Independent travel is becoming increasingly popular as travellers show that they don’t need to have someone else pre organise and pre book their trip for them. Do yourself a favour, ditch the traditional tourism industry and find your own adventure instead!
Travel agents have been the friendly face of the holiday industry for the better part of the last century, organising holidays, dealing with all the annoying things like booking your plane tickets, coordinating your trip for you, and bussing tourist sheep en masse to the same overdeveloped all inclusive complexes that frankly could be anywhere in the world with their samey blandness.
Despite the rise in independent travel over the last decade or so, the majority of people still wander in to their local travel agent, peruse the brochures, get quoted a packaged price for flights and accommodation and hand over their money, safe in the knowledge that they will be sat by the pool sipping all inclusive watered down drinks in just a few months time.
Travel agents do have their uses of course, depending on the type of trip you want to take. Booking through a travel agency or an aggregate site online is sometimes – not often, but sometimes – a good deal if you just want a long weekend city break or a short haul week away.
Sometimes they can give you a good price on a flight alone, or at the very least give you a rough basis on which to compare and shop around from. And given the relative complexities of visa issues and ESTA’s, managing the labyrinthine mess that are airline booking procedures and price searches and keeping up to date with latest deals and fares, then they are often the very people that you should be looking to for a bit of advice.
Technically.
I can even understand to an extent the feeling of just wanting someone to sort it out for you, we all live hectic stressful lives, right? We all have work and bills and the mundanety of life to worry about at the end of the day, and a holiday is supposed to be a break from all that, why not let someone sort it all out for you?
The reasons for using travel agents are actually a lot more compelling and numerous than you may think. But it isn’t always the best option.
Are Travel Agents Really Worth It?
First and foremost using a travel agent can be easy, but planning your own trip iis extremely easy too with just a little bit of knowledge and practice.
Travelling independently rather than going through a travel agent and getting an all exclusive holiday is so much simpler than you think. In fact, once you have got the hang of actually planning your independent travel adventure, choosing where to go from such a wonderful and varied destination list is often the hardest part!
All you need is a flight, a visa (if the country you are going to requires one), and a place to stay. Those are the basic essentials.
Finding and choosing a flight is the easiest thing in a world with so many different online booking options. Just shop around and choose whichever flight suits you the best.
Visas can easily be applied for from individual embassies and depending where you are going may more often than not be easily obtainable at the border, a quick online search will take you to an embassy website which will walk you through the details, or you can visit one in person.
And getting a place to stay can easily be sorted once you arrive, simply walk into a hostel, guesthouse, pension or hotel and barter the price! Yes, it really is that simple and with very few exceptions no need to book in advance.
That is essentially all the travel agents are doing for you, so why pay them all that extra money to do what you can very easily do yourself?
Travel agencies are essentially middlemen who make millions in commission year in year out! Wouldn’t that money be better in your pocket than theirs?
Not only that, with independent travel a whole range of accommodation and activities open themselves up to you that are not in any travel agents limited database. Many people still don’t realise that travel agents only have a limited number of places they can and will send you.
Basically travel agents will send you to those resorts and hotels that will pay them a commission to send people there, and these places are often higher priced and lower in standards than those places that you can simply find yourself.
I have stayed in some amazing places during my travels, running the whole gamut of hostels, guesthouses and hotels, even luxury heritage spa hotels, that never see any package tourists and are a lot cheaper as a result, I have stayed in character accommodation, from castles and Buddhist temples to treehouses and longhouses in the jungle and dozens of other places in between that would never be in a travel agents brochure, and I have had these amazing experiences precisely because I travel independently and see what else is out there.
Fancy doing some diving and getting your PADI certificate? How about taking a course? A jungle trek? A safari? Why pay a premium commission to a travel agent to book your place with a local business or tour operator when you can easily walk up yourself when you are there and get the same experience at a fraction of the price?
By travelling independently you can get better and cheaper places to stay, cheaper flights, much more choice in where to stay and what to do and don’t have to pay a huge commission on top. I really don’t see any downside to that.
One thing that package holidays do offer straight off the bat is better protection under the package travel, package holiday and package tour regulations of 1992 if the tour company ceases to operate or there is a sudden act of god. This protection is something that is often quoted to me when I try to explain the virtues of independent travel, but frankly with the right travel insurance (which is something you still should buy regardless), it doesn’t matter one bit, and with the money you are saving to travel independently, having comprehensive insurance is relatively cheap in comparison.
A Trip Tailored To You, For You, By You.
The best thing about independent travel and being your own travel agent is that YOU get to choose the exact trip YOU want. You can tailor every single aspect of it to your own tastes and desires. You can do what you want, when you want. Your plans can be infinitely more flexible. You can go anywhere and not be limited by the plan your agent has booked for you. So the next time you want to go away, don’t just be constrained by the little last minute deal posters in the travel agents window, don’t just take the usual package tour to the Costa Del Bland. Choose somewhere in the world you want to go and plan the trip yourself. Be your own best travel agent, it is easier than you think and you will have the trip of a lifetime!
Did you enjoy this article? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below or on my Facebook or Twitter pages and please feel free to share it with any or all of the social media buttons. If you want to get more great backpacking tips, advice and inspiration, please subscribe to updates via email in the box to your right.
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Michael Huxley is a published author, professional adventurer and founder of the travel website, Bemused Backpacker. He has spent the last twenty years travelling to over 100 countries on almost every continent, slowly building Bemused Backpacker into a successful business after leaving a former career in emergency nursing and travel medicine, and continues to travel the world on numerous adventures every year.
Bemused Backpacker 
Totally agree! I wasted so many years on package holidays! Finally had the courage to travel independently and I’ll never go back! I wish I’d seen your website YEARS ago!
Thank you! Glad you like it!
This is an amazing website! So glad I stumbled across it! Xoxox
Thanks KatieJ, I appreciate the support. There’s plenty more to come yet!
Thank you for sharing.
You’re very welcome!
I cant say that i fully agree.
Travel agencies such as STA and Travel nation are MUCH cheaper for round the world flights than anything Star alliance or One world can offer.
They also have some great tours on offer.
But of course you do need independent travel in with all that!!
Love the Website!
Thank you Matt I’m glad you like it! I was mostly talking about package tours as opposed to independent travel, but you are right that so called ‘independent travel’ agencies such as STA are sometimes cheaper than going through airlines or airline alliances when buying flights, but not always, and there is also the issue of what these agencies having for sale matching your own travel needs or you fitting into their neatly tied up packages which arent always 100% what you want. As for the tours they offer, I still maintain it is always better and cheaper for those with the confidence to do it themselves or organise a tour when they are there which is always cheaper. Its the gap year industry vs independent travel debate, and there is often a nice balance. My point is once you get past the package tour agencies, it is always best to shop around for whichever flight suits your needs at the cheapest price and to not be tied to the packages just because the travel agent says that is what they offer. Thank you for the comment. 🙂
So true, I’ve been thinking about this more and more lately as my (once) plans for a simple 2 week holiday are morphing into plans for a full on gap year!
Haha, good choice! You know where to look if you need any advice on planning! ;D