A Season of Learning

Have you ever had a moment when you stop, look around and think to yourself that you can't actually believe that your life is actually your life.

This time last year I spontaneously decided to join some good friends of mine from South Africa on a Contiki tour in Europe, as I was living in Scotland working at an office job that had absolutely nothing to do with the Photojournalism that I studied. So in an attempt to change things up I set off to Berlin to start a 14 day trip through Europe.
 
What can I say...it was amazing! I met so many people from all over the world – America, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Korea, China and the United Kingdom. We bonded as travelers and explored Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary together. We laughed, we drank, we sang, we got lost a lot but we also opened our minds to the culture and history of these other countries and at the end it was hard to say goodbye. So I didn't. With the help and advice of my fabulous tour manager Emma I filled in my application form to work for Contiki as a tour manager.


Two interviews, one massive assignment and 66 days of training going to 23 countries later and I was a trained tour manger about to go out on my first tour. Nervous beyond belief clinging to the hope that the intensive training, that I like to refer to as a mixture of the Amazing Race game show and military training, would be enough to get me through my first tour – The European Contrast.


Since training I have been on tour for a sum total of 86 days during which I have completed four tours and taken 194 clients through Europe. I still catch myself not quite believing that my life is my life. Normal people don't have breakfast in the Netherlands, lunch in Belgium and then go to bed in the United Kingdom. They don't walk the streets of Rome describing the ancient Roman history linked to the magnificent sights to be found there. They don't get to experience different cultures on a daily basis and let their curiosity go wild. But as a Contiki tour manager I do, and as difficult as this job can be, which don't get me wrong it definitely can be, it is also the most amazing job I have ever had.


Although this year working as a first year tour manager I have not had much time to do any photographing with my DSLR I have tried to keep in the photographing habit with my mobile phone. So I decided to put some of my photos in a slideshow to give people a look into what I have been doing this past year and hopefully inspire some people to put themselves out there and apply for crazy sounding jobs that can change your life.