As a travel agent, I often hear admiring comments like, "You must have been everywhere." Unfortunately, no. I have quite serious gaps in my travel background. I don't consider myself to have been to the Caribbean, for instance, although according to generally accepted definitions I have. I spent three days on Bermuda, but honestly, that's not very useful when it comes to recommending islands in the Caribbean sea. Another huge gap is my total lack of cruise experience. I have not only never been on a cruise ship, I've never even been near one. Those two constitute a major portion of the destinations for leisure travelers, so it haunts me all the time.
I know quite a lot about choosing the right cruise line or the right island(s) for my clients, though, thanks to agent seminars, videos, and other travel agents' experience. I also read industry magazines and national newspapers voraciously, keeping up with current events. I'm totally confident about where to place people, and I listen to what worked and what didn't when they come back and tell me how the trip went. Hotels that look good in the description can turn out to be dumps. Politics can turn islands from paradise to riot centers. Vessels that were the cutting edge ten years ago won't be top of the line now; cruise ships age rapidly even with retrofitting. I work really hard at keeping myself informed. I work really hard at being all things to all vacationers.
What I like is when I can give people inside information: a great restaurant, a fun day trip, a museum not to be missed. What I like even better is when clients ask me to research trips to destinations I've never sold before. My brother-in-law is going to Cambodia next year, for instance. I never knew what there was to do after you've seen Angkor Wat until I started investigating. Now I have lots of suggestions. One of my research tools is this diary, actually, or rather people I've met through it. When I had a couple wanting to spend time in Bali last year I wrote to Kash of glass paper and asked her opinion (Australians always know about Bali, it's a cheap vacation for them). I got some great information in return. I know I could use the Internet, and I do, but there's no replacement for someone's personal experience, and that's one reason why I need to go to the Caribbean, and go on a cruise ship. It will make me a much more effective salesperson.
Isn't that the best justification you've ever heard for forcing myself to take a Caribbean cruise next year? I really have to buckle down and do it. It's just hard, though, when I could be going to Rome, or Santiago, or Windhoek. I haven't been everywhere, and there's so many wonderful places still to see. I can't complain, though. I've been to Iceland, Great Britain, France, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Ecuador, Japan, and Australia, nearly always on someone else's dime or at an absurdly cheap travel agent rate.
Man, I love this business.
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