More pictures from my 2006 trip, a Trafalgar's bus tour, on an itinerary called the European Explorer.
The tour director's name was Mike Scrimshire. I must confess I really only "remember" this because I found his name on an old luggage tag from the trip.
From the very start, I had to have dealings with him, and fortunately he was a very forthright, helpful, and tactful person. There was an elderly gentleman on our tour group who did a few inappropriate things early on, and unfortunately, I had to rat on him.
For example, early in the tour, the tour director collected contact information from everyone in case, on or after the tour, anything came up, as I recall. Anyway, when the list was passed on to us, this gentleman took the opportunity to copy everyone else's information!
He then proceeded to forcibly chat with me all through the bus trip while our tour director was trying to give ups helpful and useful information. As kindly as I could, I tried to refocus things onto the tour director, but it didn't work. Later on, he'd take shots at me, saying "that's Singapore, who won't chat" or something or other.
There was supposed to be a seating rotation so that everyone could have a chance at the front of the bus (it was a double-decker, so the front meant you had an unobstructed view out the glass front cover), but it was quickly lost as several couples basically strategically sat away from this fellow.
I had to avail myself of Mr. Scrimshire's help around halfway through the trip when my luggage disappeared. Which was a great mystery because the bus driver clearly saw it, and it was so distinct, being a single backpack, that it could hardly have simply been misplaced. After much ado, it turned out to be simply behind the front desk in the hotel lobby.
Afterwards, I remember being not terribly surprised because the lady at the front desk had been very harried the night I spoke with her. She had just had one irate customer right before me, and actually delayed my inquiry to show her some empathy for the rough day she was having. She seemed grateful, but recovered her composure and professionalism and refocussed on me. I didn't get my backpack at the time, and in hindsight I figured she had simply been too overwhelmed to realize it had been turned in.
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With regards to what to do if one should find someone else's misplaced luggage, our friendly and seasoned tour director's advice was to first check for style, then for fit.
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