Do You Really Need A Travel Agent?

by Dave Seminara on

When Anne Roderique-Jones compiled a list of “Ten Things Travel Agents Won’t Tell You,” for Women’s Day Magazine a week ago, she couldn’t have known that her piece would generate nearly 1,400 comments, many of them from irate travel agents. But travel agents are a beleaguered lot, their ranks thinned dramatically since the dawn of the digital age, and they don’t like getting kicked around. In addition to the avalanche of critical comments from travel agents beneath the story, the American Society of Travel Agents responded with a list of their own, “Eight Reasons Why Travel Professionals Create Value.”

I think the Women’s Day list, which was pared from 10 items down to 9 after the magazine admitted that a point about travel agents collecting commissions from airlines was inaccurate, is mostly common sense stuff that wouldn’t be news to most savvy travelers. Obviously travel agents do receive some commissions, may not have been to the place they are recommending and cannot always secure the best prices, but does that mean that they serve no real purpose in the Internet age?

I’ve traveled all over the world and have very rarely used travel agents, even before the invention of the Internet. But I still think that travel agents serve a useful purpose, particularly for infrequent travelers. A good travel agent can do a lot more than just get you the best price. They can offer advice on the best routes, pitfalls to watch out for, baggage restrictions, how to travel with pets and 1,000 other things. If you have all the time in the world to research every last detail of a trip on your own, you may not need a travel agent. But if you’re short on time and don’t travel often enough to know all the nuances, it makes a lot of sense to trust a professional to plan the trip for you.

Penn Station And The Meaning Of Life In 4 Tweets

by Michael Yessis on

“Up in the Air” author Walter Kirn, “Absurdistan” author and travel writer Gary Shteyngart, and author of more books than some people will ever read, Joyce Carol Oates, had the following exchange on Twitter this morning. If you’ve ever traveled through New York’s Penn Station, the sentiments might feel familiar.

How can New York change Penn Station? Teams of architects are on the case.

Who Are The People Behind The Voices In The Airport?

by Anna Brones on

If you’re late, an airport can be a stressful place (although some people might love to call one home). You’re juggling your overpacked carry-on bag, trying to find your ticket — or did you go for the mobile boarding pass this time? — and suddenly remember you haven’t dumped out your reusable water bottle. But in the midst of the mayhem, there’s always a reassuring voice, reminding you to not leave your bags unattended.

You know why it’s reassuring? Because that woman talking to you over the PA system is in fact a sweet woman in her 60s, and she can be heard in more than 200 airports around the world.The woman is Carolyn Hopkins. Her male airport voice counterpart is named Jack Fox. Thanks to a company called Innovative Electronic Designs that is the leading supplier of automated paging systems (i.e. what you hear as recorded messages in airports and subways) the two of them can be heard everywhere from O’Hare to Kennedy.

Do they get recognized? Of course they do, but it’s rarer then you might think. An in-depth article on The Verge takes a look at the pair’s stories, giving us a closer look at two people most of us have never met, but who are surprisingly familiar.

Fox says he was renting a car at the terminal once, and the agent said, “You sound like that guy!” Then there was the time he was traveling with his granddaughter: “She got this puzzled look on her face and said: ‘Why is grandpa talking so much?'”

That comfort of strangers makes most of us travelers feel right at home, which in turn gives the voice duo a sense of doing something good. As Fox says, “My father was a minister, and I think of this as my airport ministry.”

Read the full story on The Verge.

The Latest In Budget Friendly Glamping: Can A Mini Compete Against An Airstream?

by Anna Brones on

There are many ways to road trip. The first is in a car, paired with dodgy motels along the highway. The second is more picturesque and for the outdoor lover, packing a tent in the trunk and pitching it at camp sites along the way. The third is a combination of the two, driving a vehicle that allows for mobile sleeping options. Some go for a motorhome, some a camping trailer, some a Winnebago and some a vintage Airstream.

But if you though that mobile camping vehicles had to be large and bulky, think again: you can now buy your very own Mini Camper. Thanks to the British subsidiary of BMW Group there is a new trio of cars, all in the Mini family, intended for the weekend warrior. A pop-up camper on one of the smallest cars out there? Yes. Hey, if your kayak fits in the back, even better.

Compared to a traditional RV or Airstream, it’s good for the budget. Depending on the size of an RV, you’ll get somewhere between 6-10 miles per gallon. Newer Airstreams will do slightly better, and even more so if you run them on diesel, but that’s nothing compared with a Mini. The new Mini Countryman All4 Camp is quoted at about 40 miles per gallon, and even if you’re driving it hard and getting half of that, you’re still well beyond the classic mobile camper options. And you can still make it your city car.

Will the new miniature sized camping vehicles win over the Airstream and combi van lovers? That remains to be seen. In the meantime, better start downsizing your camping gear.