Tour Managers Tales

Had a day out at the Olympic National Park, it was exciting ... thick fog and rained most of the day .. no scenery, would have been as well staying at home, one good thing though, had fish and chips at The Landing in Port Angeles, excellent, highly recommended. Tonight just having a quiet night in, getting my information sheets ready for my group to hand out tomorrow, before we join the Norwegian Pearl for the Glacier Bay itinerary to Alaska.

Arrived in Seattle last night (Thursday) after a great flight with BA fantastic crew they were short staffed but they never let it bother them... Thank you Diana (CSD) and all the crew on BA49. Woke up this morning to a really dull day and pouring with rain.. a typical North West day. Just about to have lunch ... hitting the hot time with my friend Mavis, Subway Salad (very healthy) accompanied by a bottle of lovely New Zealand white should be nice ...

Hello, have spent the night in Croydon, had a few drinks and a curry ... was in a nice deep sleep, which I needed, and then awakened by the Hotel fire alarm .... the time 03.20 !!! not happy, ended up outside for 40 minutes in the rain and cold, eventually back into bed at 04.00. Its 08.15 now and starting to get ready to leave for Heathrow T5, and check in for my flight to Seattle. Thank you BA cabin crew for coming to work. Have a great day and catch you from Seattle, Washington on Friday.

Well back home for a day and a half..... just enough time to get the laundry and paperwork all done. Tomorrow heading to Seattle with BA - with a non striking crew, thank you ...... this is the start of another Alaska Cruise, but have 3 nights in Seattle first, board the ship, The Norwegian Pearl for a 7 day Glacier Bay cruise. (www.ncl.com). Better get on with the packing, nice to be home and have some decent weather though. Just one last thing, on the flight home on Monday night, never guess what I had sitting beside me .... you got it a baby... she was sweet, slept most of the way and was contented the rest of the time.... maybe just restored my faith in children again ... yeah right !!!

Hello, well another great day over, have been out all day to Vancouver Island, visiting Victoria and the beautiful Butchart Gardens, left this morning at 08.30 and just got back at 21.30 ... the ferry crossing is one hour forty each way ... the weather was a bit cool and damp this morning but did brighten up very nicely as the day went on, I am off to bed now, another early start tomorrow (Monday), have a tour to the Harbour Centre followed by lunch at one of my favourite restaurants, Aqua Riva, then its back to the hotel, check out and head to the airport, for the 17.05 Air Canada service back to London.

Hello, after a week at sea in Alaska I am now back on dry land .... had a great week, seen loads of whales, bald eagles even a bear... the weather was fantastic, visited, Ketchikan, Juneau, the Endicott Arm to see the glacier, then onto Skagway, and the last stop was Prince Rupert, British Columbia. Had some nice dinner and watched a couple of shows on the ship, check out ...  www.whatanightribute.com   a fantastic group of guys, doing all the Frankie Valli songs, I really enjoyed it, makes me now want to go and see Jersey Boys. I am back in Vancouver  for a couple of nights, sailed out of Seattle, that was a fiasco last Saturday, I arrived at the Canada/USA border at 09.30 and was eventually processed and on our way at 15.10 !!!! yeah 5.5 hours at the border, welcome to the USA ... the ship was due to sail at 16.00 and I was still 113 miles away 2 hours driving ... NCL were great and the Captain was wonderful he waited for us but it was a close thing, we had just under 200 people on o

Friday night .... arrived in Vancouver intact, had another great day, travelled from Kamloops, had a nice bowl of homemade soup at the Blue Moose in Hope, as good as ever, then it was onwards to Vancouver, had a city tour when we arrived, haven't been here for 11 months and my god did I do some yacking ... just like I had never been away ... this is a great city, there is something for everyone !! well an early (ish) night, 7am start in the morning as we have to head to Seattle, we are 4 groups of us ... all leaving at the same time it will like waky races, trying to see who will get to the US border first....rushing to get interrogated, photographed and printed... then on to Seattle and settle into the Norwegian Star and get ready to start what I hope is going to be a nice relaxing week ... 

Thursday, well it is farewell to Banff, as we now make the journey to British Columbia and Kamloops for our overnight. Another great weather day, the sun is shining and the temperature is rising .... the journey took us down toward the Rogers Pass, on the way we stopped to view a lovely little black bear, eating on the railway line, (they do this as the grain trains drop some of their load, an easy meal), it was onwards to Three Valley Gap for lunch, what a beautiful location, continuing on to Salmon Arm, spotted a few Osprey soaring above, arrived into Kamloops at about 16.15, changing soon and heading out for a beer and dinner.

Wednesday - Another sunny day here in Banff, still chilly early morning but only -3 today, getting warmer this afternoon expected high of around 16... have just seen my group away, they are off to the Columbia Ice Field, and a trip onto the Athabasca Glacier, so now have the rest of the day off, which was unexpected, I am working beside another one of our groups, so we combined then today, and the other TM, has gone, so she said I didn't need to go.... therefore a free day for yours truly.. now what to do !!! Shopping, eating and maybe a sleep ...catch up on the jet lag ..   Nice to see at last we have some Government back home, may not be the ideal solution but under the circumstances,  I wish them well and hope that they can prove the sceptics wrong ...

Hello, from Banff in the heart of the Canadian Rockies, a bit cold this morning -5 but a a sunny day ahead, visiting today, Lake Louise, still a lot of snow around some at ground level and the mountains are still well covered. The flight in yesterday was a bit long, had to do a massive detour to avoid the volcanic ash, arrived in Calgary one and half hours late, and that was topped off with having 3 under 4 year old sitting beside me on the plane, I was not a happy soul, children should not be allowed to travel beside other human beings, I am sure they must have space in the hold for them !!!