I'm considering a couple different trips to Europe and have never been before. I've been looking around online, and have a good amount of notes on what I would like to do and have been reading a lot of traveling blogs, but am wondering if there is any worth to talking to an agent.

How much would it cost to use a travel agent, do they get airline or lodging savings that offset the cost? We've also looked at some group tour packages, we wouldn't even mind doing something like that as long as part of the trip allowed us to break off and do what we want. I used to work somewhere who had someone to take care of travel, and we were allowed to get help with personal vacations. It was very helpful but I oly ever used it for domestic travel.

Basically, is there any worth to travel agents? I know I saw one in Cameron Village but figured I would ask here first since you all have seemed to be very knowledgable about a bunch of random topics.

11/4/2012 11:24:19 AM

never used one but I assume they're pretty useless since the advent of the internet

11/4/2012 3:35:28 PM

plan everything yourself. book cheap flights with ryanair.com and stay at hostels, book at hostelworld.com

11/4/2012 3:55:21 PM

Unless you're a high schooler or an elderly couple, avoid the group travel tours.

I've personally done the oh-god-go-everywhere-stay-in-every-hostel thing and I loved it, but I was alone (though I was converging with people I knew on and off, so that's different). If you're a couple and maybe just outside of the hostel-travel range (it's entirely personal, hoenstly), then this might not be what you're looking for.

Anyway, travel agents CAN be worth it. A good/great travel agent knows how to reduce fees or avoid them, get you special discounts, will use vouchers for reduced prices (a big thing now--they'll buy up airline vouchers from people), and they'll get you a good schedule without you going through to stress all the details. For some people THIS IS TOTALLY WORTH IT, especially if you're doing a huge multi-country trip, or traveling somewhere remote that you don't necessarily know much about.

If you have the money and you can get a recommendation to a unquestionably knowledgeable travel agent, then maybe you should look into it. If this is a "first trip to Europe" and you're not going to be doing any seriously complex scheduling, then I would just do that myself. Personally, if I was going anywhere else--South America, Asia, I would consider a travel agent.

11/4/2012 5:51:13 PM

Yah, I'm fine with hostels but she definitely is not. I mentioned the tour with old people thing because I've done it before and actually had a lot of fun and old people are really nice and I made some cool connections. From a quick google search I found some 3-4 day tour type trips and was considering doing something like that to start a 10 day or so trip.

11/4/2012 6:01:49 PM

You can get private rooms in hostels and many of them are set up like hotels in europe. The advantages of being at hostels is that they are like hotel concierge or travel agents themselves. The staff will be knowledgeable and from there you can find all of the cool things to do, hip places to go that travel agents might not know about and also you could find neat places to stay.

You can schedule tours from the hostel that are better value than the group bullshit.

11/4/2012 6:23:13 PM

I can see the appeal of using a travel agent, but I've been wondering if the discounts/savings they offer can hold up to some of the promotions that are offered through Groupon/LivingSocial. Granted, you have to say during the off-season, but some of the prices there are ridiculously cheap and I could try to piece it together myself and not come anywhere close to the mark. Been planning a trip to Scotland/Ireland for three weeks and I'm quickly realizing that there isn't a lot of deals to be had, at least not without some considerable effort.

11/4/2012 10:11:49 PM

^^ agree with everything he just said. But I'll add that if you want a private room, you have to reserve ahead of time because they fill up really quick.

It's really a matter of what you prefer when you travel. You have more freedom when you're on your own. But a group tour is so easy. You don't have to worry about train schedules, hotel reservations, planning, it's all taken care of! And you do have some freedom to explore the towns on your own. For example, this spring I went on a 2-day bus tour of the Scottish highlands. The first night we played pool with the locals and got advice on how to sneak into Urquhart castle after dark. Although I really enjoyed the tour overall, there were some places I wanted to spend more time and some places I would have rather skipped.

My advice is that tours are fun, but don't make your entire trip consist of guided tours. Do a little bit of independent traveling, so you can figure out what you really like!! And if you fly Ryan Air, for God's sake read every word of every web page and email. Otherwise you'll end up paying $Texas in fees.

PS... I highly recommend Rick Steve's guide books.

11/4/2012 10:21:35 PM

I went through a travel agent for my honeymoon - they were able to book it cheaper than anywhere I could find online (hotel + fights + transportation) plus they got us upgrades we didn't have access to. Although they tried to get us took book places they would get a kickback from, I insisted on where to stay. Travel agents also have access to the best flights (think non-stop and times).

11/5/2012 5:08:46 AM

sometimes the travel agent will suck your dick for the commission.

11/5/2012 7:03:28 AM

didn't use an agent for this trip, but a coworker is looking for one for a 5-year anniversary (never had a honeymoon, so they want to do it now) and i figured i'd ask in this thread.

can anyone recommend a local agent?

8/20/2015 4:36:57 PM

My brother is a travel agent and a good one at that. He also doesn't charge any silly fees and seems to know his shit since he has been almost everywhere!

8/31/2015 8:33:14 PM

how lazy/unimaginative can people get

8/31/2015 10:34:34 PM

Quote :

"I went through a travel agent for my honeymoon - they were able to book it cheaper than anywhere I could find online (hotel + fights + transportation) plus they got us upgrades we didn't have access to. Although they tried to get us took book places they would get a kickback from, I insisted on where to stay. Travel agents also have access to the best flights (think non-stop and times)."

Absolutely agree with this statement. If the trip is something simple like Nashville, NYC, San Fran, etc do it yourself. For more elaborate trips I always use a travel agent. Specifically if multiple countries are involved. Also the lady I use always has great advice. I don't have any interest in spending hours upon hours doing research and reinventing the wheel when someone already has it all figured out.

As far as a local recommendation I really like Travel Experts of Cary. The lady who runs it is named Sylvia and she is very nice/helpful.

9/1/2015 11:03:03 AM

Quote :

"how lazy/unimaginative can people get"

he wants one because he is busy and doesn't want something that is supposed to be relaxing to become something he has to stress about and spend a lot of time on. that makes sense to me, I don't think they've traveled much so it's probably fairly stressful for him to plan.

9/1/2015 12:44:42 PM

how old are you guys if you don't mind giving out a rough range. There is a thing called luxury hostels (If you are going to Barcelona look up Casa Gracia). In these places you can often book a private room for yourselves and still come out cheaper than a hotel itself. Hostels are a great way to meet people, especially if you are younger.

I understand you haven't traveled much but I personally am not a big fan of travel agents. That said if you know of a good one they can most certainly be useful and of course since you don't have much experience the peace of mind of not having to plan too much may help you.

Alternatively if you plan on your own you really get some good info and background into where you are going, what you want to do, and how you want to plan your days. I personally love the planning part of a trip as well and consider it part of the experience.

If you do end up going the travel agent route then I do recommend reading reviews and picking a good one. Feel free to message me directly if you need tips or want to discuss which cities you will be visiting. If I have been to any I can certainly give you lots of advice. Good luck and don't stress out too much. A lot of time I just plan the logistics of the trip and not really the activities. We figure out the activities (outside of the top things to do) when we get there. I have found spontaneous is often more fun than a lot of planned activities.

PS: Use a travel agent but avoid massive tours. They are often too schedule driven and do not allow you the flexibility to explore. Lots of pre-selected restaurants, hotels, and activities that I feel take away from the experience of travelling and discovering things on your own. That said there are probably tours that are well organized that you may want to look into but in my experience they are few and far in between.


PPS: Should have seen the original date (didn't realize the thread was bumped), now I feel like I wasted typing all of this. haha. Hope you enjoyed your trip 3 years ago!
[Edited on September 1, 2015 at 2:18 PM. Reason : a]

[Edited on September 1, 2015 at 2:22 PM. Reason : a]

9/1/2015 2:15:47 PM

i'm in my 30's and the guy that I bttt'd about is in his low 40's. my wife isn't going to stay in a hostel, and this guy's wife probably has no interest in a hostel for a late honeymoon.

[Edited on September 1, 2015 at 2:26 PM. Reason : ^it was fun, not as big in scope as originally planned]

9/1/2015 2:25:52 PM

haha yea, hostels probably aren't the best for a honeymoon. Do you know if there is any place he is interested in going? A travel agent may actually be a good idea for a honeymoon. I just got back from Croatia & Montenegro. It was absolutely gorgeous and I am seriously considering it as a honeymoon destination for whenever I get married. They could do Italy & Croatia easily through a travel agent.

9/1/2015 2:33:39 PM