The internship is over, I got an excellent customer service evaluation, made great connections with people and got to see a new area. Time to wrap things up.
Yours truly enjoying the show.
Obviously these kind of trips are very different from what I normally do, and will when I will be guiding in the future. It was, however, a superb experience. Seeing that there are highly efficient companies like Upitrek, where things work smoothly like a clock work, is rewarding and a great asset for tourists coming to Finland, because they can be sure to have a wonderful holiday.
I always believe that the customer is King (a remnant of my bachelor degree studies!), and hence tried to be very customer oriented as a guide, paying attention to the different needs and ensuring everyone had a good experience. While the guide work itself was not especially difficult in my opinion, it are long days - on average from 8.00 in the morning till 21.00 at night - in which one needs to be available, and "me time" is very limited. This ain't of a problem if the group you are with and your fellow guides are as great as on the two trips I was on, but might be more of a challenge if you get difficult clients. Other than that the work is good fun and rewarding to see the clients enjoying themselves on their holidays!
On the whole, the two weeks of internship were far more rewarding and enlightening than the time spent in class in Kuru. I will report on my growing frustration of the school separately in an update, but the internship really gave some joy and happiness, while I was able to learn a few things from my fellow guides along the way.
Finally, in case you haven't guessed yet, the focus of my guided trips in the future will be on lightweight and ultralightweight backpacking and packrafting; being off-trail expeditions in which we sleep outside and enjoy the beautiful Arctic scenary during the different seasons. I am currently planning one such trip, so if you are possibly interested, then you should stay tuned or get in touch =)
Yours truly enjoying the show.
Obviously these kind of trips are very different from what I normally do, and will when I will be guiding in the future. It was, however, a superb experience. Seeing that there are highly efficient companies like Upitrek, where things work smoothly like a clock work, is rewarding and a great asset for tourists coming to Finland, because they can be sure to have a wonderful holiday.
I always believe that the customer is King (a remnant of my bachelor degree studies!), and hence tried to be very customer oriented as a guide, paying attention to the different needs and ensuring everyone had a good experience. While the guide work itself was not especially difficult in my opinion, it are long days - on average from 8.00 in the morning till 21.00 at night - in which one needs to be available, and "me time" is very limited. This ain't of a problem if the group you are with and your fellow guides are as great as on the two trips I was on, but might be more of a challenge if you get difficult clients. Other than that the work is good fun and rewarding to see the clients enjoying themselves on their holidays!
On the whole, the two weeks of internship were far more rewarding and enlightening than the time spent in class in Kuru. I will report on my growing frustration of the school separately in an update, but the internship really gave some joy and happiness, while I was able to learn a few things from my fellow guides along the way.
Finally, in case you haven't guessed yet, the focus of my guided trips in the future will be on lightweight and ultralightweight backpacking and packrafting; being off-trail expeditions in which we sleep outside and enjoy the beautiful Arctic scenary during the different seasons. I am currently planning one such trip, so if you are possibly interested, then you should stay tuned or get in touch =)