Video: Tour Guide Talent Show Highlights

We’ve just finished our annual Rick Steves’ Europe guide summit. A hundred guides are flying home, and we’re ready to lead our best-ever tours in 2017. Here’s a couple minutes of video fun we had as I hosted the entire gang in my house. It’s four clips edited together.

During our annual guides’ talent show, the Portuguese guides (men and women) grew cute moustaches and bushy eyebrows to become charming old men and sing a folk song. Cathie Ryan, our Irish singing angel, feted Steve Smith with just the right song to celebrate his retirement. Our Italian guides actually organized with the French guides to go on strike and refuse to perform (demanding that Steve stick around for “one more year!”). And finally, we all sang “Happy Birthday” to tour guide Keith in our own languages at the same time.

That wall of happy sound — so incomprehensible yet so full of vigor, fun, and love — reflected to me the amazing beauty of working with so much passion and talent from so many countries through so many amazing guides. Thanks to all our guides for their dedication, and for traveling all the way to Seattle to make sure we have the best-led tours of Europe for 2017. Happy travels!

Comments

4 Replies to “Video: Tour Guide Talent Show Highlights”

  1. My thanks to Steve Smith for his many years helping to create great travel memories and for helping to build a great company! Hope you find retirement fulfilling! Best Regards.

  2. Sad to see Steve Smith go. I have enjoyed his France talks over the years.

    I am happy for him. I hope he will enjoy retirement very much.

Comments are closed.