In search of the perfect travel guide
CLOTHING AND ACCESSORIES
Wearing a badge on the lapel or hanging from the neck is very pro. Gives credibility to the job , provides security when teaching it and, above all, serves to facilitate identification.
The level of folklore in the look is directly proportional to how westernized/intoxicated the society of that place is. Or what is the same, there is never enough of a colorful djellaba in a souk while a txapela showing the Guggenheim in Bilbao does not stick too much.
Yes indeed, the tacky is so photogenic …
The neat hats (that is, in that area that goes from Crocodile Dundee to Camila Parker Bowls at the Grand National ) are grateful in case of crowds, as long as they do not generate embarrassment.
The colored umbrella… NEVER.
The post-war and eighties microphone and headphones kit is best reserved for when there is no other choice. Short and change. Carrying an iPad with audiovisual material that completes the explanation gives many points. Do the same thing in a plastic folder, no.
A good guide will wear a badge on his lapel or around his neck
IDIOM
Seriously, Italian and Spanish they are not the same language . Not the Portuguese. Warning to tourists: be careful with those who speak English. They really speak English and they do it very well. The best lies for the CV.
KNOWLEDGE
The key is to mix the Wikipedia data with the anecdote . And the anecdote must humiliate someone powerful (humor roll for the working class) or ridicule the city a bit. In a Madrid plan (“I mess with my city before you, but I do it, eye... ”) .
The perfect guide has to know more than the smart one who has read the brochure from the tourist office. But without humiliating him. In case of crisis, show the badge as a sign of supreme power and knowledge. It is essential that you have traveled and, above all, that you know what the place you are showing is good or better at.
Knowledge of cafes, bars, restaurants, and nightlife is almost as valuable as knowing the names of an entire dynasty. The art of avoiding queues must be at the same level as that of oratory. Yes, the guides also have to convey power and exclusivity.
Using technical words is fine. Using grandiloquent words is geeky and cools the relationship with the group of tourists. A professional should know take photos with 34 different SLR camera models and, of course, knowing the trick of every smartphone to focus fetén.
The pluperfect guide is the one who knows at what time of day there is the best light to take photos and plots his itinerary accordingly. A subjective touch to an itinerary is never bad. Phrases like “it is one of my favorite secret corners” humanizes the profession.
The key to success is to mix the Wikipedia data with the anecdote
ORIENTATION AND TRANSPORTATION
It is never lost. The quality of a guide is directly proportional to the number of alleys-shortcuts-home invasions you know and run. Take the subway? Better to walk 12 kilometers. The good guide advises against panoramic buses, beer-bikes and Retiro boats. segways are for androids and modern.
A good guide knows the best shortcuts
COLLEAGUE AND ATTITUDE
The perfect guide rents his friendship for hours but he doesn't notice . He has to have the experience and sympathy to be able to enter any place under the pretext of " Hello, I am a local guide… ”. And also the charisma to open impregnable doors.
STORES
The guide bribed by souvenir shops is the great scourge of the profession and the effect begins to be counterproductive. Without being a personal shopper, he must know how to read what type of establishment may be of interest to a certain group.
BUT…
All this does not matter if the guide is a lovely old man who knows the place better than anyone.
*** You may also be interested in...**
- Being a foreigner in Barcelona
- Guide to the mystery of Madrid
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- Everything was a party: Hemingway's Paris
- All articles by Javier Zori del Amo
A good guide will take you to unforgettable places