I am travelling to Europe in May next year, partly doing tours and partly exploring by myself, and was wondering if a travel agent is really necessary...(and if so, can anyone recommend a good one in Adelaide, South Australia?)

You've had the resourcefulness to find this site, so it's hard to imagine what benefit a travel agent can offer you (though you might find it reassuring to use one to organise interesting stoppos in Cambodia or Burma)

Which said, this is also a lousy site for advice on this question. At a guess, 99.9999% of posters are firm believers in the irrelevance of travel agents for trips to affluent countries. You're as likely to hear the case here for agents (if there is one, which personally I doubt) as to hear at the SCG the case for being nice to Poms.

Hi LC,

The combined knowledge of the folks on this board is far greater than that which any TA could accumulate.

What sort of tours are you considering?

Wow, replies already
One of my friends booked her holiday through an agent and it ended up costing her $3000 more in flights and hotels as the agent didnt bother booking anything til the last minute. She was not happy, as you can imagine.

I will be away for about 3 months - part of that time I will be on a canal boat in the UK, I am also meeting a friend and exploring Prague with him - tour I was considering is with Globus and goes to Copenhagen / Oslo / Helsinki and St Petersberg. Also planning on doing a walking tour in the Lakes District, as not keen on walking alone.

I guess my question was more asking... is there anything I am likely to need to know about booking a big holiday that is the exclusive knowledge of agents??!!

A couple of months ago a friend of mine was planning her first trip to London. The TA offered her the following package for $3000: flight on American Airlines from Dallas to London Heathrow, with a layover in Chicago, plus a hotel. She asked me if this was a good deal. I told her that AA runs 3 non-stop flights a day to London Gatwick, and I can't imagine why that wasn't offered. I did some research and I got her a nonstop flight on AA from DFW/LGW and the exact same hotel all for $2400.

Around that same time I went to a travel seminar sponsored by my company. The speaker was a TA. I could tell right away she knew very little about Europe. She told us that due to the weak US$, it's impossible to find a decent hotel in Europe for less than $300/night. I wanted to scream out loud!! I think the truth is that it's impossible to find a hotel willing to pay her commission for less than $300/night.

I could tell you more stories like these, but you get the idea. I have very little faith in TAs. It's hard, if not impossible, to find a TA who knows half as much as the Fodorites. TAs are salespeople, while Fodorites are an unbiased source of good info.

>is there anything I am likely to need to know about booking a big holiday that is the exclusive knowledge of agents??!! <

The amount of their commission?

Hi Ira, mmmm, Im sure they get a good kick back!!!! LC

If you enjoy reading and research as much as many of us, planning yourself is the ONLY way to go.

If you don't enjoy the above, then use a TA.

I'd rather stay home than have someone else plan my trip.

I used to be a travel agent..for years and years. Worked for some very good agencies and some not so good. Some agencies do not encourage agents to do independent arrangements for clients because a package deal (air, hotel, etc) is much quicker (time is $$) and easier to book. Some agencies allow grossly inexperienced agents work with international travel.

A friend of mine was taking her 83 yr. old mother to Rome and possibly a cruise a few years ago. She talked to a travel agent who quoted her about $1,000 per person air fare with a connection and a bunch for a cruise on a mainly Italian cruise line that required flying to a different city. I found them air on a nonstop to Rome flight for $700 per person, a great cruise out of Rome on Holland America and a good hotel. This was a couple THOUSAND less than the agent quoted. I know this agent and she hasn't traveled outside the states and Caribbean.

With you plans, there shouldn't be any reason to have to deal with a travel agent. We're all here if you need any help.

Judy

If you are planning on using a tour company like Globus (or Trafalgar or Cosmos or ....) for a part of your entire trip, you will probably have to use a TA for booking just that part as I do not believe that Globus et al actually deal with the general public. That might have (or may have to) changed recently as the number of TA's diminish.

For Scandinavia and St Petersburg there is no reason whatsoever to use a TA - this is all perfectly easily doable on your own.

As for a group walking tour - well that certainly sounds like it could be fun - depending on if the arrangements meet your needs. But you;re really buying it for the company - not the travel arrangements.

What a wonderful trip & 3 months to do it! Lucky you!! I have never used a travel agent, because like the stories mentioned above, I have never seen a benefit to them. Unless you need one to book a specific tour like Globus, or if you particularly did not want to do the planning yourself - anyway to your original question... I say no, a TA is definitely not "really necessary".

When my husband and I started talking about going to Paris, and we invited family to go with us, both of our folks said they'd like to go. MIL's first words were that her TA sent her a Paris tour offer, and when I looked at the $$ I couldn't believe that anyone would shell out that kind of cash, but apparently people do in the name of not having to think about it.

This is a woman who's been everywhere, but never travelled independently. Every day started with "Be on the bus by 8 a.m." and heard "you've got 2 hours to see this or that" all day long.

She's delighted that she'll see the Mona Lisa without trying to look over the heads of 30 other people from her tour bus, and able to linger at the shops outside the Pompidou without being afraid of missing her bus to the "next" thing.

The last time we went, we were gone 24 days and went from London to Istanbul, and bought Fodor's and Rick Steves books for every major city and country we could get our hands on. We booked every hotel, train, plane and automobile on our own. It was half the fun of the trip -- planning it ourselves. And we had no major problems...we only had one hotel we didn't like, and since they didn't have my credit card number, we were able to walk away from it and find something else.

If you have any independent gene in your body, you'll want to do it on your own...if you're a person who needs someone to take care of you (and that's ok), use an agent and a tour operator.

Happy Travels,

Jules

LakesideChick:

For England's Lakes District, you don't really need to book a tour to walk this area. If you want to base yourself in one or two of the Lakes' villages, there are many free walks just about daily from the tourist information centers in most of the larger towns and villages (Grasmere, Keswick, etc). These are lead by a "park ranger" and are quite good. There is a schedule listed in the TIC of time and where they are going. And there is usually a good-sized group, mostly British. People are quite friendly. You'll have more freedom to chose where you want to go.
Lots of info on Fodor's and on the internet in general to help plan a Lakes District walking trip.

If you want to walk and eat with the same people and move from town to town, then a tour may be better. You may want to look into HFHolidays, a fairly well-priced British run company. You can book directly with them without a TA.

Since we only go to the UK, France and Italy, over the years I think that I've gained more knowledge than most of the TAs had. Poor things, most were vastly underpaid. I once went the first day of a class on becomming a TA. When we were told the average salary, over half the class walked out! did seem to get some perks, a short trip now and then to familiarize them with a certain destination. I definately know what I like in the way of an airline and hotel. A long time ago I'd accept a flight to Europe that wasn't non-stop but now the price difference isn't worth it to me-I economize some other way. I've fouud great hotels on the internet-the TAs used to only handle the more expensive ones that would give them a commissioon, which was understandable. The internet put most of the out of business. The TA down at our corner used to be able to find me a slightly lower price on BA. Then BA started charging more if you went through an agent instead of directly with them! Then the TA at our corner folded.