USD Magazine, Fall 2001

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describe a typical day, because there is no such thing. "I've had days where my job liter– ally was to pick up the CEO from the airport and walk him around from meeting to meeting to dinner to make sure he didn't get lost," Kim, a com– munications major, explains."And then I've had jobs where I had to stand in the lobby for six hours and be a pointer - literally pointing out to people where to go - and thought to myself, 'I went to college for this?"' While some days are long and mono–

Jackie Kim '0 I

"It's definitely been an eye– opening experience;· adds Kim, who says despite the exotic locales, the pay is relatively low and the travel makes it impossible to have a personal life. "Most people who do this are under 30 and stay with it for only two to three years.You're only home a few days out of the month, and when you are, your relationship is with your cell phone and Blockbuster (video);' she says.

But the long hours are quickly forgotten when an assignment to the Four Seasons in Bali comes across her desk, and dating takes a back seat to traveling first class and eating at gourmet restaurants. "There have been times when I've been laying on the beach in St.Thomas, having a pina colada and saying to myself, 'I'm getting paid for this.' That's when all the work pays off."

the travel director bought an air– plane, found a pilot, and flew the group out. "He just put it on a special credit card they give us - plastic works everywhere," Kim says. She acknowledges that a travel director occasionally encounters an unusual request, describing one co-worker who had to go to a strip club and reserve a front row table for five hours until the VIP arrived. A male travel director, he didn't seem to mind too much.

tonous and require hours of computer and cell phone work to track down travel, catering and business details, travel direc– tors also handle VIPs' special requests or step in during an emergency. One of Kim's colleagues was working with 60 clients in Egypt during t he 1997 terrorist attack on a group of tourists, when getting out of the country suddenly became a frantic proposition. Finding all the airlines booked,

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