Heading Home...

Well, it's been a helluva ride. The course is over, my resume is ready, said goodbye to all my new best friends with promises to keep in touch and I even set up a blog for our ITMI class #248 to do so.
It's was a great experience and a great preparation for what I hope is going to be the next great chapter in my life.
For now I can't wait to get back to Long Island and see all my beautiful babies...Kento, Riku, Kai, Kaylee, Kelsey, Kevin, Eva, and Luke. Also their mommies, daddies, uncles, aunts, grandpas, grandmas, and friends.
San Francisco is a great city and I hope to return someday, maybe I'll lead you all on a tour!

I love all of you and I'll see you soon.

Graduation...Elation!

Ok, The class is over, no more tests, route maps, commentaries, note-taking, citi-tours, overnight trips, endless classroom days. On Sunday we had the last class from 12:00 to 5:00. We had about an hour to go back to our rooms and get ready for the Graduation. When we returned the staff- members each had something to say to us, mostly congratulatory, and encouraging. We then received our certificates and our much-coveted ITMI lapel pin...

We then went up to the 25th floor of the hotel Nikko where we had a fabulous dinner and more of Ted's recommended wines.

We had a very nice time, and the hugs and promises to keep in touch ran rampant. Then we left and split up to find our own celebrations. The young kids went where young kids go and my group of new best friends and I went to a rowdy bar that featured "dueling pianos". We had drinks and sang-along at the top of our voices even if we didn't know the words because we have been taught how to do that at ITMI.

After we closed that bar we searched for a diner where we had breakfast because we knew we would be sleeping long past the time when free "continental" breakfast is offered in the hotel.

I know you are wondering if I will keep blogging after my trip is over. I will continue to blog here periodically but since it was designed to be a "travelogue" of my travels, I will probably keep it to news of my progress in getting a job now that I am certified and the when I do get a job I wll again take you along on my trips.

Thanks everyone for you support and encouragement. Writing this blog helped me to unwind after each busy day and to summarize the day. And it also gave me something to look forward to as I woke up to read your comments. I hope you all enjoyed my trip and my blog.

Thirteenth Class...Please!...

...foot and mouth disease!
This morning started out with an interesting set of activities for me. I was up late last night preparing my Colorado itinerary and got up early this morning to start on my Morocco itinerary and commentary for the written and oral final on Sunday.

When I realized that so much time had passed that I had only about 20 minutes to get dressed and ready to leave at nine I started rushing around to get ready. I went into the bathroom and brushed my teeth and decided that I had not enough time for a shower. So not wanting the maid to know that I didn't take a shower (she KNOWS who I am, I see her in the hall all the time!), I quickly ran the shower for a few minutes threw the towels and washclothes into the tub and opened the cabinet where I keep my toiletries and sundries and grabbed for my specialized GM Collin face cream that was especially selected for my unique skin type by my professional skin care specialist, only instead of that I grabbed my Kerasal foot lotion that was especially selected by me at CVS for my crusty achy feet, and proceeded to slather it all over my face. I actually smoothed it all over my face and neck before I realized the error of my ways.

It so freaked me out that I immediately jumped in the now steaming shower and did what I should have done at the start. At least now I wouldn't have to avoid eye contact with the maid should I meet her in the hall. I got out of the shower and dried myself with the already wet towels.

Now I was REALLY late so while rushing around straightening up the room (I always do that for the maid) I was putting away things from the kitchen counter while dressing at the same time. I put my deoderant in the refrigerator!

Well, I finally go out of the hotel, never did see the maid, and made my way down the hills to class. It was a full day of classroom note taking again but about 2 hours into it we get to take a quick "biological" break, as we call it in the business, but instead of that I made a beeline for the lobby of the hotel to get coffee which I didn't have time for before I left, one of my classmates, Mattie, caught up with me and said in her beautiful Arkansas accent, "Did you leave in a hurry this morning, darlin? Your shirt is on inside out!" So I took a detour to the ladies room and reversed my shirt and so had no time to get coffee. Some days you should just Stay in Bed!

So I apologize for my lack of inspirational or humorous blogging last night but I hope you get a feeling for the state of my stress level. Now, I am not complaining, this has been a most amazing, stimulating, and exciting experience but it has pushed me to the heights of my endurance, which I am sure is good preparation for Tour Directing.

Tomorrow...Morocco!
Tomorrow night...Graduation!

Twelfth Class...Busting my ass...

Today was another full classroom day about Train Tours, Student Tours, and Cruises. I'm not even kidding..I have no time to blog tonight. I have to map and route a Colorado Tour for tomorrow and prepare a tour for Morocco, which is the written final exam and an oral presentation for Sunday. So talk amongst yourselves and I will check in tomorrow.

Here are some more pictures of the Sundial Bridge..

Day Eleven...I have no more rhymes...

Just returned from our 2 day trip. It was pretty exhausting. The intention was to have us experience first hand what it is like to be on a tour as guests, but we also had to observe and learn how the tour leaders and guides handled the tour.

Today we left the Red Lion Hotel in Redding which is way up in
Northern California and we traveled east to Burney Falls:

We had a picnic lunch at Lassen Volcanic National Park:

We traveled past some awesome scenic vistas and saw amazing natural wonders.

While we were traveling over the road from one site to another we took turns presenting our 5 minute tour commentary to the group.

So it took the whole two-day trip to hear commentary from all 35 students. We had about a day to research and prepare our topic and present it in a way that was interesting and relevant to the area we were traveling in. Here is a link to my commentary if you care to read it http://tinyurl.com/6gtb79. Keep in mind that this is just the jist of what I wrote, my actual commentary was improvised...a lot.

Tomorrow is a classroom day again, when we will review the trip and the topics we learned about such as luggage handling, hotel check-in and check-out, driving directions, scheduling of rest-stops and meals...these are all things for which the tour director is responsible.

Then for Saturday we have to prepare and route a similar trip to Colorado...that is, map the route and prepare the schedule.

The day after that we get to do the same for a country...in my case, Morocco.

Wow!

Day Ten...On the Road Again...

Today we left the hotel at 8:00 am for our trip to Turtle Bay. Made a few stops along the way and listened to about 13 presentations. My turn didn't come up so I will be presenting tomorrow morning.

We saw the Sundial Bridge which is an amazing piece of architecture and the only working sundial bridge in the world...

We explored the Turtle Bay Exploratorium and saw the aviary and the butterfly house. The butterfly house was really beautiful. The aviary was really noisy.

We had dinner on the outdoor patio next to the Sundial Bridge, drank wine and watched the light slowly illuminate the bridge from below.

Tomorrow we go to Burney Falls and Lassen Volcanic National Park, including Summit Lake, Kings Meadow, Helen Lake, Hot Rock, Bumpass Hell, Little Hot Springs and the Sulfur Works. And then we go back to San Francisco and collapse in our hotel rooms.

Day Nine...trying not to whine...

..but they have really picked up the pace on level two!

I have to prepare a 5 minute talk for our "over-the-road" coach tour tomorrow. We leave at 7:30 am and head north to Lassen Volcanic National Park and Sundial Bridge, Shasta Dam, Turtle Bay Exploration Park, http://tinyurl.com/67m3hv and Burney Falls http://www.burney-falls.com/.

We will be there until Thursday night.

I have lots to do tonight to get ready...route the trip on the map, write the day-to-day itinerary,
and prepare my 5 minute commentary. And pack my bags for the trip.

So that's it for blogging tonight.

Excuse me while I whine...

Eighth Day...No time for play

Another jam-packed classroom day. We started level two today.

Lots of practical info about getting hired, and once hired how to actually approach managing a tour, mapping skills, history of the Tourism industry, and finally a quick exercize where we had to quickly research a topic for about a minute, and then make a 45 second verbal presentation. Everyone in the class seems to be doing better at presenting commentary and so it is becoming less stressful and more fun.

Sorry for such a short post but I have to prepare for a longer commentary which will be presented on the coach on Wednesday on the way to our overnight trip to Lassen Volcanic National Park. http://tinyurl.com/68js8h

So I will just post some pictures here and you can provide your own commentary.

Seventh Day...What can I say?...

...No rest for the weary.

This was our "final exam" for week one. "All-day practical application: Microphone, Giving Directions, Sightseeing: Commentary on City Tour Aboard Chartered Motorcoach"

Another intense day. We started out at 8:00 AM on the city tour again. This time we each had to take a turn at the mic in the front of the coach for about 10 minutes which felt like 100. Remembering my own advice the other day at my "Eureka" moment when I figured out that I wouldn't be nervous if only I knew the material and what to say, I watched the commentary of those who went before me and I mentally practiced what I would say about the sites ahead as well as I could estimate where we would be at my turn. However when my turn came we were in a transitional portion of the tour where, shall we say, there is nothing to see! Don't ask what I said...I have no idea!

After the city tour, we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge and continued north to Sausalito, which is a beautiful seaside town with the feel of the some of the towns along the Amalfi Coast. The views there and toward the city of San Francisco were lovely.

Like this....

And these...

As I walked along the pier in Sausalito with two of my classmates, Emily (Michegan) and Christine (California), we came upon the most amazing "street performer" I have ever seen. He was a rock stacker. Words are not needed to describe this...

We walked a little further and this is who we met...

We then got back on the bus and drove north to wine country in Sonoma County to the Viansa Winery http://www.viansa.com/ for a wine tasting. That was nice.

On the ride back to the city we had to take another turn at the mic but this time was more informal. We were asked to speak to the group for about a minute on anything we wanted relevant to San Francisco or California touring. Just another form of Trial by Fire.

As if all that wasn't enough we then had to have a one-on-one evaluation about our performance for the first week, receive a packet of information about a topic that we will have to speak about during our overnight tour next week.

Did I mention that this was an intense day?

Six Days...Into the Haze

It really was a hazy day today! The first day all week that the sun hardly shone at all.

After an early morning meeting with one of our instructors, Randy in my case, to begin to prepare our resumes, we had a a free day to explore the city.
I met up with Emily, the other Photographer in the group and we went to the Yerba Burna Gardens http://tinyurl.com/6ana9s, a major redevelopment area devoted to art, theater, entertainment and children. It's Center for the Arts has galleries, a media room and a 755-seat theater. There is also a 5-acre esplenade, outdoor stages, ice skating rink and a 12-lane bowling center, a day-care center and a children's gardening center. We shot waterfalls, flowers, and the Martin Luther King Memorial Waterfall, where the inscription reads:

"...we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream."

Martin Luther King, 1963, Washington DC


After that, Emily and I met up with Mike and Judy (they are from Michegan, Washington DC and South Carolina) and we took an open-top guided bus tour of the city. This was fun and we got to see again all the sights that we will be guiding our group thru tomorrow. Hopefully with better results than the first time we did it. Because this time we will actually be evaluated on our performance as the final exam for the first week.

Our open-air journey took us over the Golden Gate Bridge and "into the haze." It's a good thing that it was such a fantastic spectacle because otherwise I would have realized how utterly freezing I was. As we crossed over the bridge it was literally being swallowed by the descending fog...


We had lunch at Pier 39, did some window shopping, bought

Ghirardelli Chocolate, and took the tour bus back to Union Square to return to our hotels to hit the books again.

Day Five...I'm Still Alive

Today we went to the Airport to get first hand knowledge about what goes on behind the scenes at Homeland Security and how to handle issues related to customs and Border Protection Regulations.

I think the most eye-opening fact we learned was that when travelers buy items in foreign countries from street people, don't lie I know you all have done this...pocketbooks, jewelry, clothing items, things that you might purchase for cash from the "merchants" who lay their wares out on a sheet on the sidewalk, you are actually contributing to the drug trade, prostitution, child pornographers, and other underworld criminals. That's who is supplying this stuff to the peddlers, and that's who is making the money. So even if you think you are getting a great bargain, you need to consider who is making the money on this and who is suffering for it. So DON'T DO IT! And that's all the preaching I will do here about that.

After the airport, we went back to class and took a test on the city tour that we did the other day and then 3 hours of class.

We learned that San Francisco is 49 square miles, is the #1 tourist destination in America, is the 4th largest city in California with a population of approximately 776,000. And the state motto is "Eureka!" which means "I have found it", referring to the discovery of gold in 1849. The state animal is the grissley bear.

Tonight I have lots of work to do to prepare for my turn at the mic on our city tour on Sunday.

I am less concerned about microphone anxiety and more concerned about actually saying something intelligent and informational for my tour group. I think when I know what to say, I won't be as nervous about saying it with the microphone. By George, I think I've got it!

Eureka!

Day Four...So much more!

Today was another long classroom day. We learned lots of tips and ideas about how to deal with issues, personalities, problems, group dynamics, coach drivers, tour directors, step-on tour guides and, ready for this?...Transactional Analysis, http://tinyurl.com/586org,
I'll leave it to you to find out what that is if you care to. Interesting stuff and very useful for dealing with relationships and interactions with individuals and groups.

A bunch of us went for a gourmet lunch of Hot Dogs consumed on the steps of Union Square.

Back to class and we worked on our resumes which will be professionally done for us before we leave for home next week.
In their infinite wisdom the ITMI staff does not want to give us the option on not getting a job after we graduate! These people are hard-core!

After class dinner was drinks and appetizers at a local joint with a variation of the same group and then back to our hotels to hit the books and prepare for tomorrow's test.

Tomorrow morning we head for the airport to learn about check-in procedures, customs & immigration, homeland security, and other airport issues, then back to class for a written exam, then afternoon of more classroom stuff.

Gotta hit the books...
More to come...

Day Three..Yippee!

Today was our San Francisco City Tour. It was great! A four-hour coach tour of the complete city. Our guide was Nicole who is the OSC or On-Site Coordinator of ITMI. She is a wonderful tour guide and a great example for us to emulate. Most of us couldn't imagine being that knowledgable about the tours we will be leading. But she has done it many times and so has had lots of practice. San Francisco is a beautiful city with a rich history and seeing it with someone who had so much knowledge and a flair for description made it all the more fascinating.

To add to the color of the day we had an experience that demonstrated one of the concepts we had already learned...that is, that unexpected things happen on tour and part of the tour directors job is to figure out how to deal with them. We were heading for the Golden Gate Park
http://tinyurl.com/4v9o8, when Al, the coach driver was making a hairpin turn on a narrow street and there was a car illegally parked on the right side at the curve. Most of the bus got thru but when Al realized he wasn't going to make it without taking out the back rear quarter of the car about 5 or six of my classmates got off the bus and literally picked up the car and moved it over about 6 inches so the bus could pass thru. I got out of the bus too, but not to pick up the car...to take the picture!
It's one of those things that makes a trip even more memorable.

After lunch (seafood bisque in a sourdough breadbowl) at Pier 39, http://tinyurl.com/65kfyn, the second half of the day was a repeat of the same tour, except Nicole sat this one out and we each took a turn in the tour guide's seat. The hardest thing about this was not knowing what the hell we were supposed to be describing. So there were some pretty funny improvisations. We were told that it wasn't as important that we didn't remember what to say but how we handled the microphone and moving around a moving bus without killing ourselves or the other passengers.
Well, I haven't been expelled from school yet so I guess I did ok.

After the tour was over, I went to Chinatown with Emily, one of my classmates from MI and then to a sushi restaurant to gain strength to make it back up the hill to do my homework.

More to come...

Day Two...Whew!

We're just getting warmed up. Today was a looonnnng day. 10:00-6:00. We learned about being city tour guides and how to create word pictures while traveling with tour groups in motor coaches. I am not going to go into all of the points here with you because it will either bore you to death or, if it doesn't bore you to death I will have to kill you. Pay for your own course!

At the end of the day we were assigned a particular point of interest that will be on the city tour we will go on tomorrow. We had a few minutes to create a word picture of that feature and then stand with the mic and present it in a 30 second description. My topic was Treasure Island
A little less queaziness this time. But still a face flushing rush.

The short version is...Treasure Island is a manmade Island built with 20 million cubic feet of sand and mud dredged from the bottom of the bay. It was created to be the site of the Golden Gate International Exposition of 1939. It was scheduled to become San Francisco Airport after the Expo closed but with the outbreak of WWII it became a Navy base instead. The base has been closed since 1997 and now the area is primarily residential.
The long version is here: http://tinyurl.com/6jalug


Tomorrow we take a city tour as guests in the morning with a guide on a motor coach and in the afternoon we take a city tour as the guide. That is, on the coach, with the mic, describing the points of interest. Queaziness, thy name is microphone.

First Day of School...just a quick note...

...because I have homework to do.

Introductions of the teachers, their backgrounds, the background of how the school came to be, and a general overview of the whole 2-week course.


When it came time to introduce ourselves, which I admit, had me a little queazy in anticipation, they had us do it in a unique way. We had to pair up with the person we were sitting next to and interview each other for about 15 minutes, after which time we had to stand in front of the class at the microphone and introduce that person to the group, telling what we learned about them.
It actually was a little easier than talking about oneself.


We then learned about the different types of tour director jobs and how they differ and finally we ended the session with a wine tasting. Evidently tour directors need to know about these things so they can recommend wines to their tour groups. I think I'm gonna like this job!


After class the group of 35 split into smaller groups and went to dinner/sightseeing or whatever they needed or wanted to do. I went to dinner with five people. They were from SC, MI, WI, DC, WA. There is wide range of states and Canada represented in the class and the age range is 21 to 60's (9 people in their 60's). So the "fitting in" issue is resolved. I'm still working on the "sleeping more than 4 hours" issue.

I have homework reading to do so I will say Hai, God nat, Goeienacht, Gute Nacht, Buonoa Notte, Iyi geceler, Lala khale and good night.

The first person who can name all the languages I just said "good night" in will receive a San Francisco souvenir.

An Apple for My Teacher...

...or two apples. Couldn't hurt, right?

When I was a kid Moma used to help me pick flowers from the snow-ball bush, Viburnum opulus http://tinyurl.com/6ls3by in the backyard, to bring to my teacher.

There are no "snow-balls" in San Francisco so I have to rely on the old standard teacher-bribe.

Jewels in the Square

As soon as I figure out how to upload a video that I shot of a blues band that was performing in Union Square on Sunday I will upload it. In the meantime look at the pictures and try to imagine how good this blues band was. It was an art exhibit and free performance.

The Streets of San Francisco

So bright and early right after breakfast at the hotel I set out to find the Nikko Hotel where my class will begin tomorrow. It's less than a 10 minute walk and it's all downhill. That's good. However, going back to my hotel after school will be all uphill. That's bad.



After I found the Nikko I decided to explore the city a bit. My plan was to see the Ansel Adams musuem of Photography. I walked and turned and walked some more and turned again and continued to walk and turn until I got my bearings. Unfortunately by the time I did that I realized that there were more people sleeping on the street than there were walking on the street. Just a little backtracking and I was in a better place figuratively and literally!


I finally found Ansel's place but it wasn't open yet. So I decided to head for the SF Bay Coastline called the Embarcadero.
Along the way I passed edifices http://tinyurl.com/5hbgyk & orifices, structures http://tinyurl.com/5k9euo & sculptures http://tinyurl.com/63oj7b, new churches and old churches, stores & Starbucks. It was a walk worthy of my most comfortable pair of shoes, which I wasn't wearing, but I persevered and it was well worth the effort. The San Francisco/Oakland Bay Bridge http://tinyurl.com/5qy8bj is lovely as is the Embarcadero promenade.


Heading back to my hotel I passed the famous Chinese Gate http://tinyurl.com/58txfd which is the portal to San Francisco's Chinatown. Stopped at a little cafe and got a sandwich to take back to the hotel to enjoy while I elevated my aching feet http://tinyurl.com/5gwg5s.

The Bomb

I made it. It was a long day of travel, that's bad. But it was fairly uneventful, that's good.

The first flight, Islip to Las Vegas, was 5 hours and my chatty seatmate was, of all things, a photographer who talked my head off about f-stops and cameras and lenses and studios and props and lights and blah blah blah. Aside from the fact that I was so tired from no sleep it wasn't that bad and I figured if I had to be paired with a traveller who loves to talk at least she talked about stuff I knew about.

When I got to Las Vegas and said good-bye to my new best friend I had one hour to make it to my connecting flight. Luckily it wasn't too far but when I got there I found that the flight was delayed 1 hour. Was told boarding would be 12:00 so what the hell, I'll play a slot machine to kill some time. I won $20.00 and figured that not only did I not lose my lunch money, I actually made some money for lunch so I had the worst slice of "New York" pizza known to man. Places that are not New York should not call their stuff "New York" stuff. It isn't.

On the last leg of the flight I sat between two even more chatty women who were actually together so they chatted across me. They chatted about movie stars, my least favorite subject and movie stars clothes, my even more least favorite subject. By the time my eyes were glazing over and my ears were burning I was wishing for my chatty photographer seat-mate.

Just goes to show ya, No matter how annoying things are they can always get more annoying.

I got my luggage, found the shuttle and was delivered to the Mayflower Hotel. Checked in to room 502 and unpacked. Its a very comfortable simple hotel, my room is perfect, the walk-in closet is huge...I should have brought more clothes. And the best part is there is a market right next door. So I bought some basics and I am set.

I'm too tired to explore, I'll leave that for tomorrow. But so far San Francisco is THE BOMB!

Getting Ready

I am all set to begin my Big Adventure. I'm heading to San Francisco tomorrow morning (8/9/08) to take a 2-week training course to become a Tour Director. Since I love to travel but have no money to do so, I tried to think of a way to get paid to do it. ITMI (International Tour Management Institute) http://tinyurl.com/64q2o8 is hopefully the answer to my prayers.

If I do well, no small feat since I haven't been in a classroom for 35 years, I will apply to several Tour companies and hopefully get hired to be a tour director, that is the person who supervises tour groups thru their trips. It seems to be an ideal career for me since I love to travel and I love to boss people around.

I leave Saturday at 8:00 AM and arrive in SF at 1:00 PM after a stop-over in Las Vegas. I'll try not to lose my lunch money there. I'll spend the weekend getting set up in the
Hotel Mayflower http://tinyurl.com/6db9jc and begin class at the Hotel Nikko http://tinyurl.com/6owk8c on Monday at noon.

Stay tuned here for updates and pictures from my trip...and...wish me luck!!!

I am OUTTA here!