides and Docents
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009National Guide: Our best National Guide lives and works in China. Everything about his work ethic as well as his ability to listen and try to accommodate the wishes of the U.S. trip leader is outstanding.
For example my wife, as the tour guide tells him that she would like our group to eat as authentic Chinese restaurants instead of the usual tourist stops with five tour buses parked in front. He finds us outstanding restaurants with great food, inexpensive prices, and away from the other tourist groups.
He always designs the itinerary to the wishes of the tour guide and always makes excellent recommendations of places to visit, in addition to the itinerary.
He handles all of the extra tour obligations such as the gratuities, working with the tour guide on room assignments, making sure that all have an opportunity for that special hotel room, etc.
He purchases cases of water from the local stores, saving a great deal of money for the group.
I would say in summarizing that he is always one step ahead regarding planning, anticipating problems, adjusting to situations, etc.
We often recommend Shen Mao Mao to our many friends wishing to tour China.
Lynn Dyche