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Moin and hello!
I’m Mischa, the founder and managing director of Adventure World Tours. It all started in October 2013. A small shared room, no idea about business, taxes or administration and no money. But I have a lot of knowledge about St. Pauli, the Speicherstadt and how to do really cool tours. On top of that, there are big goals (to offer tours in all the exciting big cities in the world) and even greater quality standards. At this point, I had already conducted over 2,000 city tours myself and worked as a freelancer in Hamburg for almost all major city tour companies. It was clear to me what I wanted to do better or differently: the guest must be the priority.
Our guests should feel comfortable with our guides. A community should be created. At the end of the tour you feel: you have become friends. Sometimes real friendships arise from these encounters. Even some couples got together after our tours. What is also important to me: smaller groups, motivated guides, visiting unusual places and places and working with local partners. As a trained hotel specialist, I want to offer our guests the best possible experience. The word customer is forbidden in our company – it means guest and a guest is treated differently than a customer. But I digress, city guides always like to do that. Things moved quickly after the launch: the tours were quickly booked up in the first few months. So friends could/had to come to the company and also new employees who then became friends. We experienced a lot of crazy stories, drank a lot of beers and developed new tours. We have grown into the largest city tour company in Hamburg 🚀 (then Adventure Hamburg).
The next adventure was already on the cards: In 2018 we headed south to Cologne 🕍 to open a branch. Constantin and I developed the first two tours in 16-hour shifts. OK, that’s a lie. Most of the time it was 20 hours a day. A crazy time. We ate exclusively Kölsch, Kinder Pingui and RedBull 🙈. That was one of the best times of my life. Since then I have absolutely fallen in love with Kölle. At the end of 2018 it was also the turn of Berlin and then Düsseldorf in 2019, which we have now approached in a much more professional manner. A big part of that was played by André, who is still trying to convince me of Düsseldorf’s superiority 😉. We have now had over 200,000 happy guests. And that’s just the beginning 🚀 🥂!
Let’s see where the journey goes in the next few years. Certainly beyond the borders of Germany (we have Munich and Dresden in mind for now) 🥨 🍺. Oh yes, and when I have free time: I like to travel and – who would have thought – take part in city tours. Seriously, I haven’t seen a city, or really visited a city, until I’ve at least taken a guided tour. I am also enthusiastic about sports, reading, personal development, business clubs and chess.
P.S.: And if an employee or future employee is reading this: only 5 stars is an acceptable result. I had an average of 5 stars out of 5 possible stars. I expect the same from you! We’ll teach you how to achieve such top quality. You just have to be open to new things and willing to learn 😉.
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Moin,
I’m André, tour guide and tour developer for Adventure World Tours. For me, it all started in May 2017 when I was sitting in front of my PC, completely bored and no longer interested in coding websites. So I said to myself, “Digga, everything is way too virtual. It has to be something with Leuden.”
So I applied to be a tour guide at Adventure Hamburg, which was what Adventure World Tours was called back then. 7 training tours later, I stood at the front of the group and took my exam in the Speicherstadt, of course I passed! Since then, Adventure World Tours has been my home base.
Then things slowly got going in the Speicherstadt and I found myself enjoying the tours more and more. Since one of my hobbies is smart shit, it fit in quite well with the tours. Smart shit, entertaining guests and getting paid for it? Perfect!
Then in 2018 the big step, a phone call with the boss. Mischa: “Andre, what do you think of a culinary Elbphilharmonie tour?” I had already started my first project. The development of a tour, not just any tour, no, Adventure World Tours’ first own culinary tour.
Many kilometers on foot, new information and, above all, a lot of test food later, the tour was complete. I really enjoy the tour because it is, like the river Elbe: subject to constant changes.
But the most important thing is, I learned a lot! How do I set up tours, what information is important and how do I package the information into a story that can be experienced and what do I say at a red light. As a tour guide on a culinary tour, I am more of a host than a tour guide. Always keep an eye on the guests and what is happening in the restaurant. Meanwhile, entertaining guests and ensuring a smooth and enjoyable stay in the restaurant.
The KE, short for Insider, was really getting going in the summer of 2018 when the boss called again… “André, tell me, what do you think of Berlin?” Zack, packed his suitcase and drove to Berlin. Two culinary tours (Kreuzberg and Mitte) were developed there and a “normal” Kreuzberg was also developed.
The next phone call with Mischa came in the summer of 2019. “André…”. This time it was said: Off to Düsseldorf and develop a culinary restaurant in Düsseldorf-Flingern. Mischa still believes I want to convince him of Düsseldorf’s superiority. No, Altbier is simply better than Kölsch!
I’m curious to see when the next call will come… “André, what do you think of Munich or Dresden?” Then it’s time to pack your bags again and get ready for a new city. But that’s what’s fun, just “the most beautiful city in the world” gets boring in the long run. Life is outside.
As an instructor, instructor of instructors and tour developer, my job is to ensure that the spirit and philosophy of Adventure World Tours is passed on to the guides; So that they live tour guiding. Because ZDF (Figures, Data, Facts) you can learn to entertain a group of guests, you have to have that in your blood. Feeling the condition of the guests, responding to the guests, having a certain feeling for the situation, the weather… etc.
Despite all the training, tour development and other nonsense, the best thing for me is still standing in front of a group of guests, delivering a great tour and getting 5 stars for it.