On her way home, Andrea reflects on her whirlwind trip through Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.
What an incredible month this turned out to be! Looking through all the photos on Facebook is amazing… how did we fit that much in?!? And how did we have that much fun?!?
What the pictures don’t show was the exhausting pace of travel as well as the working until midnight on our laptops moments, but they were there too! I feel incredibly lucky that I got to have Anna with me on this trip. It was wonderful how well we got along and as Operations Manager it is key that she knows our guides and the places we visit as well as I do. She was a great travel companion and as you can see from the photos we had a lot of laughs. We are also an incredibly productive team.
Andrea and Anna — JW’s dynamic duo.
Together we interviewed all of our guides and got to know each one so we can really connect our guests with guides that will suit their interests and attitudes. We inspected and reviewed countless hotels and I loved some of the new properties we visited. We also tried out new tours and checked old tours. As we went I feel we perfected our existing tours, found exciting restaurants to add to our cheat sheets and just generally set an even stronger foundation for great tours. Over the next few days I’ll list some of my favorite things, but suffice it to say that my favorite thing, without a doubt, as I wing my way back to the U.S., is my team! Ron, Bee, Aoy, Gina, New, Phaeng, Thuong, Binh, Khoa, Michelle, Daisy, Mia, Narla, Miranda, Holly, Regine, Linda, Leak, Kanika and all our amazing guides were by far my favorite part of the trip. They all hold a special place in my heart, I’m lucky to have them on my team and in the Journeys Within Family.
To see the photos of our exciting Guide Training 2013 please visit us on Facebook and check out our country albums.
Our theme for this years Guide Training is Countless Experiences. Two years ago we highlighted our guides as our Stars, but this year we really wanted to highlight how our guides are key in making the experiences we include in tours so amazing. One of the reasons our guests travel with us is because we’ve put together unique and creative experiences that really are an entree into the countries we visit. Whether it’s taking a culinary tour in Bangkok, visiting a meditation center in Chiang Mai, learning to plant rice in Laos, taking a cooking course at a local home in Hanoi, visiting a hidden pagoda in Hue, having dinner with a Vietnam vet in Saigon or visiting a local village in Cambodia, these experiences are only as good as the guide leading them. As a company we pride ourselves on putting together incredible tours that allow guests to feel part of the communities they’re visiting, but without the guide these experiences are nothing.
Here are just a few ways our guides help guests maximize these unique experiences:
1. They get our travelers there and explain what it is they are seeing. When our guests are traveling in Southeast Asia they don’t necessarily know the history and culture and without this background the experiences aren’t as interesting. Visiting chanting monks and learning to give alms is hollow if you aren’t given the information on Buddhism and how it fits into the daily life of those living and practicing it. Giving guests the background knowledge allows the experience to really come alive and highlight the culture and people.
My daughter, Callie, participating in a Bacci ceremony in Laos. Our guide’s explanation allowed us to fully appreciate the ceremony and feel honored to be a part of it.
2. Translating for the guest. Things like dinner with a Vietnam vet or meeting a local monk or having lunch with a village chief, would be a long and very quiet affair without our guides. Key to the success of these experiences is the guide being able to open the path of communication between our guests and the local people they are meeting. I feel like I’ve had incredible conversations with local community members and it was all made possible because our knowledgeable guides translated what was being said.
Journeys Within guide, Binh, translating a wonderful conversation between myself and a local farmer in Central Vietnam.
3. They bring their passion and excitement to the experience. Getting into a helicopter in Cambodia and heading to Preah Vihear is going to be an amazing experience no matter what, but when our guide Sina is sitting next to you pointing out the window and exclaiming with pure delight at everything you can see from the air, even the most jaded traveler will feel his excitement. Our guides love their countries and are proud to share it with our guests and this pride and passion is probably what we hear the most about from guests in our feedback.
There were smiles all round when Siem Reap guide, Sina, accompanied a trio of Journeys Within guests to Preah Vihear.
This year we’ll be thanking our guides for really bringing the experiences we offer to life and giving our guests such incredible memories!… Read more »
Journeys Within founder Andrea Ross heads out on the road to reconnect with the people who make every Journeys Within experience a memorable one…
The little map on my in-flight screen shows that we’re half way from San Francisco to Seoul Korea, the first stop on my flight to Guide Training 2013! When we first started Journeys Within Tour Company we realized very quickly that the guides really were the key to our success. Originally it was hard, we were small and had fewer offices and we found that we were often having to use guides we hadn’t met ourselves. While the results weren’t catastrophic, they weren’t the experiences we wanted to offer. We realized that our guides in Cambodia got incredible reviews, but in other countries, where we didn’t live full time, the feedback was not as consistent. We realized that not only did we need to have a local presence in each country, but that we needed a team of guides who understood us, the company and our guests — from this our Guide Training was born. Now, after almost 10 years, calling it Guide Training seems a little silly, I don’t train! Our guides are the best and my visits to them and the fun we have is more of a team building and re-connection than a training. It’s also a lesson in endurance!
Over the next three weeks I’ll visit over 10 different cities in four different countries, I’ll meet with over 100 guides, stay in about 20 hotels and visit a lot more. We are going to do our own version of Iron Chef Thailand with my Bangkok guides, explore Mai Hong Son and Pai with our Northern Thailand guides, plant rice with my Laos guides, bicycle ride, cook and have a soccer championship with my Vietnam guides and zip line with my Cambodia guides! Many of these guides I’ve known for the last 10 years, life has happened around us, but we are still able to get together and connect every two years and I feel very honored to consider many of them friends.
This year is a great adventure because Anna Baldwin, our operations manager will be joining me and it will be fun to have a friend along for the ride that is Guide Training. There has been a promise of gin and tonics if we inspect more than 10 hotels in a single day, but I think I can talk her into it even if we’re around 5!
I will blog as I go, introduce some of the guides that have been working for Journeys Within for years and who make us what we are and about the hotels that we partner with that give our guests such wonderful service and attention. What I do is put together a puzzle, I bring in the hotels, the guides, the experiences and I put them together to create a picture that is that perfect trip for those travelers. I am not naive enough however to think that I can do it all on my own…each puzzle is only as strong as the pieces in it and many of those pieces are our amazing guides. I’m excited to see my old friends, to meet new guides and to share with them the challenges and successes of the last two years since we were all together last. I know that they all share the passion I have for travel, the love I have for Southeast Asia and the unending dedication to giving guests the best experience possible. Let Guide Training 2013 begin!… Read more »
Here are my top 5 favorite photos from guide training 2011. This part of the world is so beautiful, and of course I could not just choose 5 😉
Plowing a muddy field in LaosA lotus flower at an ancient house in HanoiSunset after a storm in the Mekong DeltaA Laos skyWat Pho at night in BangkokBonus: the morning march
9 days, 1 country and a truly amazing team…I am so excited to share our 2011 guide training journey with you and introduce you to our stars here in Vietnam.
In a nutshell we travelled from Hanoi down to Hoi An in the centre, on to Saigon in the south and deeper in to the Mekong through Cai Be, Vinh Long and Can Tho, before ending our journey in Chau Doc.
I can’t believe how fast the time went Andrea – did we really meet every guide, do so many inspections, as well as do all that cycling? You even squeezed in your first game of football and scored some goals!!!
Thank you everyone in the team. I can’t wait for the year ahead and to see you all again soon!
Our guides from Hanoi
Over two days we took part in activities in and around Dong Ngac Cultural village. This is an exceptional village full of history off the beaten track of the normal tourist routes and new to our guide team. I would like to personally thank the villagers who live here for opening their doors and welcoming us in to their homes. Over our time with them they patiently and proudly shared their family temple and community history so that we may learn and in turn offer this experience to our guests.
Our guides making lunch at Dong Ngac Village
It was challenging at the local market to see who could buy their ingredients first, peaceful when sauntering through the tranquil village, inspiring when visiting some of the historical homes, delicious when cooking and relaxing in the garden with a local family and heart-warming when helping the primary children with colouring their conical hats. We cycled on both days. On the first day the heavens opened and we enjoyed a very wet and fun bike ride through the neighbouring countryside. Thank goodness for warm rain and soft grass (when I skidded and fell off when coming down the hill). For the second day we were blessed with beautiful sunshine. Both rides were fun. It was such a great time as everyone in the team has such a great sense of humour…just like hanging out with friends.
Enjoying our lunch in Dong Ngac Village with guides and villagers
Our guides from Hoi An and Hue
We all met at the Secret Garden restaurant for lunch to share our ideas and take an afternoon bike ride on the islands. We cycled past local families making boats, coracles, mats, furniture; everyone we came across was so happy to chat. It was Sunday and there were weddings in full swing and music in the air as we passed by. Cycling over the floating bridge was something new. All too soon we arrived back at the boat to head back in to Hoi An for dusk and dinner. Andrea and I covered some inspection visits while we were in town, by bicycle of course! Ask Andrea about the Streets restaurant and of course we couldn’t leave without having dessert at the Cargo Club. We stayed at the Life Heritage Resort and I loved it here. I can’t wait to go back with my family!
Cycling over the floating bridge
Our guides from Saigon
This year the challenge was on for a football match with a final score of 11 to 5. Discussions are already underway to name the challenge activity for the coveted “Team Challenge Trophy” for next year. As for this year, needless to say some us were a little sore and bruised the next day.
Two of our guides joined us on our Mekong inspection trip. Arriving later in the day we took the local boat to check on some “Ancient House” home stays in Cai Be. It was a good time of day to be on the river as it was peaceful. We cruised by the moored Pandaw boat and as the sun went down we arrived on An Binh island where we stayed overnight at Nam Thanh home stay in Vinh Long. Relaxing in the hammocks strung up in the family’s peaceful garden was just what was needed. The next morning we set off at an early 7:30 am to cycle around the island and were lucky to find Andrea’s camera when she discovered it had dropped out along the bike path as she held her breath going past a fish area. By lunchtime we were at Mr. Bac Nam’s home stay (Cai Tac) and were treated to singing and guitar playing over family lunch. Just enough time to squeeze one final bike ride along the river and back before we were picked up and made our way to Chau Doc for our journeys end and our last evening.
Trying out a new tour on the Mekong
Early yesterday morning Andrea caught the speedboat on to Phnom Penh where her story will continue…
And here is the video with many more pictures from this amazing guide training trip!… Read more »
