Making plans for a vacation can be very exciting indeed. However, if you want the excitement to last throughout the trip, you need a personal tourist guide who’ll take charge of everything and make your trip a success. And, if you are a first-time visitor to a specific destination, you wouldn’t want to miss any part of the local fun.
Here are some tips to choosing the best guide:
They Should Love their Job
Unless a tour guide loves and enjoys their job, they won’t be doing full justice to their job. Any job done with passion is different from the one that’s done for the sake of doing it.
When the tour ends, an inspirational guide wouldn’t want you to miss a single exciting spot in the itinerary. Such people brim with enthusiasm that shows on their faces, because they love their country and the town they live in, and want all visitors to have a great time. Some tour guides wouldn’t want to change their profession for the love of money or anything else, and that’s the type of personal tourist guide you need.
They Should Have Rich Experience
A tour guide may be mannered and communicate well, but they can’t be of much use to you if they lack experience. It takes a lot of experience to manage tours and groups of tourists, with each person pulling in a different direction and wanting something different.
The best tour guide is one who can handle a group without annoying even a single member. They should respect people’s privacy and know when to give them space. All this takes years of experience to develop; hence the ideal guide would have 4 to 5 years of experience.
Good Listeners and Speakers
Understandably, a tour guide has to chatter endlessly. However, a great tour guide listens and speaks with equal diplomacy. You’ll quickly get bored if your guide sticks to the itinerary and doesn’t speak much. They need to treat you more as a person than as another tourist. They should understand your travel goals and endeavor to fulfill them to the best extent possible.
If you are a party animal, your guide will take you to the most happening place in town. If you are a food connoisseur, they’ll make sure you get the best street food in the city. A great personal tourist guide will give you an experience that you will never forget.
Demonstrating Great Personal Skills
An excellent tour guide is expected to demonstrate some great personal skills. Rather than being a translator reeling out facts and figures, they should add life to the way they present facts.
Merely getting the dates and events associated with a site makes things very mechanical and can bore you within minutes. A good tour guide has to be in total control of the group and the situation; and ensure that every member in the entourage enjoys it thoroughly.
Lively and Fun-Loving
Your tour guide should know how to have fun while conducting the group. The joy can often be infectious and cheers the entire group, making the tour a grand success. Besides the places of interest, they’ll know where to get the best local drinks and eats. They will take you directly to the most happening places where there’s fun and merrymaking all around. You can’t expect this from a person serious about their job and can’t relax while working.
Summing it Up
More often than not, it is the tour guide who makes the trip a memorable one. Apart from the experience and knowledge of local places, it’s the attitude that makes all the difference.
