Tour Guide - 5 Bad Things About Working As a Tour Guide

Overall being a tour guide is the best job in the world. There is no other job you want to do with a good group on a good trip. But there are a few things that can lead your lifestyle to a terrible journey.

Travel

Traveling is hard and every two days I work as a land guide in a new city. I often forget where I am, what language I'm going to speak, and what currency I'm going to pay. I had to wake up in another bed, another place, and sometimes lay there trying to remember where I was. Sleeping overnight is completely different. If you sleep on a roller coaster bus without pill-induced bus sleep, chiropractor intervention is required. Travel pillows don't work and the neck / back is always stiff.

wage

Few people believe they will be paid for something, but the average Overland tour guide is paid well below the concept of minimum wages. Consider calling for 24 hours a day for about a month. Does $ 40 a day sound unrealistic? It's not!

Guidebook

Many guidebooks are not only unresearched and inaccurate, but are not always up to date. If you are an independent traveler, serve the purpose of a city map that introduces attractions and highlights. If you paid to join a tour group, your food you may have tried all the dishes in the premature book with bad restaurant suggestions or all menus in all facilities I'm going to trust a personal tour guide that I love! Too many passengers start the sentence "But my guidebook ..."

Holiday spirit

Most passengers are well-educated and ordinary people, but strange things happen as soon as you get off the plane abroad. They return to age 5. Everyday activities become difficult and common sense disappears completely. Typical questions include: “Do you like this food? What should I wear? Should I bring my camera?”

You can tie shoelaces, but many people struggle to walk around and look around at the same time. As with a kindergarten teacher, you need to stop by for those who are hungry / thirsty, who need to go to the bathroom, and who are slippery.

feedback

Feedback is how the headquarters knows what is happening in the group. Passengers are asked to complete a detailed report on travel and tour guides. In general, working hard and doing a good job can provide a great trip to the group, but there is a personality conflict and you know that whatever you do, bad reports are sent.

The bad thing is the feedback sent by individuals who have spent time in their lives and said you are doing a great job, but according to their writing they have had a terrible time and you are terrible did. These emotional wounds explain the email from the boss, the possibility of a phone call to the office, and the demotion from a fun trip to a boring trip that no one wants to guide.

So don't carry a guidebook and try to find a good group that is true when you say you're having the best holiday ever!