AFTERWORDS
The best job(s)
BY TAMMY GUILL
I HAVE THE BEST
job in the world. As
director of sales at
Ride the Ducks of
Seattle for the past
seven years, I’m
living the dream
of connecting
groups with our
amphibious and entertaining adventure
tour of Seattle.
I have another “best” job, too, that I’ll
tell you about later.
I used to work for the Washington
State Tourism Office, where I created
itineraries and led Fam groups all over
Washington. And for five years prior to
that, I owned and operated a tour com-
pany, Bravo Tours, where we focused
on senior groups and military reunions.
Working with seniors was very reward-
ing and, honestly, one of my absolute
favorite types of traveler.
One of my clients was a reunion
group of nurses who, during World
War II, accompanied wounded soldiers
on flights from Paris to London. While
holding the lives of patients in their
hands during each harrowing journey,
the nurses also had to deal with the
possibility of being shot down. They
were so young—and so courageous.
People in our industry say “once a tour
operator, always a tour operator,” and in
my current role with Ride the Ducks, I’m
White Pass in Mt. Rainier National Park
56
February 2018
Skagit Valley Tulip Festival
happy to help operators with their state-
wide routing and to offer ideas for new
and off-the-beaten-path tours.
That saying also applies to the job
I do in my spare time; I lead senior
tours for my church, CenterPoint, out
of Eatonville, Wash. We’ve done a trip
to Snoqualmie to take in the Northwest
Railway Museum and a train ride, to
Naches for a winter tour to watch
hundreds of elk, to Federation Forest
for a summer hike, and to Olympia in
autumn for the farmers market com-
bined with a pumpkin farm in Yelm.
And yes, of course I took my seniors on
a Duck tour—they absolutely loved it!
We keep the costs of the church tours
low, which helps seniors on limited
incomes, and we encourage them to
invite their friends and family to create
even better memories. We’re helping the
destinations we visit because there aren’t
a lot of groups that make it to some of
the less-traveled areas of Washington.
Washington no longer has a state
tourism office, so many of these gem
destinations get overlooked because
they have no budget to reach tour
operators directly. I love being able to
help small businesses by bringing our
seniors to their establishments.
There’s a certain kind of magic in
seeing the joy our seniors experience
on the tours, especially for those who
may have wondered if they could still
travel and explore. The light in their
eyes touches my heart every time, and
knowing they can share their new expe-
riences with friends and loved ones is
what it’s all about.
Being able to lead tours for my
church—while also truly enjoying my
job and work family at Ride the Ducks—
makes me think that my life and work
balance is the best of both worlds in the
tourism business that I love.
Tammy Guill is director of sales at Ride
the Ducks of Seattle. You can email her
at [email protected].