S5, E11: In the Age of AI, This Is What Only a Travel Advisor Can Do

You’ve got more booking tools than ever — so why would you hire a travel advisor? In this episode, Afar editorial director Billie Cohen sits down with travel journalist and matchmaker Wendy Perrin, founder of wendyperrin.com, to answer the questions travelers actually have: What can an advisor do that you can’t do yourself? When does it make sense — and when doesn’t it? How do you find a good one, interview them, and understand what you’re paying for?

From crowd-skipping at Venice to landing the perfect Egyptologist, Wendy makes the case for what truly expert trip planning looks like.

Transcript

Billie Cohen: Hi, I’m Billie Cohen and this is Unpacked. I’m stepping in as host today for a very special episode about travel advisors. What do they do? Why would you need one, and how do you find the right one?

I used to be all about DIY trip planning, but the best trip I’ve ever taken was planned fully by travel advisors, a moving feast, cooking trip in Italy with my mom, where we went deep into the homes, farms, and kitchens of real Umbrians.

Who were not only our teachers, but became our friends. We cooked a feast with the owners of a centuries-old organic family farm, and then we dined together at their kitchen table. We tasted goat cheese and wine from the young owners running their family’s biodynamic farm. We made ravioli with a guy who was a second-generation tour guide at Pompeii, and my favorite handmade gelato with an ice cream chef whose own master teacher was visiting and whose loyal regulars came into the shop to taste our creations.

That was nine years ago, and I still compare so many of my trips to that one because of the access, the customization, the on-the-ground support, and the seamless VIP experience that made us feel like we were getting behind the scenes of everything Italy had to offer, places, people, and experiences that I could not have found myself.

So my guest today is Wendy Perrin, the person who connected me with that Italy travel advisor. Wendy is a longtime consumer travel journalist and the founder and editor in chief of WendyPerrin.com, a site where she vets travel planners and then matches travelers to the best one for their needs. Wendy’s been doing this for decades as a travel advice columnist and consumer advocate, first at Condé Nast Traveler, and then at TripAdvisor.

And for the past 10 years at her own company where she takes all the knowledge, she’s amassed and shows travelers how to benefit from using travel advisors. She even shares and constantly updates what she calls her Wow List of the world’s best trip designers, which you can see on her site. Full disclosure, I met Wendy when we both worked at Condé Nast Traveler, and I was so impressed by her knowledge and this commitment she has to helping travelers get the most out of their travel that I later joined her team to launch WendyPerrin.com. I carry a lot of what I learned from her and about travel advisors to my role as editorial director of Afar today, and I’m thrilled to have her here sharing some of her smarts with you. Welcome, Wendy. Let’s get to it.

The thing that is on my mind most, I think, is that there are more booking tools than ever today that travelers can use. So why are travel advisors still relevant?

Wendy Perrin: Well, that’s a great question. And basically a truly expert trip planner has connections that you don’t have. It’s that simple. It’s like, and that those booking tools don’t have. You know, they can make things happen that you couldn’t make happen on your own. They can get you into places that the booking tools can’t necessarily get you into or might not even know exist.

So it’s really about connections and local relationships, I think. And also the local lay of the land is always changing, so booking tools might not have the most current intel.

Billie: Sure, we’ve seen that. Or it just has completely wrong information. We’ve seen that too. But let’s back up for a second because I’ve been calling these, these people who are these trip planners, travel advisors. Some people call them travel agents or trip planners. I feel like there’s a lot of names for this job that we should unpack, right? So what is a travel advisor? How is that different from a travel agent? What do I need to know if I’m a traveler going into this looking for someone?

Wendy: Well, so typically a travel advisor is a travel agent, like who’s based in the U.S. or based in the country that you are in.

There are other types of trip planners out there, like there are trip planners who are based in the country you’re traveling to, and those might be called DMC, like a destination management company, or there are tour operators, so there are different names for different types of trip planners out there.

But basically when you talk about a travel advisor, you’re talking about a travel agent based in your country.

Billie: Based in the country you live in, and is it better to use someone who’s based in your country or someone who lives in the country you wanna go to?

Wendy: It really depends on what your priorities are and what’s most important to you.

I think that a travel agent who’s based in your country is really helpful if what matters most to you is not necessarily knowledge of the country you’re going to, but let’s say knowledge of you and your travel needs and priority. Let, let’s say you’re a family. Sometimes, especially when you have like young kids, you just want an easy vacation where no one’s gonna argue, where everyone’s gonna be happy,

Billie: Right.

Wendy: You just wanna avoid problems. Like it’s not, it’s not even like you wanna have these amazing special access insider experiences. You just want nobody to argue and everybody to come back happy and you just wanna get some sleep. That’s a different goal. Do you know what I mean? Mm-hmm. Like if, if you just want easy family beach vacations, you need a different person as opposed to, you know, for when you’re doing that adventure trip through the mountains of Vietnam.

Billie: Absolutely makes sense. And it, it’s good to know that there are agents, advisors out there who can do those different things, and that you can come to the party with those different goals, and they’re still probably a travel advisor out there for you.

Wendy: Absolutely. Exactly. And so they’re like the travel advisors who specialize in you and then the travel advisors who specialize in the place you’re going to.

And I think that’s one basic important decision at the start is which do you want, which is most important for you and your travel group at the stage you’re in?

Billie: Mm-hmm. So you, you touched on this a little bit when you mentioned connections, but for a really skilled travel advisor, what can they do that a traveler can’t do on their own?

Wendy: Well, so they know like current logistical considerations that can be hard to find out on your own. Like they might know the best current timing for visiting famous sites. The shortcuts that will save you time and headaches and that are always changing. Like current logistical intel. It often can be very hard to get that on your own, but they know that and can help you that way.

Billie: What about on the ground once you’re on the trip? There are probably different phases when you’re planning or experiencing a trip that a travel advisor is useful, right. Maybe the planning, but are they also useful when you’re in the place?

Wendy: Well, sure. I mean, things can go wrong. They, they often do.

Billie: Yeah.

Wendy: And so they can kind of come to the rescue and, and help you out in the moment. A lot of travelers are like on text threads, right, or in a WhatsApp group with their trip planner and, you know, asking questions as they go.

Billie: Mm-hmm.

Wendy: So, yes, they can help you very much during the trip if you have, you know, whatever your questions might be or, or if you’re running into problems.

Billie: That seems like a super valuable thing because if I DIY my trip, I have nobody there to help me, or I have to spend hours on customer service lines or something.

Wendy: Well, exactly, yeah. I mean . . .

Billie: That sounds terrible.

Wendy: That does not sound like a fun way to travel.

Billie: So let’s get to specifics about trips. Do I always need to use a travel advisor? What kind of trips are gonna benefit the most from me getting somebody else involved?

Wendy: Let’s say you have a travel, a group of people. Let’s say you’ve got your toddler, your teenager, and then you’ve got your husband, and then also grandma and grandpa, and everybody has different needs, right? And different trip goals and interests and abilities, and maybe some of those are conflicting.

That’s when it’s really helpful to have somebody who can look at everybody’s different goals for the trip and make sure that everybody will stay happy. There’s something for everybody in that trip.

Billie: And they’re independent. You know, if it had to be me saying yes or no to certain things to my family, right? I couldn’t feel like I was taking sides. But the travel advisor can just be this, you know, objective third party that’s saying, no, this is, this is really the best thing to do.

Wendy: Right. And it’s, it also takes the pressure off the person who’s normally like the trip planner.

Billie: Right.

Wendy: So I think that’s the kind of trip that’s gonna most benefit from the involvement of a travel specialist.

Billie: So. Let’s talk for a minute about how you know this, right? What’s your experience working with travel advisors?

Wendy: I’ve spent way too many years of my life, um, uh, meeting and evaluating and learning all about people who specialize in different types of trips all over the world. People who really, really know the, I mean like, let’s say you wanna go to Southeast Asia and you know you wanna go to Vietnam and you want the best boat on Ha Long Bay that’s gonna have all the creature comforts and be really great, but, but just a small boat for like six people. Like I just happen to know the person who has that boat. I’ve, I just know a lot of these people around the world who can kind of make the magic happen.

Billie: What are some other examples of the kind of connection or special access or magic, like you said, that a really good travel advisor can provide?

Wendy: I think it’s very much about local relationships and who they can connect you with and introduce you to during your trip, and that’s another thing that AI can’t do.

For instance, like you can do a ton of research with ChatGPT, you can get answers to questions, but they don’t know the hotel manager. They can’t give you, AI can’t give you a free upgrade at the hotel. They can’t introduce you to their local friend and the people who make the magic happen. Not only do they have a lot of local friends, and those local friends kind of become your friends, right?

Like they’re sending you to their favorite places, and so you automatically kind of have the red carpet rolled out for you. But they’re not only just any friends, like they are powerful local friends, right? So, and they can open doors for you that you just couldn’t open for yourself.

Something that the travel advisors can do also is they can kind of make the crowds disappear. They can get you past the lines and past the crowds, and that’s something that can be very difficult, if not impossible to do on your own. And as an example, you’re talking about the reviews from travelers, which is how we know this. For instance, you know, like a lot of people talk about the crowds in Barcelona or the crowds in Venice and all the overtourism in these Mediterranean cities.

And one traveler wrote in the other day that countless friends of hers had warned her about the mobs of people in Venice crowding the streets, and that it’s really, well because she used the right Venice expert as her trip planner. She went and she was amazed by how like she stayed in residential areas, not in the touristy areas, and found so many places where the tourists weren’t in Venice. And so again, it’s really about who you know, who knows those local places and can get you past those lines because they know the museum official and they just kind of like walk you right past. Right. And into the special room.

Billie: Yeah. No, I remember going to Versailles with a guide through, through a travel specialist, and when we got there, she knew the guy at the front, so we didn’t wait in line to get through security or go in, but just the whole timing of the day had been planned. So we were there at a time that wasn’t crowded, and I found that great because who wants to be in the crowds?

Wendy: Right. And that’s what I mean by knowing the local lay of the land and the local smart logistics.

Billie: Yeah.

Wendy: You can look up and again, through AI or Google or however you wanna do it, you can think you figured out, when is the best time to visit a particular, like let’s say you’re going to Angkor Wat in Cambodia, and you wanna be there at the right time for the sunrise or for the sunset. You wanna be in the place where it’s not gonna be so crowded at the right time.

Well, the thing is, that can change from week to week just because you’ve, you’ve got an answer as to what it was last week doesn’t mean that’s what it is this week. Maybe there’s a festival going on. So many things can change in any country, right? Even from day to day. So to know like, oh, it’s this day of the week, that means the traffic’s at X time and something opens at Y time and therefore Z.

Billie: Right. And then it sounds like the value is of travel advisors not only knowing that stuff themselves because they’re knowledgeable about the destination, have connections, but who they connect you with when you’re there, your guide, right? It sounds like that person can make or break the trip ‘cause they’re the ones who are navigating you on the ground for those things.

Wendy: Absolutely. So there’s a huge range in the caliber of local guides, right? There are lousy ones and there are excellent ones and everything in between. Yes. The true local experts are the ones who can hand select, not only have they chosen the best guides in general, so they have a stable of the most, the savviest, and most well-connected guides, but they also can handpick them so that they match what you are particularly interested in.

Let’s say you’re going to Egypt and you’re really interested in a particular angle of Egyptian history, right, or architecture or whatever it might be. They can choose an Egyptologist who has that background that fits what you are most passionate about.

Billie: Yeah, I’m smiling ‘cause I’m thinking back to my own Egypt trip and the guy that was chosen for us was, Tarek, was just amazing. And yeah, you developed these like friendships with these guys ‘cause they know you so well and they, they know stuff. So yeah, it’s a really special thing.

I will say like full disclosure, before I worked with, we met at Condé Nast Traveler and I had never used a travel advisor. I was totally DIY, I can do it all myself. Then I used one, it wasn’t even for, for work or a story, I was just going to, um, I went to Istanbul, right? And I met with someone and then ended up just spending an afternoon walking with him and then meeting one of his guides. And we went to his house for birthday cake and just hanging out and looking over the Bosphorus, just talking about this city.

And I never would’ve met someone that I could go hang out and hear their day-to-day experience in the city and what that was like. Just that was literally opened a door and I found that to be true and almost every time I’ve used an advisor, but I’m trying to think of how to ask.

Wendy: Well, when do you not wanna use one?

Billie: Yes, thanks, it’s always helpful to be interviewing a journalist and someone who knows how I’m thinking, right? Like, when do you not wanna use one? Because it’s, it’s an investment, right?

Wendy: Yeah, I think, you know, some people have more money than time and some people have more time than money and, and, and so I think if you have more money than time, you definitely wanna use one because it’s really kind of when you realize life is short and opportunities for travel are limited.

You really want your trip to be the best it can be. Like you get to that point at a certain time in life, and that’s what it makes sense to use one. If you have already booked a lot of your trip, like you’ve booked the hotels and, and really now you just have a few elements, like, uh, you’d like a guide for a day or two and you need restaurant reservations.

If you’ve already booked most of your trip, but there are just a few elements you’re trying to fill in, it does not make sense to use an expert travel advisor because they’re not gonna be as interested. They really want to own your trip from start to finish. And that’s what’s best for the traveler, too. That’s how they can avoid snafus, make sure everything flows smoothly and every element of your trip is optimized from start to finish.

So you really wanna entrust your whole trip multiple days because that way they can also embellish it, they kind of grout your trip with special moments throughout. If you’re just, if you’ve just got a few components you need to fill in, you really should just book those yourself. And there are also the people who really are do-it-yourselfers and they’re like control freaks and they really need to be in charge of their own. Well, I get it. I get it. Because, because I used to be that way too. And so no, in that case, like you, no. If you’re a do-it yourselfer, do it yourself.

But if you can sort of like step back and say, OK, yes, I am a confident and experienced traveler, but I know I’m going to a place where I don’t know anybody. You know, there’s a difference between, let’s say you’re going to a place where you know people, you’re gonna visit some friends, then maybe you really don’t need someone’s help. But if you’re going to a place where you don’t know anybody, and you really want that insider access and that feeling of belonging and local connections, that’s also when it makes sense to use somebody.

Billie: We’ll be back with more tips on finding the right travel advisor for you after this message from our sponsor, Visit Dallas. Here’s your regular Unpacked host, Aislyn, to tell you all about it.

Be sure to stick around after this episode for that Q&A. Now, back to Wendy.

If you decide you do wanna use someone, now there’s so many ways to find an advisor or an agent, right? You could find something on social media. There are various recommendation platforms. What are the most reliable ways or paths to find someone?

Wendy: I think very few of them are reliable, which is precisely why I started what I started. I felt there was a desperate need for this kind of matchmaking between the traveler and the expert because there are a lot of platforms and there are a lot of, you know, people who call themselves experts, and there are a lot of travel advisor groups and everything, and I just, you know, some people might think, oh, the larger the group, the better the members, but it doesn’t really work that way. You know, just because a group is large and there are more and more people joining, it doesn’t mean that those people are more talented. So it’s a little tricky.

Billie: Are there certifications that have a, you know, um, a barrier to entry that would indicate they have some expertise?

Wendy: There, there really aren’t. I mean, there used to be some in the travel business. I don’t think they were ever really great. I mean, for instance, tourism boards have certifications where like the Switzerland Tourism Board or the Austrian Tourism Board or like, they might sort of like say, oh, this person is certified as a Fiji travel specialist. But that only takes you so far.

I think something to look for is who are the people who have real clout with the suppliers for your trip. So let’s say you really like a particular hotel brand. Let’s say you really love Four Seasons. Four Seasons has preferred partners to whom they then give certain benefits that you get. In other words, if a travel advisor has a very close relationship and books a lot of a certain hotel company, then that can benefit you because they can pass on certain perks and special rates to you. Does that make sense?

Billie: It does. And does that, that benefit, is it applied on an individual basis or a group basis?

So I’m thinking of, for example, Virtuoso, which is a network of luxury travel advisors. If, for example, we’re talking about a relationship of Four Seasons. Is that something that Four Seasons would have with the whole network or with individual people within it?

Wendy: Both. So there are suppliers that will have a preferred, like a special partnership relationship with Virtuoso members, where the Virtuoso members can get special perks, let’s say.

But then to me, the most important thing is the individual. Always, because certain individuals have more clout with a big hotel, with certain hotel brands or cruise lines, let’s say. But there are also many individuals out there who may not belong to Virtuoso at all, who have negotiated special rates with individual hotels, right?

And so that can sometimes benefit you even more. Wide world out there. So there are a lot of different countries and brands and hotels, and it varies a lot.

Billie: How would you, like just a regular traveler, how would they start to find that out? Like what question should they be asking? And is it even OK to interview a travel advisor before you use them?

And then what questions should you ask to try and get at? Whether they’re gonna bring the magic?

Wendy: So I would always ask the reason why, like for everything, for everything that they are suggesting to you ask why they’re suggesting is so that you can determine whether that advisor is a like-minded traveler who’s really going to get you.

In other words, do they have similar likes, similar dislikes, similar priorities as you? Why would you do this in that country? Why would you do that in, why are you suggesting I stay at this hotel? Why are you suggesting that we drive here on that particular day? Why is this town better than that town?

Just always ask the reason why, because that is how you will gain insight into whether they see things the way you see things, and in terms of what questions they should be asking you, the traveler. I think here are a few great questions that they could be asking: What is a past trip that you really loved and why?What’s a hotel that, like, what’s your favorite hotel you’ve ever stayed in and why?What, what’s your biggest goal for the trip?What’s the biggest challenge you’re trying to solve?What has been a problem you’ve had on past trips that you really wanna avoid this trip? And what sort of experience would make your trip unforgettable?

Like those are great questions if they’re thinking about you in that much depth. That’s a great sign when they’re asking specifics like that.

Billie: And it sounds like that’s a really good questionnaire for travelers to be thinking about themselves when they come to that meeting or that conversation to have those answers in mind to help someone craft a trip for them.

Wendy: For sure. The better you can articulate what you want from a trip, the better off you will be with using any human being to plan your trip. It’s gotta start with an in-depth conversation, not just a chain of emails.

Billie: So. What does it cost to hire a travel advisor? What are you paying for? I know that nobody likes to talk about this.

Wendy: So there are different ways that travel specialists charge for their services.

Billie: This is great. This is what I wanna know.

Wendy: Yeah, so some of them will charge like a flat fee. All of these travel specialists are earning commissions from suppliers, from hotels, from the people they’re hiring for your trip. Like from all of their suppliers, right? So they’re earning commissions, but sometimes that’s not enough to earn a living. So sometimes there will be a fee as well. Sometimes the fee is very clear what it is. OK. You know, it’s $250 or $500 for a trip. Sometimes there is no fee but what you’re paying for their help is built into the total cost of the trip.

Sometimes the fee you pay is a deposit toward the cost of the trip, so that as long as you book the trip, it’s just part of the cost. Sometimes it’s a cost, it’s a fee over and above the cost of the trip. So a lot of different trip planners do it differently, and sometimes, and of course the business model, they choose, and their pricing model and how they operate often depends on where they’re located. Right, which country? ‘Cause there are different rules in different countries.

Billie: Right? Right. And how transparent are they about these fees? I feel like in conversations, I’ve had travel advisors over the years and with, with travelers, they maybe want things itemized. Right? Like, how much is this costing me? How much am I paying over the rate of what? You are paying, you know, what is the commission on X? Is that a reasonable expectation that you’re gonna be able to get that itemized? So I’m imagining a DIY traveler who’s using an advisor for the first time, who’s trying to evaluate the value. Right. What am I getting for what I paid that I couldn’t have done for myself?

Wendy: Right. Well, I think it’s smart for a traveler, like after that first conversation, to ask the trip planner, what do you think this is gonna cost? So that you have some sense, and it’s also very important to, if you have a sense of your own budget to tell the trip planner in that first conversation as well, right? Look, here’s what I’m thinking of spending. Will that cover it or not?

Sometimes costs are itemized, sometimes they’re not. Again, it just depends on the business model, but I think what a lot of people don’t understand, if you’re used to booking all the components of your trip yourself online so that you see what all of the costs are, it might be really frustrating for you if you don’t know all those itemized costs, but honestly, that’s the way the luxury travel industry works is to give sort of total trip costs where it isn’t itemized.

Kind of like a cruise, like when you go on a cruise, you’re paying one price for all the different things like the meals, you know, the, the transportation, the activities on the ship. I mean, you know, yes, there are, there are prices for those things you can pay extra for better restaurants. But I mean, the point is it’s like all one big package price and, and, but it often benefits the traveler to pay that package price that isn’t itemized because what happens is the trip planner, remember we were talking about prices they’ve negotiated with hotels, they may have negotiated lower prices that they’re not allowed to tell the traveler.

So a lot of these expert trip planners, they’ve got special rates and they’ve been given special rates on the condition that they don’t divulge them. So often you actually can get a really good price. Even though it’s not itemized, I know it’s confusing, it’s ‘cause it’s confusing. It’s just, sadly, it’s hard to figure out.

But the proof is in the pudding. Like the question is when you came back, when you come back from your trip, do you feel you got a great value? And honestly, that’s why we have our whole review system is because in the reviews, travelers will say whether they feel they got great value or not. And that’s a great way of knowing.

Billie: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. You mentioned a cruise travel agent. If cruises are already a package deal, right? They’re already curated. What would a traveler need a cruise travel specialist for?

Wendy: Well, that’s a great question because I really think people going on cruises really need cruise specialists.

They benefit enormously because there’s so much about cruise ships and itineraries and the whole cruise experience that well, what the novices are never gonna know. You’re not gonna know until you’ve cruised. And then even if you have cruised several times, it really varies depending on the size of the cruise ship, and where the cruise is sailing.

For instance, cabins and cabin categories, there are ships that have like 40 cabin categories, and to know the differences between them and which one is gonna be best for you, it can be really hard to figure that out on a cruiseline’s website. You’ll learn things from a cruise specialist about the differences in cabins that you couldn’t figure out on your own.

And air travel arrangements to and from the ship and also excursions. Yes, you can buy the cruise line’s shore excursions for when you’re stopping at each port on the itinerary, but are those gonna be the best available? Probably not. Maybe you wanna do your own thing in port. Maybe you wanna have a special excursion arranged that’s not a busload of people. Travel agents who specialize in cruises can help you with all those different elements.

Billie: So what are the biggest misconceptions that travelers have about using a travel advisor?

Wendy: I think some people think that the advisor is an order taker and that is not how to use a travel advisor wisely.

Some people will say like, OK, I wanna stay at this hotel for three days. I wanna go to this place, this place, this place. They’ll, they’ll just like say everything they want, and you don’t want to enter the relationship with this completely preconceived itinerary because then you’re not taking advantage of what they can bring to the table.

The best way to approach them is to tell the advisor what your goals are for the trip, and then give them the freedom to create an itinerary that will accomplish those goals. Another misconception that travelers have is I think they think, OK, they’ve booked part of their trip and now they’re coming to a travel advisor to the book, the rest of their trip, and that’s not a good way to use a travel advisor.

A good way just to like put your trip, like entrust them, put it in their hands.

Billie: We talked earlier about if you have time versus money and money versus time. And I know that can apply to all kinds of budgets, but if you have a more limited budget, is there still a way to benefit from an advisor, especially in the context of you wanna hand over your whole trip to them?

Wendy: So here’s what I would do. I would hand over part, I know it, this sounds like I’m saying the opposite, but I’m not. I would hand over part of the trip to them, not just individual elements on every day, but like let’s say you’ve got 10 days in a foreign country. You’ve got 10 days in New Zealand. The best way to take advantage of that person’s expertise, but keep your budget reasonable, you know, keep the prices low is maybe use them for the first three days or five days, or for the last three days or five days, because that’s where you’re gonna get the benefits, is through the kind of flow. Right? And if you’re just cherry-picking and, and, and you’ve just got like one little thing here on one day and one thing there on the next day, you’re gonna pay a lot more and it’s not gonna be worth it. So if your budget is limited, I would say just limit the number of days in a row when you’re using the trip planner.

Billie: Right. Yeah, that makes sense.

Wendy: OK.

Billie: And also then you can, if you have that DIY spirit, you have half of your trip where it’s, you’re on your own and you can do your own thing, and then you have something that is more customized as well. It’s kinda nice for both.

Wendy: Right, right.

Billie: Are you seeing that the age of travelers who are using advisors is changing? I’m wondering if a misconception is that you have to be wealthy, it’s only, you know, for older people who are using advisors. But I know that there’s statistics that millennials are using travel advisors more than they have before, and I’m wondering if you are seeing that trend as well, or if you even think that is a trend.

Wendy: I see a lot of people of different ages because, and I feel like it starts with the honeymoon, right? It’s like when you want your honeymoon to be as great as it can be. The honeymoon is for some people, the first time when they kind of like, they have a chunk of time, like it’s important, right? So they’ve carved out a real chunk of time and they are happy to go somewhere remote. Like they’re gonna do the safari, they’re gonna do the trip that they normally wouldn’t have time to do. That’s where they wanna use a travel specialist. And then once they’ve done that, when they have their first anniversary trip or their second anniversary trip, it’s like, well, of course they’re gonna use them again.

I mean, they’re gonna want that kind of special VIP experience again.

But the reason also, I think that the age is really varied. It’s everybody, the very young to the very old, is that there are a lot of extended families, like three generations, even four generations that are going on trips together and that I find are using trip planners a lot more. The pandemic changed this to a large degree where like, once people could travel again, they were like, OK, I’m taking the whole family. Right? Nobody’s missing out on our trip.

Billie: Right.

Wendy: Life is short, you know, we’re all gonna enjoy this and we’re all wanna be together, right? And have these amazing memories because we may not have another chance.

So you’ve got three generations. You’ve got four generations all traveling together, and that means you’ve got the little kids, you’ve got the midlife people, you’ve got the 80 year olds, you’ve got everybody in between. So I feel like it’s all ages who enjoy and benefit from the, you know, the expertise of the really great trip planners.

Billie: Yeah, I’d agree. And I’d also agree that once you use one, it’s hard to go back to not using one because you do feel like a VIP.

Wendy: Exactly. You know, it’s hard for people who’ve, if you’ve never used one before, it may all sound like a lot of like, What? Why would anyone do this? Why do I need this?

But once you’ve done it and you finally understand the difference and how travel can be so much better than you ever imagined, then it’s really hard to go back to the other way of traveling. Yeah.

Billie: Thank you, Wendy for all that wonderful information. I can’t wait to plan my next trip. And thanks for listening to Unpacked. In the show notes, you’ll find links to Wendy’s website and her Wow List of top local fixers in countries worldwide, plus her social handles and how to sign up for her weekly newsletter.

For more information on travel advisors and planning your next trip, visit Afar.com and be sure to follow us on Instagram and TikTok. We are @AfarMedia. This has been Unpacked, a production of Afar Media.

This episode was produced by Aislyn Greene, Nikki Galteland, and me, Billie Cohen. This podcast is part of the AirWave Media podcast network.

Visit AirWaveMedia.com to listen and subscribe to its other fine shows like Culture Kids and the Explorers Podcast.

And remember, the world is complicated. We’re here to help you unpack it.