
Personally, I have always enjoyed traveling outside of my country but I know many people that have never even left the state they live in and always vacation locally. Whatever your travel interest is you will find a wealth of information online at numerous travel sites. Let’s face it, when you can book whatever vacation you like using a website, why bother going to a travel agent. The predominance of websites dedicated to travel says just how popular this method is as every tour operator has their website as well to add to the mix.
This ease doesn’t always hold true however, and I have never been one to trust my entire vacation to a computerized travel site; it just seems a bit too strange to me. However, I am still of the old school and prefer to sit down with a cup of coffee and plan my vacation with a professional, face to face. There always seems to be much more flexibility with a travel agent and you are able to ask for more details and change your mind with much more ease. It is difficult complaining to a travel site and almost impossible to actually speak to a real person, plus with today’s technology it is almost impossible to say where they are in the world.
The difficulty comes with the aspect of trust and speaking to someone on a phone, who knows where, does not instill confidence. For peace of mind I like to use my travel agent and I don’t mind if it takes much longer to book the vacation or if the cost is higher because I know I can always speak to them about anything that isn’t right. I have a good friend who would never use a travel agent as she books all her last minute vacations using travel sites because she can save a packet of money. By browsing online she has made some amazing savings by just waiting until the last possible minute to book the vacation.
It would be nice to do this but my career does not allow for impulsive travel arrangements. Other savings to be made using travel sites are the costs of other day trips or tours that are not part of the main vacation. Still after all is said and done I still the use the internet a great deal for my vacation research before I actually go along to see my travel agent as I will have most of the information I require before I see her. It may not be fair on my travel agent but at least I know if something goes wrong, I will have someone to complain to on my return.






