I’m a tour guide? Funny you should ask

My friends always have the same response.

“You’re going to be a tour guide?” they ask. “Cool.”

Well, I hope so. Now I’m still a sports columnist with The Washington Examiner because it’s the best job I’ve ever held, but life’s a journey and I wanted to do something extra now that my kids are grown and I have free time.

After considering tour guiding for years, I finally started on the path in July when taking master guide Maricar Donator’s WashingTours & Events boot camp for new guides. It was lots of long walks on very hot days practicing how to guide with four other prospective guides, three of whom are also now licensed guides with the fourth to soon follow. It was intense, but a lot of fun. Like most native Washingtonians, I’ve taken friends and family around town on the nickel tour, but now I’ve learned about things I’ve literally passed by all of my life like the Albert Einstein statue and waterfall in Pershing Park.

I passed the D.C. government’s licensing exam in October and joined the local tour guide guild in November. Since then, it has been a series of look, listen and learn moments in preparing for the hordes of eight graders in March.

Since I’m a 33-year journalist, I also started a blog hoping to turn this experience into a book one day.

This blog is about my hometown. I’m figuring it’s mostly tourists reading it. People googling “Washington, D.C. tours” and looking for inside info away from the many official sites or those pitching tours.

That’s what you’ll find here – something your friends would tell you when visiting town. Good places to eat. What different museums and monuments are like.  Recommendations on alternate attractions. The realities of getting around town.

And if you want to take a tour, I’m glad to discuss what I offer or steer you to towards a group that might better handle your needs. Just email me and I’ll be in touch within a day.

Thanks for reading.

Rick