The
58 year old Miami native then signed on with two
new ride share companies who were in the early stage of changing the paradigm
of transportation services in the
U.S. and abroad.
"Signing on with
those app-based start-ups gave me the freedom to set my own schedule which
allowed me to pursue my tour development while still earning an income,
interacting with visitors', newcomers', and locals', and expanding my
navigational reach to Naples to the west and Jupiter to the north," he
recalls.
"I worked some very high places like The Breakers in Palm Beach,
and some very low places where I actually witnessed some illicit activities
going down in the wee hours of the morning." All and all he has literally
traveled nearly
52,000 miles and logged in over
2,184 hours
during a course of
16 months over a
three-year period in
preparation for this and other
South Florida tours.
Whipple is no
stranger to detailed tour development preparation as he was first to produce a
driving
Black/African-American
Heritage Tour™of
Charlotte,
NC, back in
1992 after conducting over
127 hours of
in-person research at the main library.
"Back then the Internet was still in
its early stages of development and did not contain nearly as much information
as it does today," he points out.
"Today most businesses, organizations
(including our government), and even churches have made research a lot easier
by providing their history on their websites."
Whipple's new contractual transportation jobs also
gave him the freedom to pursue additional educational credits in history by
completing a six week course on
Miami
history at Miami Dade Community
College's north campus off
N.W. 27th Avenue.
"I
remember going there shortly after it was built in the late 1960's for a
gymnastics class, and later in high school to participate in track meets for
Beach High and the AAU (Amateur Athletic Union), as well as practice on my
own," he recalls;
"Back then I could actually run from the bottom to the
top of those stairs from one end of the stadium to the other." 
He was also
able to squeeze in some time, between contract ride share shifts, to complete
the
Miami
In Me customer service program sponsored by the
Miami CVB, as well
as tag along as a tourist on a
South
Beach walking tour, two double-decker bus tours, a
celebrity
boat tour around the islands of
Biscayne
Bay, and a walking tour of
Little
Havana conducted by history guru
Dr.
Paul George. Oh, by the way, he is also a travel writer for
Trend Magazine Online™.
Finally, he was able to spend time conducting research at the
Main Public
Library Downtown which is one of his favorite places in the
Magic City.
In
December of
2014 Whipple gave his first
Miami
tour which was a walking city tour that began and ended at
Bayside in
Downtown.
He invited some of his family members because they are sometimes the toughest
critics.
"They seemed to enjoy themselves but I realized that I had a lot
more to learn to make the tour more interesting to locals," he said.
Just
over three years later and
Whipple is ready to begin offering his tours
to the general public here in
Miami.
"I am currently in the process
of hiring and training local guides who possess the qualities needed to educate
as well as entertain our guests in a manner that exceeds their expectations,"
he explains.
"I have been doing it for over 25 years and am confident that
those that make the grade will continue to 'edutain 'tourists', newcomers', and
locals' here in the Magic City."
Whipple's company -
Queen City Tourssm and Travel - is celebrating
25 years of successful
service in the travel and tourism industry in
North and
South
Carolina, and have maintained an
A to
A+ rating with the
Better
Business Bureau over the past decade or so. They now offer
free samplings of their
QCT
Miami Daily City Toursm and
QCT
Miami Daily Black Heritage Toursm. Future plans include
utilizing these tours as fund-raisers for local historic landmarks like the
Dorsey home in
the
Overtown neighborhood.
Whipple has also recently published his third
book entitled
Black
Charlotte From A Tour Guide's Perspective Part 1in which he has plans to enjoin with his two other titles -
Charlotte
From A Tour Guide's Perspective, and
More
Charlotte From A Tour Guide's Perspective - to become his first novel.
The QCT
Miami Daily City Toursm provides a unique and fresh take on the
area's history from the experiences of a native-born Miamian. This tour
promises to take you places and introduce you to people previously overlooked on
other tours like Moore Park in Miami (segment one), the former home of Pablo
Escobar in North Beach (segment two), Miami Beach High School and Mayor Gelber (segment
three), and the former Miami Vice hit TV show (segment four), to name a few .
The new tour is developed by Mr. Juan D. "Jay"
Whipple, a Miami native, who left the area for military service in 1978
upon graduating from Miami Beach High School.
Whipple returned here in late 2014 for a five month stay; his longest stint
since graduating. "I was completely blown away and a bit intimidated at how
much had changed since the late 1970's when I freely navigated Miami via
automobile, my bicycle, the Jitney, city bus, and on foot," says Whipple.
"Fast forward nearly four decades and I found myself literally driving in
circles trying to get from here to there," he said.
"The Sun Life Stadium assignment brought things full circle
for me in that I worked at the old Orange Bowl Stadium in Little Havana while
in high school in the late 1970's and actually got a chance to see up close and
personal the entire Dolphin roster; including legendary coach Don Shula - at
each home game," recalls Whipple.
Whipple then landed a job with an airport shuttle
company located just a few blocks from his mother's home in the Gladeview
Community near the MLK Metrorail station. "It was a blessing and
a challenge," he stated because "I was now being paid to drive around in
circles trying to get from here to there." That job helped him expand his
navigational reach from Florida City to the south and as far north as Lake
Worth. 
"That job also gave me a chance to interact with both visitors',
newcomers', and local residences' from all walks of life," he said. "After
a while I also began giving them brief tours while in route to their
destinations." Whipple decided to leave that job because the 50-plus
hours per week did not give him enough time to begin the long process of
developing this tour.
