As Thomas Cook disappeared from our high streets I thought about the travel agent’s role and wondered if it will exist for much longer. This got me thinking … is this a job I should have taken up as a teenager? I could see myself sitting behind a desk with a PC and a stack of brochures, getting paid to inspire customers with ideas for their dream holiday. I would explore with each person what makes them tick, what type of holiday they want, what their interests are and try to fit the people to their ideal destination. Instead travel advice has become something I do freely and perhaps too enthusiastically. I am always chipping in to help [or overwhelm] friends, colleagues and strangers in the planning of their trips.
A typical example is a friend who was taking her first trip to the West Coast of Scotland and asked if I had any places I would recommend. Quite sometime later she left with a long list of what I considered were just a start on my top tips of places to visit in this beautiful part of the world, from the grandeur of Glencoe to the stunning Torridon. When it comes to travel I can never be accused of being unenthusiastic!
Another friend was beginning to plan a trip to Slovenia and asked if I had any recommendations. Never short of ideas, I emailed her a list from my own experience in that gorgeous country and last year I was able to help a fellow travel writer with suggestions for places to camp on a a trip across Germany from the Czech Republic.
In this last month I was asked for ideas for campsites in the Lake District. I had to make myself stop after I had listed ten recommendations, each with a link to the website, a review of each site including its pros and cons and what they can do from the site. At our tai chi class recently I was recommending at length some nearby gardens for snowdrops to a fellow class mate. My enthusiasm knows few bounds and I don’t always spot the signs that I am overwhelming people!
I can’t help putting my two penn’orth in on social media too and this is a fantastic place for the frustrated travel agent. I spot a question about somewhere I have visited and I pile in with ideas and tips for campsites and special places to visit. People ask so many questions about places that are new to them on the various motorhome and campervan groups and lots of fellow travellers will willingly and enthusiastically pipe up with their own recommendations. I don’t need to yearn to be employed as a travel agent these days, I can just spend my days [when I am not travelling] cruising social media looking for people that are longing for my input!
It isn’t all one-way traffic, I am a taker as well as a giver and I am inspired by other people’s trips. I note down new places to visit, ideas for walks and campsites and countries to explore that I find on social media. I also avidly read other travel writers who generously share their favourite places and secret corners to visit via blogs, MMM and Campervan magazines and books.
It is too late for me to be a real travel agent but I can keep sharing my love for travelling with others so that they can also enjoy amazing trips and on the high street Hays Travel seem to be making a success of taking over Thomas Cook, so the travel agent certainly isn’t gone yet!
Back on the road again 
Oh boy, do I recognise something of myself here?! Yes…..I’m very capable of having an enthusiastic response to requests for help, inspiration, or even simply a conversations about a place I’ve visited. This can easily provoke suggestions, ideas, links, photos etc. I recognise the syndrome ok, and I’m very aware of it. So I’m just off to email some photos I took of and on the ferris wheel in the Prater in Vienna, following a recent conversation with a friend about the classic “The Third Man” b/w film….
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🙂 Thank you Joyce! Maybe this is why we share a need to write 🙂 We loved the ferris wheel in the Prater in Vienna too and now you’ve me me start humming the tune!
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I was totally thinking about this the other day as I was making all the travel plans for our big extended family trip haha
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🙂 It is good to know I am not alone!
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This is all very familiar and made me smile 🙂 Isn’t it great that we have these online tools where our (willing) audience can find us and we can seek out others who are likeminded. Many people that I try and enthuse about sights and activities with tell me “Sounds great but when will I have time to relax and drink cocktails by the infinity pool…is there even a pool?”
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Thank you and yes having the online platforms to share ideas is amazing isn’t it (I am old enough to remember life before the internet)!
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You’re just as enthusiastic about travel as I am! I love sharing all my stories and also get carried away sometimes. Keep sharing your love for travel!
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Thank you. I think life would be dull if we weren’t enthusiastic.
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I love your perspective! My youngest daughter (age 13) would make the world’s BEST travel agent. She can ferret out the most amazing deals on flights, accommodations, and car rentals while also uncovering the most amazing things to do and places to eat. Travel agents may be even less popular in ten years when she’s done with college, but maybe she can parlay her talents into the next incarnation?
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Thank you and how fantastic that your daughter has that enthusiasm, I am sure there will still be a need for people to share their travel knowledge in some way in then years time, it is just hard to think what that will look like from here.
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I loved reading your perspective of how your love for travel is making you think to become a travel agent. Like if you are a travel agent and you would send everybody to Austria, I too keep suggesting and recommending specific destinations to my friends and family. Sometimes they say me, why not I open a travel booking site or shop in my town. I would not say meet a frustrated agent but I will say Meet a enthusiast travel agent.
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Thank you! I certainly suggest beautiful Austria as a perfect destination to lots of people, even though I would like to keep it all to myself 🙂
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I can often relate to this! I also give out a lot of travel advice. This was a fun little article to read!
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Thank you very much.
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Saying I can relate is too short and simple. Planning every single trip, for us, for our families, for our friends. Many of them actually told me that I should become a travel agent, so I guess when the shoe fits… The hardest part is to actually stop planning and enjoy the moments!
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All that planning must pay off and mean you can enjoy the trip when you are there 🙂 Thank you.
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I see a lot of myself in what you write. I’m not a travel agent, nor do I want to become one, but people come to me for advice on where to go and what to do while they’re traveling and I find it so exciting helping them plan out their adventures.
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