Lisa Kroll Hazlett from Wisconsin did the Portugal, Morocco and Spain Tour in the fall of 2024. This is her take on the tour in All is Fine:

‘It was a blast’

‘Friends and family insisted I should not be traveling alone. My friend joined me in October of 2024. Her husband argued that we travel with a reputable agency. I had no expectations, other than to shake off some dust and spiderwebs. The tour resulted in a reverse bucket list dream. Good hotels, wonderful food, interesting tidbits at each destination, lots of kindness and laughter. Benjamin was the best souvenir we brought home. I became an adoring fan. So many times I fell over laughing.

‘We missed our connecting flight in London from Chicago to Lisbon by two hours. We were re-routed via Brussels to Lisbon. So we missed the welcome dinner for our tour through Portugal, Morocco and Spain. When I first met Benjamin, I thought: my goodness, this is some kind of business-like individual. Of course, I was stumbling around, having had almost no sleep, and he didn’t know us. But he was really efficient in making sure we were well taken care of.

‘Very shortly after the tour started, Benjamin revealed himself to us. He clearly is an entertainer through and through: his delivery, the pauses between lines, the expressions and his ready smile were quite engaging. His humor could be subtle or blatantly obvious, but it was always well-timed and never directed at anyone. He made sure we all felt included. To me he was the star of the show, but that was not how he behaved. He would take care of everyone and everything, and then he would semi-disappear. He was at dinner and ensured all was fine, but he finished eating before the rest of us. Because there was work to be done.

‘I know a tour is business, but he never made us feel like we were customers. Benjamin would announce the winner for the most or heaviest baggage each morning after we boarded the bus. Sometimes even surpassing previous days’ winners. Wives chuckled, their husbands all grumbled in similar tone. Everyone was in love with him by the time we left.

‘Our bus was hit by a taxi the day before we were supposed to leave. We looked out of the window and saw this tiny little cab on the road. Benjamin asked: “Is everyone all right? Okay. All is fine, my friends. We have options.” Not a word of panic. We had choices. That appears to be his outlook: all is fine.

‘How many times did he take this route with the same stops? Still he radiated joy – for the enthusiasm of people experiencing this for the first time, for the vendors who were earning from their trade, for the beauty of the places. It made my heart smile to see him with the excitement of a child on Christmas morning when in the Valley of the Roses in Morocco he had traded his own shirt for some kind of local T-shirt.

‘Somewhere on the bus Benjamin mentioned he was gay. I hadn’t picked up on that. I am not equipped with a ‘gaydar’. I don’t think anyone really cared. To me that’s not what defines him. He made everyone feel special without

treating people differently, and that’s no small feat. There were people on the bus who had been married many, many years and who were trying to learn to have fun again. Benjamin made it so. I think we all wished this trip could have lasted forever.

‘On the last night of the trip in Madrid, we were going down the street with all the theaters, and Benjamin explained that this was Madrid’s version of Broadway. Mamma Mia was playing. He hit play on the tape recorder and now we were all singing and waving our arms. The bus driver was flashing his interior lights on and off. We were all singing Mamma Mia. It was just so crazy, but it was a blast.’