"I was born under a wandering star ... " these words sung by Lee Marvin in Paint Your Wagon probably describes my traveling experiences starting at the very young age of 7 years old. My first travel experiences as a young boy were to go to sea every summer with my father who was the captain of salmon packers, seine boats and whalers on the British Columbia coast. This experience at sea gave me the wanderlust for travel and adventure at a very young age and one that continues through to this day.

But a career at sea was not meant to be for this son of a Norwegian seafaring mariner, I was told that I must go to university and get a good job, so I spent much of 35 years after graduating from UBC with majors in History and Geography as a teacher and department head of Social Studies in several Burnaby secondary schools. During this period I organized or assisted with group tours with high school students to other areas of Canada, the British Isles and northern Europe.

During the late 1980's I became a federal election official, the Returning Officer for North Vancouver for Elections Canada which opened up many traveling opportunities for me - both within Canada and overseas. During the 1990's, I traveled extensively in all provinces of Canada helping to train election officials. I also made several trips to Africa as a UN observer in Namibia in 1989, and as an election official in South Africa in the 1994 election. I also worked on an electoral and education project in Moscow that year helping to develop a democracy curriculum for Russian students. In 1995-96, I spent a year on leave from teaching, living in Jerusalem, where I managed an election administration and training assistance program on behalf of the American government in the West Bank and Gaza with the Palestinian Authority. I was there again in the Middle East in the summers of 1999 and 2000 for a project of the Canadian International Development Agency in preparing for municipal elections.

Over the years being a long time member of the Vancouver Welsh Mens Choir, I have traveled on many local BC and Alberta tours; and major international concert tours: to Australia - New Zealand, California, the Netherlands and Germany, the British Isles several times, Moscow and St. Petersburg, Boston and the Maritimes, and a recent trip in 2009 to Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria. In the last three of these tours to Russia, the Maritimes, and to Central Europe, I acted as the tour manager for the choir. I have also been to various countries of Scandinavia (mainly Norway and Denmark) several times to visit relatives and to visit places related our family's personal history. In North America, my travel has been extensive, I have visited or traveled in all 10 Canadian provinces and in the United States, I have been in 34 of the 50 states.

As you can see my experiences have been varied and extensive over many years. Many airports, train stations, buses …and many stories of memorable events occurred on these journeys. I am sure that I will relate some of these experiences should the opportunity arise.

My experience with Ellison Travel began in 2004 as the tour manager for the VWMC when we were planning our tour to the Maritimes and Boston. I was completely impressed with the professionalism of the company and the planning staff that I dealt with on preparations for our two major tours in 2006 and 2009 (each had 155 to 170 traveling members in our group).

It is my commitment to you that I will give you my best professional service that is so much the hallmark of the Ellison team of professionals. I look forward to meeting with you and your group as you prepare for your travel experience; and assisting you in having a great time enjoying your tour while I manage and look after all those many details that will make your trip a positive experience - not a burden of one more detail to worry about. If you and your group are having a good time, I will be having a good time as well!