Posing As A Travel Agent
My husband is heading to a large Colorado ski area in March to spend some time with one of the kids. Great for him, right, but what about me? As it happens, I’m not traveling with him, but I’m okay with that for several reasons. First, I’m not much of a skier, and having recently broken a leg in a non-skiing accident, I’m not keen to risk a reinjury anytime soon. Second, traveling to a place where it’s cold in the winter doesn’t do a lot for me either. Then, finally, unlike my husband, I haven’t received the COVID vaccine yet, so that rules out a lot of trips for me right now. And yet, I’m very much okay with letting my spouse do the jet-setting for a while as long as . . . I get to do the travel planning.
Indeed, I’m someone who enjoys tracking our frequent flier miles, looking for good deals, and finding ways to take ordinary trips to the next level. Whether it’s following www.thepointsguy.com to learn about the latest co-branded credit card promotions or researching TripAdvisor reviews to see what travelers are saying about hotels I’m considering, I like curating my own experiences and maximizing how far our travel dollars (and points) can go.
For this Colorado trip, I’m already strategizing – Delta or United? Rent a car from the airport or take a shuttle to the ski area? Stay at a resort or rent a VRBO? Ski-in/ski-out or short walk from the lodgings? Any need for a kitchen to cook meals or are they sticking to restaurants? And which restaurants? Do they require reservations?
Professional travel agents can be meticulous about these issues because they want satisfied clients rather than ones that call them at 3 am in the morning complaining about poor service and bad vacations. But I’m also careful and focused in my travel planning. For one thing, I don’t have professional travel insurance so if I book the wrong flights or lodgings without a refund option, we are out of luck. And of course, most of all, I want to have a great holiday or business trip myself and, in this instance, I want my husband to enjoy it too. Hearing someone you love say “it was okay but I wouldn’t stay in that hotel again” or “that bouillabaisse tasted awful; where did you FIND that restaurant?!?!?” is the last thing you want.
But when it’s great, it’s great. Like that perfect fruit plate at the Omnia in Zermatt, Switzerland, not to mention the James Bond-like cave entrance. Or visiting the Grand Hotel Iles Borromées in Italy where Hemingway wrote portions of A Farewell to Arms. Or hitting the rocky shores of beaches just beyond the bustling sands of Sydney, Australia at just the right time. That is pseudo-travel agent bliss.
-Laura Flippin | Wheels Up
