Tom Dreyer enjoys his home community of North Vancouver to the full.
He skis in winter, hikes in summer, and walks and shops in his neighbourhood.
Tom’s notion of a perfect day is a hike in the mountains followed by dinner with friends and an evening at the theatre. His work, or vocation, is tour guide, showing the beauties of British Columbia to travellers from all over the world. “I’m proud of my home and I like to show it off.”
British Columbia has long been a magnet for Canadians. Many transplanted Canucks have a story to tell about making a new life west of the Rockies. This one is Tom’s.
“West, west, west. It was the allure of it,” he says. “I wanted to come west since my first visit in 1970 at the age of 17 and even before.”
Tom was in fifth grade when his teacher, most likely during a lesson in Canadian geography, contrasted the long and frigid winters of their city, Montreal, with descriptions of roses blooming in Vancouver in February.
The image of roses blooming in winter stayed with Tom, growing more powerful every year, particularly during one winter when he was about 14.
“The drifts were so high after one storm you couldn’t get outside. I had to crawl through a window with a shovel to clear a path so we could open a door,” and get on with the real shovelling.
Tom’s family came to Canada from Estonia by way of Germany. His father lost his whole family in the Second World War. His mother lost everyone except a son and a daughter (Tom’s half siblings). Tom’s parents met after the war in a displaced persons camp in Germany, and married and worked in Belgium until the day came when they sailed westward to join their family and start their new life in Canada.
Estonian is Tom’s first language. Cosmopolitan Montreal and his family, including a sister-in-law from Ireland, exposed him to many others. “I started school as fluently bilingual as a six-year-old can be.”
A door to Tom’s future opened at Expo 67 though he was unaware of it at the time. He was the family tour guide, escorting friends and relations around the pavilions, including then-USSR where Estonia and the other former Baltic nations were represented by displays of curios and artifacts.
Tom made his first visit to Estonia, a roots and relations tour, after the country became an independent republic. One day, as Tom tagged along with an English-speaking tour group led by a local guide, the language barrier became obvious. Tom stepped in to translate for the translators and was invited to continue with the group on a tour of Tallinn, Estonia’s capital.
“Having worked in hotels and hospitality most of my life, I realized I would rather take people on tours than tell them the places to see. I’m just naturally made for it,” he notes.
Back home in Vancouver, Tom redirected his career path. He joined a locally based tour company, acquired a licence to drive motor coaches, and was soon on the road, showing off his favourite part of the world.
His current schedule, most recently with visitors from France, showcases B.C.’s diverse climate and terrain, from the Rockies through the arid interior, to the coastal rain forest, concluding with a tour of local beauty spots and a drive along the Sea-to-Sky highway to Whistler.
What makes a good tour guide? Of all the necessary qualities, the ability to cope with the unexpected and to retain the confidence of the tour group, must be the most valuable. With B.C.’s fires forcing adjustments to the travel itinerary, “most people take changes in stride,” Tom reports. “They look on it as part of the adventure, and appreciate the seriousness of the situation.”
Tom is already planning the next stage of his life. He will focus on local tours, reducing his time on the road. Tom’s future holds more skiing and hiking, more time for friends and family, more time to enjoy his home community.
For now, though, Tom is on the road, introducing visitors to the beauties of his beloved adopted home.
Laura Anderson works with and for seniors on the North Shore. Contact her at 778-279-2275 or e-mail her at lander1@shaw.ca.
