I’m Nicole and my husband, daughter and I own a small travel agency in Virginia, but we have clients all over the country. We don’t do this to be millionaires, we plan vacations to help families, couples, groups, and singles find the best choices and best values for their hard-earned money.
A Little About Us:
** Our family is a team and that’s the way we like it. No one single person makes a big decision for our travel agency; everyone has input and we choose which ideas and changes fit our mission statement and company values.
** My husband is a Captain in a career fire department and is an AMAZING carpenter! If I can dream it, he can build it. We just finished an actual office, separate from our home.
** I’m a medically retired firefighter/paramedic who not only worked for a career fire and rescue department, but also was part of a Critical Care Transport team, worked part-time in our local hospital’s Emergency Room, and taught continuing education for local EMS providers. I could NOT sit home and stare at four walls all day after being an adrenaline junkie for very long, so I hold down the fort and do the day to day tasks of running our business with my husband and the help of my Social Media Managers (my teenage girls 😁)
How do we work? I’ll explain our process:
1. We do NOT participate in this bidding business because it costs a ridiculous amount of money (we have to PAY for leads, usually from $50 to $60, so PLEASE do not add us to your list unless we are your first and ONLY choice. If you want multiple quotes, DO NOT PICK US!!! ALL travel agents can get about the same prices anyway, the difference is in service and industry knowledge. We haven’t been doing this as long as some people, but we travel to new destinations or on different cruise lines/ships every 1-2 months and have been traveling for many years. We do this (out of our own pockets) for the experience and look at it from a clients’ view. How can you sell something you know nothing about? You can’t.
If you are looking for well-traveled specialists in the Caribbean, North, South and Central America or ocean/river cruises, we are for you. If you like to talk, I’m your girl. If you’ve got a sense of humor, I’m your girl. If you want someone who will treat your vacation like it’s our own, I am DEFINITELY your girl. One thing that we DO require is that you will be READY TO PAY THE DEPOSIT on your vacation within 1-2 days of receiving your itineraries and quotes. Prices change not just daily, but sometimes hourly (especially airfare).
***Please note that while our services are free if you book with us, we require a refundable service charge to make sure we are dedicating our time to clients who actually plan to book, and travel, through us. If you are simply “price-checking”, the deposit serves as a research fee and it WILL NOT be returned. We are an independent business and do not get an hourly wage, we only earn commissions on our sales, so if you do not book through US and travel, we have done hours and hours of work for nothing. We will NOT work for free, would you? ***
1. You request my agency’s services and I send you my vacation request form by *****.
2. Next, we schedule a time to talk on the phone or Zoom, your choice, so we can get to know each other and see if we click. If so, we send over our agent/client contract and an invoice for our service fee. Once the fee is paid, we begin. You can pay us through Venmo, CashApp, or PayPal. These are the only forms of payment we take for our service fee because it is instant and sometimes time is of the essence when it comes to prices. We cannot accept checks or money orders.
3. Then you, and your fellow travelers, will answer a bunch of questions about the who, what, when, where and how… the real meat of the trip. As soon as we begin, you’ll notice that we are a bit unorthodox, but trust me…you’ll realize why quickly!
4. You provide us detailed answers so that we can match you with the PERFECT vacation based on value, your wants and needs, things you do NOT want or care about, and your budget, which is VERY important. Everyone hates talking about money and finances, we do too, but if your total budget is $5,000 for 2 people, there’s no need in us looking at a 7 night stay at Sandals, Secrets, Dreams, etc. because that budget is too low for those properties.
On the flip side, if your budget is $25,000 for a family of 4, we are not going to look at RIU, Catalonia, or Barcelo resorts. It’s like shopping for a new car. If your budget fits a Kia, you wouldn’t be looking at Mercedes. Vacations are the same way.
5. After our conversation, we begin researching and will provide you with at least 3-4 options to choose from, each with a detailed itinerary and all of the information about the vacation.
6. Next, we will schedule another phone call or Zoom 1-2 days later so that we can go over your options. I can answer any questions you may have through text or ***** in the meantime and we can change things if needed. Once you choose a resort/cruise/tour, I get all of the information to make your deposit on the trip.
I am a certified Uplift agent, so if you would like to finance your trip, we can do that using a soft credit check first. Once you see your financing options, you can choose one and that is when a hard inquiry is done. You can even travel before your trip is paid off using Uplift and I see many clients qualify for 0% interest or at least less interest than credit cards these days! You can also use Affirm, Klarna, AfterPay, and PayPal in addition to credit cards. You can also choose to split the payments between several credit cards with some of our vendors!
7. After the deposit is made, we will send you any additional information you may need including restaurant recommendations, attractions in the area, and can’t miss things to do and see, but we will spread them out a bit depending on your dates of travel. If your vacation is a long way out, there isn’t much more to do except make payments until about 6 weeks prior to your trip. It’s kind of boring actually 😂 with the waiting. Most final payments are due between 90 and 45 days prior to your departure date.
We will keep in touch by ***** or text every month or so and you can always contact us with any questions or concerns. We also keep an eye on prices, if we see the price of your EXACT hotel or cruise has decreased, we will 100% attempt to get you that same lower price.
8. Once you are booked, I will send out reminder *****s about final payments as needed.
9. Your first job before our initial phone call is to gather up ALL traveler information (full names listed on government issued IDs or birth certificates, depending on the travelers’ ages, full dates of birth, the lead travelers physical and mailing address, the lead traveler’s ***** address and phone number, and any allergies that any travelers may have) * this does NOT apply to “Group Travel”. Then get all of your documents in order (valid government-issued ID, original birth certificates with raised seals, visas, passports, etc.) and be at the airport or cruise terminal on time. That’s it. Easy peasy.
10. Probably the MOST IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER is you will pay NO MORE booking through us than you would booking yourself. Commissions are already built into the prices of cruises, hotel/resort stays, guided tour travel, etc. so if you do NOT use a travel advisor, you’re basically paying for a service that you are not taking advantage of.
It doesn’t make much sense not to use an advisor and have someone with the knowledge of how things work and how to help you quickly if something goes wrong, now does it?
