You may wonder what gives me the authority to write a travel blog and the only thing I can say is that I am writing it because I can. I have 23 years of experience in the travel industry. I graduated from travel school back in 1987. I've been both a leisure agent and a corporate agent. I've booked group travel, domestic travel and international travel. I even taught travel for 8 years at 2 different travel schools. I lost count of the classes I graduated.
Although I have only been out of the country myself on a handful of occassions, my work experience speaks volumes. I've sent clients to every continent with the exception of Antarctica....I know the airline, hotel and car rental industry inside out.
I currently work from home as a corporate travel agent and service over a dozen accounts based in Houston, Texas. I travel myself every chance that I get. If you ask me what my favorite city is to visit, I will tell you hands down that it is New York City. I can easily put it above Paris, San Francisco, Boston and London to name a few.
Back in the early 90's I started my own travel agency, booking vacation and business travel. It was around this time that the internet took off and when people discovered they could book their own travel, a lot of home based agencies and mom and pops went out of business. I wound up going back into corporate travel.
Because of my extensive knowledge of the industry, family and friends are always coming to me for travel help. It seems that the novelty of booking their own travel has slowly worn off. Instead of one or two travel websites there are now thousands. The choices are endless. They all claim to have the best deals. They all claim to know everything. They are all better than the other guy...Expedia...Travelocity...Hot Wire...Cheap Seats...Orbitz, Priceline....I could go on and on. It used to take people an hour or two to book their vacations. Now, it takes days or even weeks.
I have planned enough trips for myself to know this. I am the most anal retentive travel agent I know when it comes to my own trips. I research airfare, hotels, ground transportation. Restaurants, sightseeing and shopping. I spend countless hours planning my own vacations. I plot and plan and type up day by day itineraries, print them and bring them with me on vacation. I sometimes think that it would be worth paying somebody else to do all the work for me.
So, an idea was born. It is my belief that small, specialized travel agents will soon make a comeback. After all, isn't easier to pay an expert for a few hours of their time rather than sit for days and weeks poring over websites and books trying to plan something that you may or may not have any knowledge of? Sure you can take what some websites promise you at face value, but wouldn't you rather have a personal experience? Somebody to call to bounce an idea off of? Somebody to call if you have a problem or a question? I think so.
On this blog, I'm going to talk about my travel ideas and experiences. I will blog about the current airfares, hotel deals and specials that I come across. If someone wants my assistance with travel, I will be happy to help. Only for this service, I will be charging a fee. It is an enjoyable thing for me to do, but it does take my time.
So, enjoy what you read and if you do need help with your travel plans, drop me a line and I'll see what I can do to assist.
Ciao
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