What involves being a tour leader? A lot of travel, of course. And you’ll find that leading gives your travel a new depth – when you are working alongside them, locals see you as an equal, not as a customer. What other job would let you build a deep friendship with a Vietnamese waitress?
Ask most leaders what they most like about the job and the answer won’t have anything to do with travel. Most will say that they learn a lot about themselves, helping to develop your leadership skills and also communication skills.
This is a job with real autonomy – your boss may be 19,000 miles away. But all these plus points have their down sides. You might repeat the same two-week itinerary ten times, yet you have to be as fresh on the tenth as you were on the first.
And whatever goes wrong, you have to deal with it, whenever it happens!