My First Steps into Tourism
Sometimes, the beginning of a career comes from a carefully planned decision.
Sometimes, it starts with a phone call from an old friend.
For me, it was the second one.
In 2008, I was working as a member of a foreign-language group at a university.
One day, I suddenly received a phone call from an old friend from high school.
We had studied at the same school in our hometown but had lost contact for several years. By that time, he had already established his own travel company.
He called me because he knew I might be able to help temporarily.
An Unexpected Opportunity
During the holiday period, his company was receiving many inbound tour groups, but there were not enough guides available to lead them all.
He asked me if I could help him with a tour.
The tour would travel from Moc Bai Border to Ho Chi Minh City, then to Da Lat, and back to Ho Chi Minh City.
I hesitated at first.
I wasn’t a professional tour guide. I had an office job at the university, and I wasn’t sure whether I was ready to take responsibility for international travelers.
He explained the situation and encouraged me to try.
After thinking about it for a while, I accepted.
But before I was allowed to lead a tour on my own, I needed some training.
And that is where one of the most memorable journeys of my career began.
My First Training Tour
My first training tour was a five-day, four-night journey from Moc Bai Border to Ho Chi Minh City and Da Lat.
The main tour guide was my friend, Mr. John, and there were three trainees traveling with him.
One of the other trainees was a young woman, while another was a pretty old man and me. All three of us came from the same hometown.
So it was a large group of more than 30 tourists with one main guide, and three trainee guides.
It was one of the funniest tours I had ever experienced.
For the three of us trainees, the tour was more than just a trip.
It was our first real classroom.
Day 1: Moc Bai Border to Ho Chi Minh City
We began by picking up the group at Moc Bai Border, the international land border between Vietnam and Cambodia.
From the border, we transferred to the center of Ho Chi Minh City.
After arriving, we stopped for lunch and then checked into the hotel for a short rest.
That afternoon, we started exploring the city. One of our destinations was Dam Sen Cultural Park, which at that time was a classic stop on many tours in Ho Chi Minh City.
Day 2: Ho Chi Minh City – The Long Road to Da Lat
The next morning, we left Ho Chi Minh City for Da Lat, the beautiful mountain town in Vietnam’s Central Highlands.
Today, the journey is much more convenient, but back then, there was no expressway connecting Ho Chi Minh City with Da Lat like there is today.
The journey took almost the whole day. Along the way, we stopped at Suoi Tien Cultural Park, had lunch in Trang Bom District, and made some convenient stops for restrooms and refreshments.
Eventually, in the late afternoon, we reached Da Lat.
After dinner, we went to explore the Da Lat Night Market before returning to the hotel.
The cool mountain air and atmosphere of Da Lat felt very different from Ho Chi Minh City.
I was beginning to understand why traveling could be such a rewarding career.
Day 3: Discovering Da Lat, the Mountain Town
In the morning, we visited some of Da Lat’s well-known attractions, including the Da Lat Flower Garden, Van Hanh Pagoda, and the Valley of Love.
After lunch, we continued to Datanla Waterfall and Bao Dai Palace.
We then took the cable car to Truc Lam Pagoda, enjoying beautiful views of the surrounding mountains and forests along the way.
We spent another night in Da Lat.
Day 4: The Journey Back to Ho Chi Minh City
The next morning, we left Da Lat and began our journey back to Ho Chi Minh City.
On the way, we stopped for photographs at a tea and coffee plantation, giving the travelers a chance to see some of the agricultural landscapes of the Central Highlands.
We then continued to Dambri Waterfall, one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Vietnam, where we had lunch inside the tourist site.
After lunch, it was a long journey straight back to Ho Chi Minh City.
By the time we arrived, everyone was probably ready for a good rest. But the day wasn’t quite over.
That evening, as part of the traditional itinerary at the time, we enjoyed a dinner cruise on the Saigon River.
Watching the lights of Ho Chi Minh City from the river after several days on the road was a memorable way to finish our time together.
Day 5: The Last Morning Before Departure
In the morning, we checked out of the hotel and visited Ben Thanh Market for some shopping.
Then it was time to leave Ho Chi Minh City and return to Moc Bai Border.
The five-day, four-night training tour had come to an end.
But something had begun for me.
The Fun Fact I Still Remember
One of the things I remember most clearly about that first training tour wasn’t a particular attraction.
It was the people.
With a group of around 30 tourists in one bus but four tour guides—my friend Mr. John as the main guide, together with the three of us trainee guides—it was quite unusual but lively and memorable.
This kind of memory stay with me.
By the end of the tour, I had started thinking seriously about becoming a tour guide.
Actually, being a tour guide was not a completely new idea for me.
It was a career I had dreamed about since childhood.
From Training to a New Career
After finishing that tour, and a tour on my own later I realized how much I had enjoyed traveling and meeting new people.
For the first time, I seriously considered changing my job. So I enrolled in a professional tour-guide training course.
The more I learned about tourism, the more interested I became.
By late 2009, my interest had developed into a real passion for travel and tourism.
The Career I Had Dreamed About
Looking back, becoming a tour guide was not really as surprising as it might seem.
It was actually a career I had wished to pursue since I was a child.
I had always wanted to travel, discover new places, and meet different people.
I also felt strongly that working in tourism could give me broader opportunities to learn, travel, and develop myself.
But at that time, I could not have imagined how much this career would eventually become a part of my life.
From One Five-Day Tour to Years of Travel
That first journey was only five days and four nights.
But it opened the door to many more journeys.
Since then, I have guided travelers through different parts of Vietnam—from the mountains of the North and the Central Highlands to the Central Coasts, Ho Chi Minh City, the Mekong Delta, and Phu Quoc Island in the South.
I’ve traveled by road, train, boat, and airplane.
I’ve worked with travelers from many different countries and learned something from almost every group I’ve guided.
And that is probably the greatest gift this career has given me.
Tourism has allowed me to keep traveling, keep learning, and keep meeting people.
Today, when I look back at that first training tour, I remember the long roads, the destinations, the travelers, the laughter, and, most of all, my friend Mr. John and the way his professionalism and sense of humor inspired me.
One training tour made me fall in love with it. And that journey became the first step on the road to my career as a tour guide.
Thank You, Mr John
And thank you very much for reading.
