Anne is the assistant director of Continuing Education and Outreach. She is very energetic and imaginative and has held a wide variety of other jobs. Among them, she led groups of children, college students and retired people to many destinations around the globe. I asked her to spend some time explaining some of the bigger challenges and headaches she has faced. She did, today.
She started by asking each attender to her Zoom session where they liked traveling. Lynn and I have traveled to Europe, central America, the Pacific. Probably the trip that comes to mind first was the one we planned for ourselves after ending the leading of 40 college students on a semester in Britain. I was entrusted with the lives and safety of vital, energetic students. I had no experience or special training.
There I was, glancing out the window of our 4th floor Innsbruck hotel room at one of our beloved charges hanging by his fingertips from his room directly across the paved parking lot from me. I strongly encouraged him to climb into his room and stay there. But that was on the first trip we led, way before I matured and had experience. That 2nd time, we were 20 years older, calmer, grandparents. We used The Lonely Planet guides and bought train tickets to travel through southern France and Spain, aiming for Munich and our flight home. By phone, we secured a room for two in Avignon, the city in France where the French tried to secure the Vatican in their county and succeeded for a while. We felt ever so worldly and sophisticated and to a little extent, we were.
Also, the Dutch train car doors slamming shut:
