"It rains a lot in Scotland and I suggest you all bring your wet weather gear." These famous last words were to my group of aspiring walkers in the weeks leading up to our departure from Australia. As it turned out we only had one day of rain while the other days were hovering around 30 degrees. Unheard of in Scotland, but then the whole of Europe was basking in one the hottest summers this century. This is just one of the many tricks life plays on you when leading tours to the far flung corners of the globe.
I used to manage supermarkets in Edinburgh before deciding there was more to life so I gave up this illustrious career to lead expeditions to way out places such as Iran and Nepal. After many years on the road I now manage a travel agency and send people to these same places I used to travel through. For nearly twenty years I have been helping people reach their travel goals and each person or group brings with it new and rewarding experiences. From introverts to extroverts and the many shades inbetween, it’s not easy dealing with new personalities with all their frustration, anger, love and probably every other emotion known to the Human Race. But it’s a challenge and challenges are what keep us all going.
Are leaders born or made? This is an age old question and one which I think will never be settled. Personally I think people are born to lead. You either have the leadership qualities and personality, charisma, morality and environmental awareness, or you don’t. But there have also been moral leaders with neither personality nor charisma and of course evil ones with both. Chris Bonnington, the mountaineer, is one of my heroes. He is, in my mind, one of the most successful and respected leaders of people and one who all expeditioners and laypersons alike have come to respect. Not only is he up against the mountain itself, but against the egotistical and powerful personalities of the world’s best mountaineers all competing against each other for that elusive chance at the summit.
Leading is definitely not a nine to five job. Try twenty fours a day, seven days a week for the duration of the expedition. You just can’t switch off half way through some obscure border crossing at eight o’clock at night or ignore a local rebellion because it’s just gone midnight or relax whilst one of your climbers is overdue in bad weather. The safety and health of the group is of more importance than budgets and after- trip questionnaires.
While leading Kathmandu to London ‘overlands’, I found that the Middle East border crossings were the most testing and potentially dangerous part of being a leader. Diplomacy is important in order to get the truck and the punters through with minimum fuss and exposure to the local border security personnel. The truck meant Western women and a rush to show the male Middle Eastern hospitality! What do you do when a border Police Chief wants you to leave his office with just him and one of the girls left behind? You can’t! You just grit your teeth, take deep breaths and talk.
A fast and efficient crossing could be conducted in three hours, otherwise a day could be eaten up with tedious and sometimes unnecessary bureaucracy. Experience taught me how to save a few minutes here and there. Although border crossings were always harrowing experiences there were many lighter moments such as playing cricket with Pakistani customs officials or playing soccer with Syrian immigration officers.
One of the funniest situations was leaving Nepal at one of the border crossings into India. It can be painstakingly slow at the best of times but on this occasion it was discovered that one of the passengers did not have an entry stamp into Nepal and therefore could not possibly leave the country. The official explained she would have to go back to the immigration office in Kathmandu to be officially stamped in as how could she possibly be stamped out if she had not been stamped in? It wasn’t my fault but the fault of his contemporary in Kathmandu and after four or five hours of tedious negotiation, the passport was finally stamped in and out at the same time. I didn’t ask any further questions.
Leading treks to the remote high altitudes of Nepal can also be very frightening. Not only are you isolated from your normal environment but the possibility of someone being affected by altitude sickness adds another dimension. This can hit anyone at any time for any reason and it is very important that everyone watches each other for the affects. Of course being the leader and having been high before doesn’t stop you from feeling the affects of altitude. It is a very hard decision advising someone to turn back who has their mind set on reaching Everest Base Camp and who has paid their life savings for this trip. If they refuse to descend, what can you do?
A leader can make or break your holiday, but how can you choose your leader? In most instances you can’t, you just pay your money and take your chances. However, boutique tours are on the increase as more and more people become reticent about paying good money only to have a bad leader ruin their holiday. Just look in the travel sections of the media and see how many special interest tours are being advertised. You can even go to a slide show and probably actually meet the leader and the group before you pay that dreaded non-refundable deposit. I lead a walking tour in Scotland every year and I make a point of talking to all clients about what is included and what they should expect from me.
There are many reasons why people choose certain tours above others. Would you prefer a Western leader or a Nepalese one to show you the beauty of The Himalaya? How much are you prepared to pay? Do you prefer the unknown or the known? Which company? As a travel agent who also leads trips I perhaps find it easier than others to advise which trip is best for my client. Client feedback is also very important to me as it gives me a feel for a particular company. However not all trips go according to plan and it’s not easy explaining to a really good client that she was quite unlucky to have a courier aptly named Stiffy, who spent most of his time bonking his girlfriend?
In the words of Ross Evans-Smith "beware of ‘infatuence back packus’ - a cruel disease which can affect the whole group when a leader is struck down. This means he or she (usually male but we can’t be too sexist here) has succumbed to the amorous advances of a member of the opposite sex among the tour group. Conquest of the least attainable person while on their overseas adventure is something to quietly brag about five years later when flicking through photo albums of drunken barbeques, having returned home to marry waiting boyfriends/girlfriends and to settle back in the suburbs. Signs of the disease to look for are your tour leader carrying someone else’s luggage when pre-trip instructions clearly stated that you would be pulling your own weight; jaunty whistling his/her way to cold showers in Turkish camp grounds and certain individuals being excused bus washing duties so they can wash their hair."
I used to choose leaders for a trekking company in Nepal and I found it very hard to find good all round leaders. There aren’t many people out there with the people skills, the destination knowledge, first aid qualifications and a sense of humour who can form a group into a homogeneous entity. There are people who are not suited to group travel but through one reason or another are on the tour. They can be very demanding, obnoxious, loud, quiet, lonely but a good leader will be able to create a sense of harmony and a feeling of mutual respect. One trait I like to see in leaders is one of unobtrusive awareness. Once the group is behind the leader, the tour will become so much more enjoyable and rewarding.
Both as a leader and a travel consultant, the ultimate is to know that all clients are happy with your service and that they felt you did a good job. Neither job pays well but the satisfaction of helping people enjoy their holiday at any level is always high. It’s a lifestyle and a challenge. Sometimes a very stressful lifestyle I may add but one where money isn’t everything.
In my mind the quality of any tour is only as good as the leader. Talk to anyone who has been on an escorted tour and you will find this to be true. The leader is the last one you deal with in a company and if you are dissatisfied with the qaulaity of leadership, word soon passes around. However, it’s your holiday and your money so you have to make the most of your time and energy.
Meeting the group for the first time can be the most intimidating part of any trip. I look for couples, the quiet ones. the talkative ones and the potentially obnoxious ones. In any group there will be instant friendships, instant confrontations, constant learning from each other and the environment, as well as domestic issues between couples and of course the usual ‘boy meets girl’ scenes. It’s just all part of group dynamics.
Once the trip has commenced my first job is to build up that mutual respect. I am the arbitrator between each personality and it is up to me to treat everyone equally and not to leave anyone on the outer. It’s not always easy asking an ardent feminist to respect local customs and to dress accordingly. And how do you deal with someone who constantly holds the group back by always returning late from excursions? However, sometimes the group itself can deal with certain issues. As a leader I follow my own rules of avoiding confrontation, being unobtrusively aware at all times and by being an equal member of the group.
Some of my best friends I have met on the road. I have just been to Brisbane for the wedding of a girl who was with me in Scotland last year and next week I am off to another wedding of a guy who was in one of my groups trekking to Everest Base Camp in Nepal.
I’ll leave you with a funny episode which happened to Sally Goldstraw of Intrepid Travel whilst leading a group in Sabah. "We were on the lookout for the elusive Sumatran rhinoceros. The forest floor was dank and musty below our feet as my group was creeping quietly through the sweaty undergrowth. Suddenly one of the group let out an ear piercing scream and started ripping down her pants. Has she gone troppo? Surely two hours in the jungle can’t have led to this behaviour. She started to scream "Will someone get this goddamn thing out of me...." On closer examination of the white bum she was pointing at, I discovered a leach trying to crawl through her anal sphincter. That in itself was quite amusing but this soon changed and the smile on my face rapidly disappeared when I realised all the other members of the group had backed away and it was going to be my job to remove it.....!!"
WHAT TO LOOK FOR BEFORE CHOOSING AN ESCORTED TOUR
1) If booking through a travel agency, has the travel agent been on the tour/expedition themselves? If not, has he or she been to the destination before? Have you been shown the complete range of brochures or just that selected few?
2) Are both the tour company and travel agency licensed? All travel agencies in Australia must be licensed by law and most travel agencies will only deal with licensed tour operators.
3) If an Australian based company, can you meet the leader before making a decision?
4) What experience and qualifications does the tour company’s leaders have - eg First Aid?
5) Does the company in question have slide shows?
6) What professional insurance cover does the company have?
7) Have any of your friends been on one of their tours and will they recommend this company to you? Personal recommendations are usually the best way of choosing what company to go with.
8) Is the tour exactly what you want? You may have to compromise for a number of reasons but it is worth looking around until you feel comfortable with your choice.
9) What back-up is there if something goes wrong on tour?
10) Read the brochure. Is it a physical tour? Are you medically fit enough?
WHAT TO WATCH FOR ONCE ON TOUR
1) Be careful of leaders with girlfriends or boyfriends within the group - a leader should not have their partner with them and should remain sexually apart from the group.
2) Beware of leaders on commission where you are taken to that ‘special’ carpet factory or that restaurant serving the ‘best’ food. Many leaders add to their income in this way but a good leader should put the group first, not themselves.
3) In the whole try and be part of the group dynamics. It is definitely to your advantage to read up about the areas you are visiting as time may be limited at ‘that’ museum, ruin or site. You have paid your money and you are there so you should plan your time carefully.
MEMOIRS OF A LEADER - Too many to relate about but here are just a few.
Spending four days in jail in eastern Turkey for accidentally hitting a policeman with the truck! I was messed around a bit by two of his mates but the court set me free when it realised the cause of the accident and what the cause of my injuries were.
Buying 500 litres of diesel in Iran for just one dollar.
Being asked on many an occasion and being offered vast sums of foreign money to sell one of the girls.
Watching precious water being needlessly thrown away in the middle of a desert when it should be mostly recycled.
Leading groups up Kala Pattar above Everest Base Camp with the mountain still three vertical kilometers higher and still feeling a sense of acheivement at reaching an altitude of just 5500 meters.
The freezing of diesel in my fuel tank in the middle of Turkey and learning some new ways of warming it up from the friendly locals!
Being woken up in the middle of the night by machine-gun toting border guards wondering who we were and why we were there.
Sharing the night warmth of a fire with a Turkish shepherd boy who stumbled upon our campsite - he with just a blanket and us with our down sleeping bags.
Enjoying the comraderie around a campfire on a Turkish beach or in the middle of an Indian or Pakistani desert.
Being an Agnostic I enjoyed being read certain pieces from the Bible by a client while sitting on Aaron’s tomb in Jordan and looking out over the area being talked about. Some of my RI from my school days started to make sense.
Having the satisfaction that I have done my best to give the clients the holiday they want both as a tour leader and a travel agent. And also knowing this to be the case with feedback from the clients through your peers and superiors.