I CAME TO Ireland from Normandy, in France, because I got a job with IBM. I wasn’t superhappy with the work, however, so I went travelling for two years. I love walking and ended up guiding in Bolivia and Colombia. When I came back here I set up a walking-holiday business with two friends.
We work out of the Guinness Enterprise Centre, in Dublin. Thankfully, I love the smell of the hops. It reminds me of roasting chestnuts.
I commute from Dún Laoghaire on my scooter. You’d be mad to try and drive a car in Dublin. I get in at around 8am; the first thing I do is catch up on e-mails. More than 90 per cent of our bookings are made online.
Though my job is mostly office-based, three or four times a year I will head off to find and research new routes. Notebook in hand, I’ll find the best paths, the best hotels, the best restaurants.
Walking for me is a wonderful combination of mental freedom and physical challenge. I’d choose a walking over a driving holiday any time. With walking you get off the main roads and get to explore cultures and meet people in a way that’s just not possible in a car.
The rest of the morning I spend dealing with customer queries, organising holiday packs and calling customers.
We have a great customer- relationship management system that prompts me to call people three days prior to departure to wish them bon voyage. People like it because it gives them a chance to ask last-minute questions.
I have lunch in the cafeteria downstairs, and we have great craic with the other businesses here in the centre.
At 2pm we have a meeting back in the office, to catch up on what’s happened in the morning and talk about any queries that have arisen.
Each afternoon I’ll spend some time updating the website. We have a comprehensive customer feedback form which we send out, and the information we get back is invaluable to us. We have changed hotels and routes as a result of it. We also get back some great tips, such as the best ice-cream shop in Pamplona, and I put them all up on the web for customers.
We have a blog, too, and it’s part of my job to write that. We’re currently launching a new walk through the Berber villages of Morocco, so that’s what I’m writing about at the moment.
I normally head home at about 6pm. At the moment, however, I try to get out a bit earlier, because I’ve just become a father and I’m trying to help with our baby, Leah.
I’m totally in love with her, and I have her backpack carrier already bought, so I can take her walking up the Wicklow Mountains.
Roland Monsegu is co-founder of One Foot Abroad walking tours. www.onefootabroad.ie
In conversation with Sandra O’Connell