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Well this it is, today I start leading a blind tour with 46 people on board for a company I've never heard of, with one days training!
I was up at the ungodly hour of 4:45am this morning, it was horrible waking up in a dorm and trying to not wake up the other people. I ended up giving up on that front. I walked down to Baker Street and got the first tube train to Canada Water. When I got there the bus wasn't there yet, so I went up to the office to sort out a few more things. I came out and was immediately swamped by about twenty people asking a hundred questions to which I had no answers. This is going to be fun, I thought.
I met my driver Garry, who thankfully is on his 6th circuit, so I'm not totally blind. I loaded up my passengers and then set off to collect some more people from the Ibis hotel. After the Ibis we headed straight out of London and down to Dover. On the way down I introduced myself and Gary and told them a little bit about the tour. It was so wonderful to have a completely captive audience hanging off my every word, instead of correcting me and wandering off, like my usual clients tend to do. I forgot how much I loved being on the bus.
We reached Dover and our ferry was running two hours late due to the bad weather. Garry and I managed to get on one for the same time, but going to Dunkirk instead which is a little bit out of the way, but still better than wasting two hours. I got back on the bus and announced this fact, along with the fact that the passengers did not have to get off the bus to check in as I had done it for them and lo and behold I got a round of applause, for doing something so simple.
We boarded the ferry and let the passengers off, Garry and I went up to the drivers lounge to chat about the rest of the tour and get massive discounts off the food. (We don't sit down stairs with the riff raff) Once we had finished, I went into the lounge area, which looked a little bit like the business section of an aircraft and sat down and immediately went back to sleep. I basically didn't wake up until we had reached France.
After arriving in Dunkirk, I reloaded all my passengers and then headed out to the non eventful drive to Paris, which was made slightly more eventful by my giving a complete and total history of the country. We arrived in Paris at around 6pm and checked into the hotel, which was a completely chaotic process.
We were then supposed to go on a driving tour but the bus got a flat battery. Garry and I tried getting a jump start from a taxi driver and then calling Mercedes Benz, who eventually called back and said they wouldn't be able to bring a new set of batteries until 10pm. I sheepishly went back to the passengers and told them the news and said, I would do the driving tour at 8am tomorrow, before I dropped people off for the boat cruise. I also offered to take them on the metro to see the Montmarte area. Far from being outraged as my typical normal type clients would have been, they were thankful and understanding.
I had about eight of them want to come on my metro tour, the rest were all very tired from our long drive day. I set off with them to Annvers station, I got them all to buy their tickets and explained to them how to use the metro. They all seemed very impressed that I knew exactly where I was going and that I even knew hot to use the metro at all. Again, not like my typical type clients. We got off the train and I walked them up to the Sacre Coer, which looked amazing all lit up at night. Then we walked down towards the Moulin Rouge, about half way down it started raining. Far from complaining, the passengers laughed and joked about it. My shock just grew and grew.
We reached the Moulin Rouge and took some photos, it really started coming down so we jumped back on the metro to avoid the rain. My next stop was Trocadero, I was taking them to see the Eiffel tower all lit up, before we even got there one of the passengers remarked, that as far as he was concerned I had already gone above and beyond the call of duty and thanked me, to which I replied, You ain't seen nothing yet!
We arrived at the Trocedero and I walked them over to the view point among many excited Ohhhhs and ahhhhhs. They took lots of pictures and again thanked my profusely. I then took them down to a secluded area, with no other tourists so they could get photos with only themselves in them. It was about 5 minutes to midnight, so I said, We are going to hang around until midnight. Charlotte said, What happens at Midnight? I refused to tell.
At midnight the Iron Lady put on her glittering lights and I head ready on my iPhone the song, City of Blinding Lights by U2, which is written about Paris. I explained this to the passengers and one girl remarked, This is one of the most magical moments of my entire life. Now, that right there is why I do what I do. I love hearing people say things like that, especially when I have been a contributing factor. I love helping people to enjoy the destinations I love so much!
When we had finished the Eiffel tower, we got the metro back to our hotel and went off to bed. I don't think I did too badly today for leading a blind tour, a broken down bus, a 4:45am start and a 1am finish! Bring on the rest of this tour, I LOVE it!
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