With all due respect, it was a difficult time in 2020 for refunds whether through a travel agent or directly from an airline. The refund comes from the airline and/or the credit card company so if they have not sent it through, it cannot be passed to the traveller. Many airlines were on the brink of going under and those who survived were inundated with refunds which caused delays lasting several months. Some airlines had to take on extra staff to cope with the increased demand for refunds. Are you sure that the refund delay was caused solely because a travel agent is a 3rd party?

So i talked to my mum last night about all of this, including the refund situation, and she told me that while the refund taking that long is unusual, I would have to be prepared for it to take about 3 months for a refund, which is a bit scary considering i dont know if i can afford to be short that money for so long. To which she said i probably shouldn't be travelling if im not financially stable, which i guess is fair, but still...

So i guess i'll got to an agent for advice, but ultimately book everything myself, so cutting out the middle man will hopefully make the process faster?

At least i'll still be getting paid while on leave, so there's that.

Your Mom’s advice is spot on!

If you talked with an agent, thinking you would use their services, then decided against their advice, that is fair.
However, is it really right to seek their advice with no intention right from the beginning of using them?

If you are going to book everything yourself, then use free web sites and do the research yourself!

When I know what I to do, I use TAs and booking agents with specific knowledge about my destinations, but a big issue is the one Dreamon mentioned about Agents not being familiar with your destinations. When planning itineraries, they also need to be at least familiar with transportation options and travel times. As Bilboburgler said, “seen some real howlers.” Sometimes they are trying to save the travelers money by booking cheap flights with horrible connections that end up using more time in transit than in sightseeing. Sometimes they book cheap flights to cities the traveler does not really want to visit, thinking they are close enough for easy connections when they are not.

New travelers do that to themselves also. You have already been given a lot of advice about that on your other posts. Get big maps, regular and rail maps. Gather info on travel times, including getting to/from stations. Don’t underestimate that. Traveling at odd times is not always a help. RT tickets into and out of the same city may seem cheap, but when you add in the cost and time lost returning to that city, a multi-city ticket may be much better. Big circular trips may not be as good as more linear trips. Map out your itinerary.

We received our refund from Qantas in six weeks. My sister who had booked through an agent had to wait four months.
MIACHARLIE you are probably disappointed, and we learnt the hard way that at this time you may need a lot of financial backup in case things go wrong. At one stage we had $27.000 on our cc all economy airfares because airlines kept canceling flights. Of course when they cancel flights you don’t get a refund straight away.
I am desperate to travel to Europe again but have been scarred from being in France when the borders closed and was trying to return to Australia. Hopefully 2022 will be better for all, and those in the travel industry and businesses that have suffered terribly.

I agree with the others that a TA will not be helpful for you as you seem to be doing this on a slim budget. There are TAs that specialize in certain areas and are very knowledgeable but they work with larger budget itineraries. Having said that, I have a TA in Buenos Aires who is wonderful and puts together a trip to my specifications even with some “resident” hotels discounts. She keeps track of us and quickly steps in to make changes when they happen as South America can be a bit mercurial with impromptu strikes etc. Our last trip with her mirrored a National Geographic Patagonia tour with upgraded hotels and personal transfers which was much cheaper than National Geographic even with her agent fees. She’s like a mother watching over you and I would use her again when I return to South America so I do not always eschew TAs.

"I see quite a few people distrustful of TAs, . . ."

I don't think many are 'distrustful' of travel agents. It is just that for the type of trip you are planning there really isn't much benefit one would get from using a TA. mjs's post is example of where a TA is helpful and maybe even preferred over going it alone. Another might be a trip to South Africa or Kenya or someplace with game camps/safaris and internal flights/transfers where a local expert TA on the ground in SA or Kenya could be a huge help. But for a pretty much straight forward trip to Europe most wouldn't see the need to use a TA.