Jack Heilgeist's Page

Hometown:

Lake villa, Illinois

About Me:

I have been doing seasonal employment since 1991. It is a great way to make a living and have enough time and money to do the traveling I enjoy. Pretty much FDR's admonition that "all we have to fear is fear itself" says it all. I quit my job in Illinois headed to Alaska and arrived in Skagway with $50.00 left in my pocket. I took a job as a tour guide and ended up doing the same job for the next 13 summers. Oh by the way, I quit my job, went home and pulled out a map, asked myself where I hadn't been before, chose Alaska, packed up my van and left for Alaska the very next day. I never missed a meal or didn't have a place to live. You can preplan yourself into never making a decision. It's either in you or it's not. If you really want to break with 9 to 5 and want a new direction, just do it. Thousands and thousands of people have been where you are now.

Last Seasonal Job:

Driver for CME in Summit County, Colorado, the past three winters and I spent the three previous summers in: Telluride, CO; Bar Harbor, Maine and Ketchikan, Alaska

Favorite Seasonal Job:

Tour guide, Skagway, Alaska

Where have you lived and worked?

Skagway, AK; Ketchikan, AK; Silverthorne, CO; Telluride, CO; Granada, Spain; Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Chicago, IL

Dream Job:

Have no dream job because it would either require me to do the same thing over and over or live in the same place. My dream is to have diversity of experience in my life.