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Trials of a Tour Leader

by John Howes

185 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #06-1942; ISBN 1-4251-0185-2; US$16.52, C$19.00, EUR13.57, £9.50

Armchair travellers can follow the adventures of seasoned Tour Manager, John Howes, as he leads readers through many surprises in more than two dozen countries. There's certainly more to a holiday trip than appears in the brochure.

About the Book

Trials of a Tour Leader is the tale of the adventures - some exciting, some surprising, some infuriating, but all true - which befell the author during the 18 years following his official "retirement" when he worked as a freelance Tour Manager.

Stories and anecdotes came from real life experiences as he travelled through 28 countries leading holidaymakers far and wide, by road rail and air, for a number of well-known national tour companies.

Tours were not always as straightforward as expected and adventures a-plenty were encountered along the way.

The book recounts first steps behind the Iron Curtain; lost in the snowy mountains; night train to Mombassa; and a surprise encounter with Royalty. Then there was the trouble with the famous Tour de France cyclists; travels by steam trains; and tussles with truculcent frontier guards. Read what happened when one of the author's tours crept into an East European country by the back door and when another arrived at te frontier to 21st century Russia.

The author reveals how programmes planned by the backroom boys at headquarters don't always fit into the reality out in the field. He tells of problems with passports and people, hiccoughs with Continental coaches in remote places, money matters and hotels - good and bad - which he has experienced; the passenger who gave him his worst headeach and the strange tale of the man who completely disappeared.

About the Author

For almost 20 years John Howes jas been a professional freelance Tour Manager, leading groups by coarch, train and air to place across Europe from Ireland to Russia, Scandinavia down to Switserland, Canada, America and China for a variety of national tour companies. He is also a sought-after lecturer delivering illustrated talks based on his foreign tours.

He had spent the whole of his earlier career with British Rail - 30 years of which were as a journailst, press assistant, sub-editor, assistant editor and editor of a number of the industry's national publications.

As a railwayman he became fully familiar with train travel abroad which helped him to build up a wide geographical and historical knowledge which he was able to use in his writings.

John introduced and marketed an annual series of Getaway Tours for rail staff and their families, arranging special visits, travelling by train to popular European venues in spring and summer and to ski resorts in winter.

Opportunity came towards the end of John's rail career to take early retirement; he did so - and immediately stepped into a new beginning: the world of travel, being engaged by national holiday companies as Tour Manager. The experience over the years has provided an abundance of adventures - amusing, exciting, fraught, memorable - recounted in Trials of a Tour Leader. All the stories are true, only the names have been changed.

Excerpts