|
Our focus is on the
Self-Travel. We avoid tour groups
whenever possible, teach travel skills
and guide independent travelers through
planning and booking a personalized
trip.
It's important to
note that we are talking from
experience. We have booked
numerous trips, from single point
destinations to complex multi-country
destinations involving various modes of
transportation and different types of
accommodations and have never felt the
need to use a full service travel
agent, ever! Even side-trip
excursions can be booked on-line without
having to involve a travel agent.
What is a
Travel Agency?
For
the purpose of this page, we need to
define what we mean by Travel Agency.
We are
referring to full-service
agencies. These are the
agencies you visit in person or talk
with on the phone, assisting you
with all your travel needs including
information, pre-packaged vacations
and bookings. They may charge
a fee or they may be free, making a
commission on the sale. After
your trip has been booked, there is
not much more to do than show up and
follow along with the planned
itinerary.
Self-travel
is not for everyone and there are
absolutely situations when using a
Travel Agent may be the best
alternative. If you are not
into planning, want everything done
for you and are happy with
pre-packaged itineraries, then by
all means visit your local agency
and select a pre-packaged trip.
We highly recommend you visit our
Self
Travel vs. Guided Travel
page for additional information.
To be clear, we are not referring to
on-line agencies such as Orbitz,
Expedia and others offering travel
deals and pre-defined travel
packages bundled together.
Sometimes these sites may have the
current best deals when it comes to
booking a city and hotel package.
Sites like Hotels.com is an online
agency allowing you to book hotels
and we use it often.
Travel Agency Myths
|
Myth 1 |
|
Myth 2 |
|
Myth 3 |
|
Only a travel agent can get you the best
deals
|
|
Travel agents
know more than you |
|
Planning a trip
is complex requiring the
assistance of a travel agent |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Online travel agents may offer
great package deals and we have
purchased flight/hotel packages for
several trips from online agencies such
as Expedia and Orbitz.
It's
not guaranteed that you will always get
a better deal when using a travel agent.
The best deals can often be found
directly at the source. Some
airlines may offer special discounted
rates only available on their websites
that agencies are unable to book.
|
|
There is not a travel
agent that can possibly know every detail
about every destination and activity you
may be interested in.
With today's internet, you can perform
your own research to learn all you
need to know about anything you are
interested in and become just as
informed or more informed than any
travel agent. In fact, you will
more than likely discover things that no
travel agent has ever heard of. |
|
Consider a single
destination trip to Paris where you plan
to explore the city. You need to
book your round-trip flights, a hotel for your
stay, research how to get from the
airport to your hotel, how to navigate
the metro system (subway) and discover
the sites you plan to visit. There
are numerous websites listing the top
Paris attractions so do you
really need an agent for that?
See our
Trip Builder Overview for Planning &
Booking allowing you to easily plan
and organize a single destination trip
as well as complex trips involving
multiple destinations and activities. |
Benefits of
using a Travel Agent
There are
obvious benefits of using a travel
agent.
Booking a vacation package using an
agent may provide insurance should
something happen such as medical
emergencies, adverse weather
conditions such as hurricanes, rail
strikes disrupting your trip or any
other situation.
Be sure to enquire about insurance
and compensation should something
happen resulting in a trip
disruption or cancellation.
See our page
on
Travel Insurance
Should something happen while you
are on your trip, your agent may be
able to assist you with alternative
plans. If you are self
traveling you are probably going to
be on your own to work out
alternative plans.
Don't let this hinder your decision
to self-travel. After years of
travel and many self-planned trips,
we have never experienced any issue
that has been anything more than
minor such as booking a room for the
wrong night or missing a train.
In both cases, we simply found a
different room at another hotel and
took a different train.
Trip
Planning
We saw an article posted on another
website listing points on why no one
should book a trip without a travel
agent. Some travel
professional posted the following
comment:
"Why would a person
spend hours doing research on a vacation
when with a phone call get just what
they ask for and many times at a lower
cost."
Part of the fun in planning your own
custom vacation is discovering
places to go and things to do.
Don't miss out on this important
piece of the process.
Yes, depending on your trip, it can
take time to plan and research the
best deals but it's all part of the
fun and exciting when you stumble
across a deal you cannot pass up.
Buy taking the time to plan and book
on your own, you will be able to
create your own custom itinerary
allowing you to do whatever you want
on your own time and schedule, often
providing opportunities not
available on pre-packaged trips.
You will not be restricted to time
and schedules of a pre-packaged
vacation.
|