THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 16, 1996 TAG: 9606120036
SECTION: REAL LIFE PAGE: K1 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: My Job
SOURCE: BY KRYS STEFANSKY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 72 lines
QUESTIONS, questions. All day, nothing but questions.
``Is there a hotel that'll take my dog?'' ``Where can we sunbathe nude?'' ``Where's a good place to eat seafood?''
And then there's always the question from the vacationing clueless, ``Which way to the beach?''
Like from the guy in Bermuda shorts, sandals and socks, standing in front of Peggy B. Boyd right now. He's gotten off the expressway here at the Virginia Beach Visitor Information Center, and he can sense water - just can't find it.
``I was heading this way,'' he says, pointing a finger in the direction of surf, sand and the vacationing hordes already elbow to elbow on the beach just blocks away. ``That would be east, right?''
``Right,'' says Boyd, smiling the way she has a million times.
Tourists. She loves 'em.
Sun-hungry, they drive in from D.C., Ohio, New York, New Jersey and Canada - the home of the itty-bitty slingshot bikini for men. Zipping off the highway to do their one-stop information shopping here, they all want to know where to stay, where to eat, what to do and what to see. Last summer, more than 63,000 people stopped here between June and August.
For nine years, Boyd's been pointing to pamphlets and answering tourists' questions. And the Pennsylvania transplant says the job hasn't lost its charm.
``I did a regular, 9-to-5 job for an engineering company in Philly and it was OK, but I had to have two other jobs just to add the spice of life,'' she says.
So what does a girl from Philly know about chatting up tourists on the highlights of this area? It's a great match. Boyd knows better than most what could happen on a Virginia Beach vacation.
``I came down here on a weekend trip to visit a girlfriend over Fourth of July in 1985. I went in the ocean for a swim and this tall, good-looking muscleman came swimming in and struck up a conversation,'' she says.
She married him. Boyd is 38 now. She and her husband, Dennis, live close to the resort strip. But even if they didn't, Boyd says, it wouldn't matter.
``I must have a sign on me because people come up to me all the time asking for information. It happened to me just last weekend on the Knotts Island ferry,'' she says.
At work, the question she gets more than any other is how to get to the ocean.
``I think they should have a sign out on the highway that says ``The Beach - one-half mile,'' she says, laughing. The next worry tourists have is about where to park and what sights they shouldn't miss.
They also want to eat, and eat well, like the woman who plops her big handbag on Boyd's counter this morning to ask the vacationer's million-calorie question, ``Are there any all-you-can-eat seafood houses here?''
Boyd works to satisfy every appetite. She tries to tell history buffs and museum browsers from amusement park types. And she suggests naval base tours for visitors who want to see jets and ships.
Boyd's also learned to expect the unexpected - like the vacationers who wanted a hotel that would also welcome their parrot. Or tourists who think the caverns at Luray are just right up the road. Or visitors who limp in with fishhooks stuck in their feet.
Whether pointing the injured and fried-to-a-crisp to the nearest medical center or supplying a list of local gay bars on request, Boyd always congratulates herself on snagging a job that guarantees constant change.
Like now. A red-legged young couple walks gingerly into the visitors center and up to Boyd.
``We're trying to get back to Ohio. Can you give us some directions?'' asks the young woman.
``How'd you get here?'' asks Boyd, reaching for a map. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by L. Todd Spencer
[Peggy B. Boyd, who works at the Virginia Beach Visitor Information
Center...] by CNB