“Take confidence in your past wanderings, the journey you took and the place you’ve arrived.” – G Adventure Wanderer
I have successfully completed the Wanderer training program and am officially a CEO of the Wild West! I apologize for the lack of posts but it has been a busy two weeks! What do you say we get into some of the details!?
The Wanderer is the fun and creative name given to our training program. We throw Wild West into the title as well because we will mostly be touring across the good ole southwestern USA.
There were sixteen of us wanderers in the program. Ages range from 23-29 years old. We all came from varying backgrounds, but are likeminded and share our love of travel! For this reason we get a long quite well!
The program was two weeks long. The first week was spent in the classroom. We actually drove to Visalia, CA where we spent the day in a hotel conference room and camped at night! It wasn’t until the second week that we got to experience the road firsthand!
On the road…oh wait, let me back up a second! Before we hit the road we had to get our commercial drivers license (CDL) permit so we can drive the bus! This is a dreaded day by the G Adventures staff. The DMV (Department of Motor Vehicle) is notorious for being slow and difficult. Our visit to the DMV would be no different.
I won’t bore you with all the details, but I will say that I was at the DMV for 7 hours! I do not want to set foot in another DMV ever! Unfortunately, I guess I have to go back for my behind the wheel, but then I’m not going back for a long time! On a positive note, I got my permit and have been driving the bus!
With the biggest obstacle behind us we were off to hit the dusty trail! First stop, Yosemite National Park, one of America’s earliest National Parks, where we hiked to Lower Yosemite Falls. The next day we were off to Tuolumne Grove to see the giant Sequoia trees, which are the largest trees in the world! From there we headed off to Death Valley which is the hottest, driest and lowest point in North America. After we crawled out of Death Valley we were off to the fabulous Las Vegas where we took a helicopter ride over the strip and celebrated on a party bus! After a good party, it was time for the Grand Canyon, one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World! The following day we found ourselves in the amazing Monument Valley of Navajo Nation where we had the coolest cultural experience! We made a pit stop at Joshua Tree National Park and ended in Los Angeles with a little Hollywood and Santa Monica.
Sounds like an epic journey, doesn’t it!? It was epic, but there was a lot of work involved too! Each of us were assigned a day as CEO (aka tour guide). As the CEO we were completely in charge of the day. We planned everything from wake up time, pit stops, drive routes, lunch stops, etc. We also had to inform and entertain. Essentially, we were running the show! Luckily, we run tours with a co-CEO so we had a partner during training too! This definitely made things a little less stressful!
I was CEO on day two when we went to Tuolumne Grove to see the giant Sequoia trees! I got to teach all my “passengers” aka fellow wanderers about sequoias and take them on a hike. It was fun and I felt the day was going fairly well!
I was in charge of driving during the afternoon. I drove us through the Sequoia National Forest at the southern end of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. These roads were narrow and full of curves, so I was slow moving! It was a beautiful drive though! Oh, and driving this small 24 passenger bus with a trailer isn’t too bad!
Although my CEO day was early in the trip I was not off the hook. Each day we remained in the CEO mentality as if we were still running the show. It was important to observe our fellow wanderers for things we liked and could incorporate into our style vs. things we would have done differently. At the end of each day we would discuss our thoughts about the day. This was a great learning tool!
Yesterday was our final day of training. Of course, this called for a celebration! What kind of celebration you ask? How about Fancy Dress?! Yes! We had a fancy dress night. But we do not mean dress up in a suit and tie or a formal dress. No. Fancy means crazy! Embrace the bizarre! We all went to Goodwill where we searched the racks for the craziest things we could find! I found a rubber cow hoof which I wore on one arm. It was an epic find and a great addition to my outfit!
The plan was to head to dinner and then out for drinks! Before we left the hostel our facilitators surprised us with a ceremony! As an official welcome to the company and graduation from the Wanderer program we received purple cowboy hats in ceremonial fashion!!! (G’s color is purple, so it makes sense!) After a few pictures in our snazzy purple cowboy hats we were off to dinner! We topped the night off with a little Karaoke!
It feels amazing to have completed training and officially be a CEO. It was a dream in the making that has finally come true! I cannot wait to get on the road and begin my first trip!
#wanderercomplete #officialgceo #wedidit #purplecowboypride
