What do we mean by “Real People”?
The content impresario for The Travel Chronicle travel sites, Jeffrey Evans, has never been paid a dime to write a word, or a penny to click a shutter. The comedians amongst you may take that as a straight line.
In the interest of full disclosure, my partner was involved in the travel industry for decades, primarily as a travel agent, but currently has no financial interest in the business of travel. So, based on her knowledge, we do sometimes have a slight edge in working out certain problems when a travel industry employee (airline, for example) has been around long enough to understand what she is saying. This is to say that we are typically no better off than someone claiming no professional experience whatsoever.
As for other contributors, we aren’t too concerned about the amateur standing of these “Real People” , to the extent that we don’t mind if someone is promoting their favorite vacation spot because they happen to own a lodge or restaurant there. To us, content is more important than financial purity because we all want such businesses to thrive and prosper for our continuing travel benefit.
If anyone does choose to contribute their own travel stories, (after reading The Travel Chronicle and Tips to Authors), we will make every effort to remain true to the concept: “First Hand Travel Experience”. Whoever is doing the writing has to have been to the location they are writing about, and preferably either they or one other contributor will have taken all of the photos.
Real People Gallery
We like to use this Real People space to acknowledge some of the great people – specific to the travel industry – who made our experience special. Thriving or not, businesses devoted to the traveler are as good as the people who create and work for them. Certain people you meet while traveling make it obvious that they love what they do – it isn’t just a job or an income. Because the Galapagos Islands cruise was the first of our trips to be turned into a travel blog, we didn’t know a day might come when detailed notes would be useful. So, we’ll just post the pictures of the great people who made this trip, and try to do better with names in the future.
The first two inductees into the Real People Hall of Fame work(ed) for the cruise ship Galapagos Explorer II as naturalist guides. On the left is Walter, the daily guide for our group, but unfortunately we can’t remember the name of the chief naturalist on the right in the second photo. In the third photo, the character with the beard is your author, and the other two gentlemen deserve a plug for the tour company they operate from a store front in downtown Baños, Ecuador. Sadly, I don’t think we knew the name of their company on the day they took us on a tour into the jungle.
The travel industry people of Ecuador were warm and wonderful.