Mom and Dad bought a travel agency. It was something they could do together. Travel was something they liked to do. By car, train or plane. Seeing the world and organizing things – a travel agency was the ticket…..The agency needed an office – where you talk to people and help people plan – plan a dream vacation.

I never wanted to get involved with the agency. Lots of details, lots of paper, lots of talking to strangers who became friends…..But I learned about it anyway. I was there and I listened and filed and answered the phone. Computers, were the new thing in a travel agency and Dad wanted to stay ahead of the competition. He was an early adopter of the newest gismos and gadgets he could afford to make things work better, faster and cheaper. I learned the computer program. Travel industry automation – special codes and languages…….. I still meet industry professionals in my travels who are always amused when I talk about the early days at the agency and the early computers systems – it tells your age. That could be an article itself.

I went off in another direction but wanted to travel some day. Once I could, I started applying what I had learned at the travel agency to my own travel – work and leisure. Hardly anyone knew what a frequent flyer or hotel loyalty program was. Dad told me that I needed to rack up the points and taught me how to find other perks if you knew when and how to ask.

Then there was the planning, I didn’t do it very well as first, but the more trips I organized the better I got.

Dad always tried to gently guide me, but you know children, they always think they know better.

One day I finally asked some questions, Dad had lots of information and I listened. Gosh, the time we had to travel needed to be used more wisely to make those vacations great. So what did I learn……

  • Always plan, a little or a lot, but always make a plan. I research the area we are visiting even if we have been there before. I plan things to see and do and make reservations. You can always change them once you get there, but you have places to go and things to see set up ahead. Otherwise you could end up just sitting in your hotel room wishing.
  • Make the planning part of the vacation. Vacations always seem to take too long to get there and then too short once you are there. Planning in advance extends the time are experiencing the place you are going. You can see it in the distance and when are finally there you can really see and feel it and appreciate it.
  • Learn to pack more efficiently. I still can’t believe how many times I still come home with almost a full suitcase of clothes I didn’t need. Coordinate, reuse and think versatility in what you take – not something for everyday and every location. Can’t even say take twice as much film as clothes any more; what is film? Silly smartphones and micro-disks require much less space in the suitcase, but don’t fill it up with clothes since you may want to carry the suitcase on the plane.
  • Always plan the next vacation booked (no matter how short). My spouse used to laugh when I would start planning and booking our next vacations before we even left the house for our current vacation. Now we come home from vacation and we already know we can start working on the next one. Love those event countdown timers on my phone.
  • Create a vacation routine. Planning, packing, reservations work well with a little organization. I am a natural list maker, so I organize, make my lists and check things off as I get them done. I have a folder for each trip and put all of the papers in one place. I am trying to move to an online trip planning application (there are several good ones) but I still like to see the paper. Once the travel day is here – I have my folder, check my list and off we go…..except once, when we had left for the airport and then had to turnaround and go back to the house because I forgot to unplug the coffee pot – now that damn coffee pot is on the list.

Enjoy your travel time. We don’t get to do it every day and we have such little time to make as many memories as we can with the ones we love.

Thanks Mom and Dad. xoxox

Copyright © 2015  – Cynthia B. Jessel – All Rights Reserved