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. However, one thing is for sure, whatever location you think of there will be many travel sites that devote space to it, if not whole websites themselves. Not only this but many people have given up going to a travel agent altogether (unless they are after a brochure) and make all their travel, car hire and accommodation arrangements online. The main problem is the convenience of it all and the huge savings that can be found using the internet.
Although I am not one to put my complete trust in these sites and still like to visit my travel agent. 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. I find it difficult explaining what I am looking for to a machine whereas it is easier to ask for details from a travel agent. 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.
If you do speak to someone, they may just tell you what you want to hear which is easy and what are the chances you will be able to find them? With a travel agent they are real and I can always go back to them and clarify points especially if something goes wrong. Although I do know someone who waits for the last minute cancellations to come up on travel sites and books them every time, saving a good deal of money. She is good at this and saves hundreds of dollars of the proper price and has always had a good vacation.
I wish I could do this but my work just wouldn’t allow me to suddenly take time of as they normally need a couple of months notice. Using a travel site does have other advantages as well because while you can save money on the vacation itself, there are also savings to be made on additional excursions and trips as well if pre-booked. Now I know I said that I book my vacation using a real travel agent but that doesn’t mean I do not take advantage of the internet to carry out research on my chosen destination first. Perhaps it isn’t fair because I know that it will be my travel agent that will hear my complaints if my vacation doesn’t go according to plan.
