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Spring
Tours - Odessa 2004 April 15 - 24
I
am Margarita. I participated with AnastasiaWeb as Senior Assistant on
Odessa Tour in April 2004. I
really loved working with the Tour customers and AnastasiaWeb staff.
Normally I keep track of everything going
on during the tours from the Moscow office. Primarily I stay in
touch with the Hospitality Center where our assistants help the
customers during their stay in the tour city. When the tour is
over I process and analyze the results. This time was
different because I was sent to run the tour. To say ‘It
worked out well’ is not enough to describe my feelings.
This work left an indelible impression on me.
I made a lot of friends in Odessa. I hope to go back there one
day as I really did have a great time.
Here is my story.
The
Tour was held from the 15th to the 24th of
April. We received 28 gentlemen in Odessa. The weather was lovely:
the sun was shining and all the trees were coming out. Our Tour
Manager Sasha, assistants and I went to the Odessa airport to meet
the group. Luckily the plane landed on time. The group was large, so
I decided to split the responsibilities of the assistants. Karina
and Irina met the customers at the entrance and I gathered the group
in one place. We were talking over the transatlantic flight details
with the customers. In Russia there is a saying: beginners are
always in luck. I guess it’s true because none’s luggage was
lost.
We had the bus ready to take
the group to the Black Sea hotel. I was a little bit nervous and
getting on the bus I hit my head against the mirror. Somebody cried
out “Watch your head!” “Thank you! I do” was my answer. Everybody laughed and I
felt at ease at once with these guys. I collected the customers’
passports to speed up the check-in procedure at the hotel.
At the hotel we went through
the registration very quickly. I gave out the room keys to the
clients and reminded everyone about gathering time before the
briefing, which was to take place that very evening at 6 p.m. The
clients had a few hours to relax and I advised them to set up an
alarm clock not to miss if they fall asleep. Back in the US it was
nighttime and most of the guys were jet-lagged. As for us,
assistants, we still had some work to do before the briefing – we
were to get the Hospitality Center ready to receive our clients next
day.
The aim of the Briefing is to
cover all the questions that may arise: about the hotel, the city,
local traditions, entertaining areas. We ran the Briefing in the
largest restaurant of the hotel. My assistants handed out the Tour
Programs and Tour Guides to the fellows. I took pains not to miss a
single item on the agenda and spoke for about an hour. Derek, our
American representative, have already been to Odessa twice and
promised to show all the places that were worth visiting. When
finally the briefing was over, I was happy to invite the clients to
the dinner. Deribasovskaya
street abounds in small cafes, bars and restaurants. Steak House was
the one we chose.
The most significant part of
the two next days were the Socials in “Vechernyaya Odessa”,
which lasted from 1pm to 7pm. The club is not far from the hotel. We
actually went there on foot. I came to the club a little earlier to
make sure everything was ready for the event and to prepare the desk
for AnastasiaWeb interpreters. Karina and Irina took the guys there.
Several ladies were already in the club. Imagine it turned out by
the middle of the social – there were more than 350 women! This
enormous quantity maid a great impression upon the guys and
everybody had a good time. Still there were a few complaints about
the organization shortcoming: music volume and light muting. Well,
that’s a usual thing. We’ve got to entertain the ladies, so that
they felt more comfortable and relaxed.
So many women and only several men – how do you think one
should feel in a situation like this! Same goes with the dimmed
light. I advised the guys to be more attentive as among all those
ladies there could be the one they were looking for!
Our third Social was held in
Kherson, 2nd Tour city. Kherson is not far from Odessa
and we took our customers there so that they could meet more women.
We got there by an air-conditioned bus and most guys gave excellent
estimation to the intercity travel. The turnout of the ladies was
about 320. The men liked local music very much and danced
inflammatory dances with their ladies. How surprised were we when
only 8 men out of 19 went back to Odessa. Eleven guys decided to
stay overnight in Kherson! Some of them met ladies they had been
corresponding with; others were adventurous enough to stay and spend
time with women they met for the first time. What can Ukrainian
music do to a man! Derek was courteous and decided to accompany them,
so I had nothing to worry about.
All the guys marked the good
job and their professional skills of the interpreters who helped
them during the socials. One of the guys wrote in his post survey
letter “I was very impressed with all of the interpreters in every
city. They were very professional. Their ability to convey feelings
to both parties in two different languages was unbelievable. My hat
goes off to these women”.
During the tour the three of us helped the guys to call
ladies, to obtain the contact info in the Hospitality room. In their
turn they could get a piece of advice from us. The Hospitality room
was a busy place. Some of the gentlemen were very demanding. But we
had 28 fellows waiting for our help in arranging dates! One man was lucky to have the assistance of an interpreter who spoke
Spanish, his native language: “She was the icing on the cake that made the whole tour
a time that I will always hold dear to my heart”. A
few of the men expected to have full access to a computer and the
database of ladies. Unfortunately, for the sake of security, we
couldn’t provide Internet access from the room. Anyway the
assistants who worked in the center had the contact information of
ladies from the latest catalogues.
I wish everything went
smoothly till the end. One of the guys lost his camera on the very
last day of the tour. All the pictures he took were gone. But I am
sure he kept all the memories about the trip in his heart. Besides
the men took hundreds of pictures and I think he got a lot on his
email when the trip was over.
I did not go to the airport
because I had to leave for Moscow. I got on the bus to say farewell
to my new friends. I am still in touch with some of them. Is so
pleasant to receive letters from them and to learn about the
development in their relationship with women.
P.S.
By the way one of the clients launched a website devoted to Odessa
Tour where he submitted a lot of pictures. If you are interested you could address the
following page: www.odessasocial.com. | 
