As Operations Manager at Walking Adventures, I manage a team of dedicated tour planners and tour guides in order to build high-quality, experiential walking tours on all 7 continents.

On the Planning side of things, this includes crafting and troubleshooting detailed itineraries, managing logistics for multiple tours simultaneously, researching new destinations, identifying and building walk routes, collaborating with partners across the world, and building a cohesive experience for our travelers that connect them with the destination’s culture, history, and scenic wonders.

On the Guiding side of things, this includes fostering communication and collaboration across a diverse array of tour leader personalities. We develop processes and foster skills in our tour guides to ensure their success in the field, and promote debriefs and knowledge sharing to bring their real life experiences back to their fellow leaders. The feedback of our tour leaders is essential in continual improvement of the experience we provide to our travelers.

I’m also fortunate to get out in the field a couple times a year to lead tours myself. Getting to know our travelers, to share experiences with them, is one of the most rewarding aspects of the role. The relationships I build and foster with local in-country partners, travelers, and amongst my team are the backbone of what I do.