The following are some examples how an independent travel agency can help customers and can be better than the internet including saving money for our customers!

Solo Traveller on Hurtigruten
Mrs B. wanted to experience the 12 days Hurtigruten Fjords and Northern Lights cruise, but had concerns in how to get to Gatwick to meet the only flights to Bergan and that she was travelling alone. We were aware of a touring company that offered small escorted trips on same cruise and dates. They offered a home pickup (in this instance Bedfordshire) to Gatwick, an extra night in Bergan with escorted city sightseeing and comfort of travelling in a group for only £100 more than booking the cruise direct with Hurtigruten. The getting to and from Gatwick by private taxi would cost more than the £100!

Honeymoon Couple and Safari
A Honeymoon couple came to us who had been looking on the internet for a 2 centre holiday – short African Safari and exotic beach. The internet and review sites led them to focus on Tanzania and Zanzibar which was beyond their budget. On speaking with them it was more seeking the experience of a safari than visiting a specific safari area. We suggested that they look at South Africa and Mauritius and saved them more than £4,000 for the same duration and experience.

USA Fly Drive
A couple that had only had holidays to Spain. The children had grown up and they wanted to do a bucket list trip to visit South Dakota as the husband was fascinated with the western movies he was brought up on as a kid. The problem was that he did not like flying and the flights to South Dakota meant at least 2 x stops and there was a budget. He didn’t mind driving but did not want to drive all day long. We organised a trip using direct flights into Denver leaving a 6-hour trip to South Dakota. We broke up the drive with stopovers on route in small “one horse towns” that went with the theme of the holiday and keeping the trip within budget. In fact, on their return the biggest enjoyment of their holiday was staying overnight in one of these towns where the locals welcomed them and fully immersed our clients in the local bar life!

Private tour South Africa
We booked a couple to do Kruger Park safari, Cape Town and fly drive along Garden Route. South African Airways had a technical fault on aircraft and cancelled evening flight. South African Airways took care of our clients by putting them in an airport hotel overnight and rebooking them on flight following morning. Being a Sunday evening, clients naturally panicked in how to contact operator to reorganise all the different elements of the trip. They contacted us by Facebook messenger (Facebook and emails are frequently monitored by us in out of office). We telephoned clients back and reassured them to have good nights rest and that we will organise everything whilst they are in flight to South Africa. On arrival in Johannesburg, they had a text waiting from us on their phone, confirming someone was waiting for them at airport to give them confirmations for all their revised arrangements. Without booking through a travel agent they would have had to wait until their arrival at Johannesburg before they could make any phone calls to rearrange.