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In the present technology age, it isn’t hard to hop on the internet and book travel reservations yourself. However, it can save you a lot of time and frustration to enlist the help of an experienced travel advisor like you’ll find at Travel Connections in Peru.
“We’re with our clients every step of the way. It doesn’t cost more to use a travel advisor,” said Erin Foster, agency manager and travel advisor for Travel Connections in Peru. “The way I look at it, and how we all feel in our office, if you’re booking directly with Apple Vacations or Royal Caribbean, you’re paying the same price for a service that you’re not getting if you were to book the trip through a travel advisor.
“Are there some things people can do on their own? Absolutely. There are people who travel around the United States and they can do it themselves. We focus predominately (for U.S. travel) on packages for Alaska, Hawaii, escorted group tours in the U.S., and ocean and river cruises. We have agents who specialize in Walt Disney and Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. But really, the bulk of what we work on is all international,” Foster said.
Understanding what a travel advisor does may help people decide if they need the services, so Foster explained how having a travel advisor can help.
“When you put the deposit down for the trip, our job doesn’t end there. We’re constantly working around the clock dealing with itinerary changes and airline schedule changes,” Foster said. “This airport moved their seat and they weren’t notified. This cruise line had an issue with dinner reservations. We resolve those issues and handle all of the maintenance side most people don’t see.
“That’s how it should be. We’re handling it on our side of things because our clients don’t have the time or the patience to deal with those things. They shouldn’t have to,” she added.
Foster, who has been with Travel Connections since it opened 14 years ago, added that she and her staff are involved in every stage of the trip, not just the problems or emergencies. The process starts with a consultation, whether in-person or through email, phone, or Zoom, for Travel Connections to meet their clients who are local, in Illinois, and around the country.
The consultation gives the advisors an opportunity to meet the client and get to know them and their travel experience, what they’re interested in doing, and then give them all of their options to help them accomplish their mission of reserving a dream vacation.
The travel advisors also help prepare their clients for departure, help obtain documents, and give their cell phone numbers to clients when they travel so they have 24-7 access if there is an emergency or issue.
“I think it can be great to have a travel advisor in your back pocket. We develop great relationships with our clients,” Foster said.
“We have clients who have experience at all ends of the spectrum. We’re working with first-timers. We’re working with people who maybe have a few trips under their belt. And we have very experienced travelers that still want the knowledge, experience, and security of having someone to go to in the event of an issue or problem when they’re traveling,” she said. “We’re here for everybody. We like to work one-on-one with our clients and develop those relationships. That’s really important to us.”
Residents from the Illinois Valley have used Travel Connections to go near and far. But, of course, some places are more popular destinations than others.
“Europe is off the charts right now. Europe, Alaska, and Hawaii are always incredibly popular. I think our advisor who specializes in Alaska travel is closed out for the season. Alaska has a short season, and they’re already booking into 2026,” Foster said.
“I’m doing a lot with Italy since this year is a Jubilee year in Rome. I have a lot of people looking for new destinations, such as Spain, Portugal, and Croatia has been on the rise. We’ve had multiple requests for African safaris that we’re working on. Mexico Caribbean is also very popular. We’re kind of all over the globe when it comes to travel destination popularity,” Foster said.
In a world where people can book their own travel arrangements, it seems weird to some when a travel advisor is mentioned or suggested. Foster is asked often if Travel Connections is busy.
She immediately thinks of an inside joke with her husband.
“My husband, Joel Foster, always jokes when I say we are in our busy season. He says, ‘It’s always busy season.’ And honestly, he is probably right because we are always so busy,” Foster said.
“We just made our third office move, so we had more space to bring in another employee. Our business has grown exponentially year after year. The only year we saw a decline was the year of the pandemic – 2020. It was short-lived, and we had people traveling by 2021. Then we had two of our best years in 2022 and 2023. We’re still seeing sales continuing to rise. Things are not slowing down anytime soon. We’ve always felt in demand," she said.