My wife and I just returned from a three-week European Ocean Cruise around the British Isles. After waking up in our own bed for the first time in almost a month, I texted our children, “What’s going on?  There’s no breakfast buffet, no one has made up our bed, and no tour bus is waiting outside our front door!  What is wrong with this place? Reality is like a ball peen hammer upside the head!”

Keeping life in perspective, one daughter replied, “Yes, but Bonnie (our dog) is happy you are home.”

Keeping life in perspective is an important skill for adults. As I muse about the places we went, the tours we took, and the shows we saw, an overwhelming memory rises above it all: the people. Yes, the fellow travelers we met, the cruise line employees who served us, and the people of the towns and communities we visited all contributed to making this trip an unforgettable experience.

There was Louis, the chauffeur Viking had assigned to pick us up at Heathrow airport.  His Mercedes limo and conversation gave us a taste of what would come. His hospitable manner was a delight.

Don, our English tour guide, spent the first five days with us as we did the “Churchill’s Britain” tour in and around London.  This walking-talking cyclopedia of a tour guide gave us an immersion experience into the life of Winston Churchill. We could not have asked for anyone better. He even hung around the hotel after every tour for another hour just to answer our questions.

Then there was Mo.  Short for Mohammed.  He was a concierge at the Great Scotland Yard Hotel in London.  When Patrice and I decided to take the “Tube” to the Tower of London, we asked Mo for help with how and where to go.  As he gave directions, he paused only to tell a teammate to watch things and then said, “Follow me.”  He walked us three blocks to the train station and explained how to use their new credit card system.

Once we boarded the Viking Venus Ocean liner, we soon met Wyn, our hospitality room steward.  Wyn was of Asian heritage, and his English was average at best, but his attitude was a perfect ten. From the day we boarded until we left, he tidied up our room twice daily and hustled to respond to every request.  Patrice wanted to adopt him and bring him home.

All the servers at mealtime were exceptional, but a few stood out.  “Vicki,” from India, engaged us in conversation, and he, too, gave hospitality a face.  He surprised me one morning with a glass of hand-squeezed fresh orange juice. He even remembered our names and greeted us by name each time we saw him.  “Bombay” was a character who always had a smile.  When a seagull perched on the rail near our outside table, Bombay came over to shush the bird away.  Smiling as he explained to all the guests standing nearby, “He poop too much.”    ‘Tinashe” was from Zimbabwe.  Whenever we ate at the Pool Bar/Grill, it was Tinashe who served us. He was a handsome man whose smile reminded you of a young Denzel Washington.  One day, he shared about his homeland and how humbled he was that his name means “God is with us.”  His humility suggested that his name was more than a name for him.

Almost every tour guide rated an A+.  Don, the previously mentioned Churchill guide, was by far the best. But we also appreciated guides like Karen, an Austrian who lived in the Shetland Islands.  Her commentary and insights into the local culture were captivating and kept us engaged throughout the tour.

Priad, from Jamaica, worked in the ship’s spa and gave Patrice the best facial she had ever had.  Her professionalism was above reproach.  While the facial itself was a joyous experience, Patrice felt the lessons and insights she took away from listening to Priad were worth the cost of the facial alone.

And how about that college secretary at Edinburgh-Napier University? We left our morning tour of Edinburgh Castle and took a 10-minute taxi ride to Napier University.  John Napier, whose statute we saw in Trafalgar Square in London, was a 16th-century mathematician and the inventor of logarithms. He donated the land and his castle to the university.  When the secretary found out Patrice was a descendant of Napier, she invited us to tour the castle.  And thanked us for Napier’s “donation.”

The ship’s Cruise Director, Katie, was a most entertaining host. The always effervescent Katie, a former Disney singer and performer, grew up near Edinburgh.  Her eighty-year-old mum delivered homemade Scottish fudge — that she called “tablets — to the ship when we were docked in Edinburgh. Katie reminded us not to see a glass as half-empty or half-full.  See it as re-fillable!

After arriving back in Atlanta, and given our volume of luggage, we requested assistance to get us through customs and baggage claim. “Gerard” proved to be our hero in Atlanta. With his help, it only took 25 minutes from the time we stepped off the plane until we got through customs, reclaimed our luggage, and stood outside, ready for our daughter to pick us up. That may be a record never to be broken. He got a big tip!

Finally, our grandson Cy who took care of our dog Bonnie for three weeks.  What a job he did.  Oh, we know his mama helped out a lot, but Cy took responsibility for walking our Bernedoodle and picking up the poop.  I told him I was going to get him a t-shirt emblazoned with “Champion Pooper Scooper.”  He preferred the cash option.

The memories of this trip will linger long. But while the pictures of cathedrals, castles, and monuments may trigger fond recollections of a fantastic journey, it will be the impressive array of individuals who, while doing the ordinary, maybe even the mundane, kind of jobs, will forever be etched into our hearts.  Watching these enthusiastic individuals do their jobs impressed us; they seemed to have found purpose in delighting their customers (like us).  

Their professionalism, coupled with their kind and courteous manner, reminded Patrice and me to keep life in perspective.  It’s the people, not the things, that will be remembered and cherished.