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Working as a guide

Choosing a private guide is very much like a blind date: it is a cocktail of the anxiety and hopes. Person you are going to spend most of your time together - what she is like? And as a result - will she turn your vacations into a great experience or just tell you heaps of facts and names you will forget in the nick of time?

If you have doubts of this type - you are right. That is why I decided to specify some of my professional principles to put some light on my personality.

I was born and brought up in St. Petersburg. Actually it is a diagnosis. I mean that in this city parents sincerely believe that a weekend spent without visit to the museum or opera was shamefully wasted. I started joining all type of excursions when I was 5. That time guides seemed to me incredibly educated people. But with all my esteem I would never call excursions my favorite activity that time at two reasons:

–	I never managed to retain any facts or figures (a bit humiliating);
–	I did not care much about all that architectural details (columns orders, friezes in the pediment etc) guides looked so excited about.

Today when I happen to hear somebody's endless flow of names, dates and/or architectural descriptions I think that the guide is desperate. Who would torture poor listeners with such boring stuff having on hand some really interesting stories or facts?

I owe my initiation as a guide to Mrs. Natalia Karetnikova. She was the first teacher in my life who proved that history was indeed an interesting subject. That time her husband worked as St. Petersburg vice-governor on the culture questions and as a result his wife - University professor of history - often guided VIP persons around our city. At the same time she took her students to the excursions on foot. My God, what excursions she did! I heard her with the opened mouth. Thanks to her I formulated my own basic approach to the excursions:

:-)

–	Excursion should be a kind of entertainment i.e. pleasant for the listener.
–	It is an interactive kind of art - unlike the tape-recorder a good guide always checks the reaction of the listener and finishes/changes topic if the listener does not seem to be interested.
–	Guide is a kind of mixture of historian, actor and psychologist. Keeping the listener surprised and excited is the main thing about this job.
–	Being true to the historian facts does not mean being boring.

:-(

–	Excursion should not be a lecture of any kind as the listener is not a student.
–	The excursion route can not be too long or too hectic or anything what could spoil the pleasure of the listener.
–	It is not the listener who should be educated enough to grasp the guide's facts, it is the guide who is to make the stories "tasty" enough to be eaten.

First I practiced my new method on my friends and relatives. One of the first victims was my cousin from Moscow - he listened to my stories with his girl-friend in 1996. In a year he returned with a new girl-friend and guided her without my help as he REMEMBERED most of the stories I have told him a year ago. That time I was shocked. Now I have got accustomed to my friends teasing that after spending several days with me everyone can become a guide - so easy it is to remember my stories. Still I am not afraid of competitors and here is why:

After several years of practice I understand: people come to St. Petersburg for vacations - not exclusively for the sightseeing (even given that the guide is a talented one). Sightseeing as well as other activities (ballet, folk show etc) are a kind of pleasant and exciting but... work. Vacations are given us for rest! One needs not only fresh impressions but also a relaxation. To find a proper equilibrium for every client between these two things - that is something what comes with the experience.

It is impossible to specify in advance such things, but sitting at the nice cafes chatting about differences in women-men relationship in Russia and USA or Putin and democracy or how life changed since Perestroika for me is an integral part of my guests visit. I know that "dinner at restaurant" sounds "nothing special" but if

–	the place is unusual and unexpectedly nice
–	the conversation is interesting

such dinner becomes something more than just eating.

And there is one more important detail. I usually work on condition "24 hours" meaning that I stay with my guests up to the moment they go for rest. When you spend so much time together - from morning to the late evening - you inevitably build rather close relationship - sincere, supporting and positive. I do it intentionally as there is no better way to learn something inside out of Russian culture but through your Russian friend.

It is interesting that to describe this process of mutual approach I and my clients use different terms. Especially Americans say by the end: "It was first class service, you are very professional" or "Excellent job" etc. And I say: "Thank you for that you are you: it was me who was lucky to spend several days by your side". And it is not a polite phrase from my side.

From the very first moment I meet my client I try to find such side of his personality which I sincerely like. So I happened to meet a couple who love each other loyally for many years, perfect father, I met a couple whom I wish to be like when I reach their age (about 80), I was happy to see the charm of true English ladies, I even have a suspicion that I had a visit of 3 angels under the disguise of Denver Rotary members.

I do enjoy most of my clients greatly. That is why it is so easy for me to take care of them - I usually feel that they are more than worth it.

For me guiding is like a dance: it can be quick or slow, sophisticated or very simple. Main thing is that both sides experience pleasure.