The Green Tortoise

When I Worked There

July 1987 – April 1990

How I Got There

I was 22 years old when I first met the Green Tortoise. I was young and eager to travel, so I thought it would be a great way to earn money at the same time. I hung around the company doing odd jobs until I could get my bus operators license and started to drive tours.

What I Did There

I was a Driver, but that role entails a whole lot more than just 'looking out the big window and keeping the bus between the lines'. Drivers are expected to lead groups of 30 - 40 people on tours of 3 to 30 days. They plan the meals and lead the group in preparing them. They are expected to learn how a bus works and drag a collection of diesel mechanics tools along on each trip in case the bus has any mechanical issues. They are responsible for dealing with whatever might come up on a trip that tries to get as far from civilization as possible.

What I Learned There

I didn't start driving to sharpen my leadership skills, but the constant rotation of new passengers, destinations, and surprises amounted to a crash course in leading people. I learned how to communicate a vision to a diverse audience by explaining to people from all over the world what it takes to live together successfully in a very cramped space. I learned how to delegate responsibility in a way that incentivize productivity through managing the efforts of 35 people in setting up a kitchen in the middle of nowhere and cooking meals that I had planned. I learned how to manage crisis situations by standing next to a broken bus in the middle of nowhere with 35 people looking to me for answers and figuring out what to do to get us going again.

How it Applies to Today

Driving a hippie tour bus seems like an odd training ground for corporate work, but I draw on those experiences every day. During this time in my life I developed habits that made it possible for me to be a successful tour leader, mechanic and driver. Those same skills of communication, problem solving, planning and execution have proved equally useful in my later work. Even though the environment looks very different, the skills are very much the same.

Why I Left

I found that living out of a backpack for a long period of time gets old. I loved to travel and really loved my job with the Tortoise, but I did not want to wander my whole life. Plus, I was getting pretty serious with a woman I'd met on one of my trips and we were planning on moving to Seattle to settle down, and a job in built around constant travel did not fit into those plans.