This is the story of how I came to become a host of a Viking TV episode, and IF you are reading this - because I believe this is probably a story that few other than myself would be interested in, I truly appreciate you checking out the back story. This all started back in mid-March. For the last few years Viking TV has highlighted an itinerary each week and every Wednesday the program is a walk-through of the trip followed by questions and answers. You could either post your questions ahead of time or try to send one during the broadcast. When I'd get an email alerting me to these presentations I'd typically tune in if the itinerary was one we'd book for the future. Prior to this March presentation I'd done this for presentations on Egypt, the Italian Lakes, Antarctica (twice), and the Elbe Christmas Markets cruise. On this particular day the presentation was on the British Isles itinerary which we are booked for in August of 2024 with our great friends Sue & Dan Reynolds AND Claudia & Gary Wanlin.
In the previous episodes when I posted a question I'd taken great pride in the fact that when my question was read - and they were read every time - that I'd get a reaction from the expert answering the question. I considered what part of our trip I wanted to inquire about which would be likely to get that kind of reaction and I finally decided that the question I'd ask would be about our post-extension which included a scenic train ride from Bergen to Oslo, Norway which was billed as "arguably the most scenic train ride in the world." And to add to the probability that my question would elicit a response as I was looking for I prefaced the question by saying, "...We are booked on an August 2024 British Isles itinerary which will be our SEVENTEENTH Viking Adventure....."
At the 0:34 mark as the video starts, you'll notice that the expert commentator, Neil Barclay is read my question. The female host reading the question makes note of my comment and emphasizes that it will be our 17th trip. When hearing this, Neil's expression got the wanted response, and he says, "WOW." But at the 4:20 mark, following his reply (which, for the record he said we made a great choice to book this scenic train ride!), the female host AGAIN notes, "Seventeen Viking cruises...." to which Neil replies, "....that's amazing, seventeen Viking cruises is just phenomenal. We should get YOU on Viking TV and maybe you can tell us about your experiences." Well THAT was unexpected, and you don't have to suggest that twice to me so I searched for the proper email to send them a note that I would INDEED be interested in doing my own Viking TV episode. I found an email, fired it off and really thought I'd be lucky to get a reply. Two weeks later we left on our "Viking Tulips & Windmills" adventure with Gary & Claudia and I shared with them what had happened, and concluded by saying I didn't think I'd hear from them.....but hey, you never know.
We returned from the Netherlands on April 12, nearly a month from when I'd sent the initial email and still now word. Then out of the blue, on April 26 I saw an email in my "inbox" from a Ciara Cassidy, from Viking TV. WHAT???? And so I immediately responded to Ciara and then sent a follow-up email with a suggested story-board for the kind of presentation I had in mind.
I did not hear back from "my Viking TV girl" for a couple days, which became a couple of weeks, and eventually as I said to Kim, "I'm sure I'm not a priority for Viking TV and to have just maybe have been considered I'm happy. And if they truly are interested, at some point perhaps they will reach out to me." Well, as the saying goes, "patience is a virtue" and some six weeks later, when like the first time, I was again surprised to see an email from Ciara Cassidy in my inbox on June 7.......
Her comments about how much "they" liked my ideas and enthusiasm made me smile broadly and her suggestion that we MEET via a video conference was downright exciting. Of course I wrote back immediately. And so we agreed to meet on June 15th - the following week - in a mid morning video chat to talk about ideas and how it might all work. With a few days until the meeting I sent over a few more ideas
And then finally, the big day arrived and I was so very excited. I set up my computer on the back porch and made sure to have my Viking shirt on :) Ciara was sitting at her desk in the Viking TV office and I'm sure so that my voice would not disturb her co-workers she had a set of headphones with a microphone attached. Immediately we hit it off and were smiling and exchanging stories about our backgrounds. We'd only been talking for about ten minutes, without going over any specifics when Ciara noted that she so enjoyed my genuine enthusiasm and thought that should this episode go well, that the Viking TV people were wondering would I be interested in doing a series of episodes? Well of course I said!
We chatted for nearly forty minutes and I promised to have a preliminary power point presentation to her by the following Monday. Shortly after getting off the video chat I sent her an email expressing just how appreciative I was and reiterating that I'd have my preliminary presentation ready for her to look over soon.
Three weeks went by without anything from "my girl," and again I remarked that certainly I'm not a priority, they have other things to do at Viking TV and I was pretty sure I'd hear back from Ciara eventually. On July 11, the day before Kim and I were going to fly to Paris for a river cruise to Normandy with our good friends Pam & Bob Murray, I finally heard from Ciara - who you can see in the email, apologized for the delay as she'd not been well.
We then agreed we'd try to connect upon our return from France and our visit to London. I did mention to Ciara that we would be in London for three nights and I'd be willing to visit the Viking TV offices if they'd like, but she told me she too would be on "holiday" and wished me well on our adventure promising to get back together later in August. We returned to So Florida on August 20th and within a week Ciara and I were back in touch.
We agreed to meet prior to the presentation and at the end of August we re-connected.
We exchanged emails two days later to finalize plans and we set the video meeting for planning purposes for Tuesday morning the 29th of August.
Again, what a great visit we had. Ciara immediately noted my Viking shirt, and asked if it would be possible to wear it for the presentation. I explained I'd already thought of that and had worn this RED one today because I planned to wear my BLUE one for the presentation. Then I had her tell me all about her "holiday" and she explained that she'd taken all three weeks of her annual leave and went with a couple friends to travel the Viking River cruise itinerary from Marsailles to Avignon BY BIKE, and camped each night. I expressed my amazement that she was able to do all that cycling and camping. Then we got down to the business of the presentation. The first thing Ciara mentioned a couple of minor adjustments to the presentation and I asked about inserting some video clips which she thought was a great idea. She then explained I'd be meeting with James from the start at 10 am until about 10:15 am and then I'd share my computer screen with him and go through the presentation.
I felt a lot MORE comfortable, because after I'd rehearsed it a few times I was already comfortable with my stories and slides, when Ciara explained that at any time I'd be able to stop and ask to re-do a segment and they could edit out the "first take." I set up my "studio" on Monday September 4th and by 9:30 am I was ready for the meeting to begin. My email dinged and it was Ciara asking if I was ready to go. I said that I was and just from the way she'd worded the email I wondered if there was a mix-up on times - yes, she'd thought we said 9:30 am so I told her I was ready and I logged in to meet Ciara's boss, James.
We chatted for the first ten minutes about my background, about all my trips, and he wanted to see my website, so I shared it. He noted the Antarctica picture in the background and he also noted our Disney ceramics so I explained about my "Mickonomics" course I taught to the seniors at Cypress Bay High. James then reviewed how they would share my screen; I'd run the power point and deliver my presentation. It was a little unclear to me as we chatted if I'd be on screen in a small box (after being full screen for the introduction) or if I would only "pop in and out" as they edited me in. He asked if I was ready and I said yes and launched into it. Can't explain why, but the delivery of the presentation went even smoother than any of the rehearsals I'd done and it felt oh-so like a classroom presentation as I told one story after another from our previous Viking adventures. After nearly an hour the presentation was over and after a pause James came back on and commented, "Wow, that was REALLY engaging - I must say I was surprised at just HOW engaging that was! And all in a one-off without having to redo any parts!" I thanked him and said I had really enjoyed it. He then said, "If you have time we have a special guest who wants to pop in and say hello." I was sure he was referring to Ciara who said she'd be watching but when the screen changed it was not Ciara, but was the Executive Vice President of Viking, Karine Hagen - daughter of the owner & founder of the company - who is all over TV promoting the company and at all their events. I was STUNNED. I immediately started thinking "don't act like a school boy, try to act normal :)" One of the first things Karine said was "I wanted to say hello to you, we've been talking about you and I can't wait to see the presentation and hear all your stories!" Again, stunned - don't act like a school boy I thought. She asked about things I really enjoyed, and we chatted about how much we enjoyed Viking especially the staff and guides. Then Karine said she'd like to meet in the future and talk in detail about my thoughts about how Viking could improve and ideas for the future. WOW. She then noted our trip to the British Isles next August which starts in London and remarked that perhaps we could meet then. OF COURSE I said.
She then asked about when was our next trip and I explained in ONE WEEK we were heading to Egypt with Viking and what that was so cool to me. She told me she'd been there for the christening of the Osiris ship and told me "on the sly - don't tell anyone I said this" that the Viking ship designer believed the Osiris is the BEST ship in the fleet. Then she asked if I'd ready Lady Carnarvon's book about Egypt and the discovery of King Tut's tomb. I said, no I hadn't. She then said to James, who was still online with us, "James, be sure to get Mark's address and reach out to Highclere Castle and have them send him a copy of that book." OH MY. He said, "Sure thing!" Karine signed off and promised we'd talk again. WOW that was cool. James asked for my address and a couple days later, the book arrived.
