Planning a Trip

When I listed my job description under my Facebook profile, I neglected to mention a very important one: designated travel agent and tour director. It is another one of my jobs that I reluctantly took on for years.

Before the internet I researched vacations by going to Barnes and Noble and buying travel guides—Fodor’s and Frommers and AAA. And then I called the airlines to reserve seats and the resort to reserve accommodations. The confirmations all came in the mail. And for more complex trips I went to the travel agent—I told her what I wanted and poof it was done.

And then came the internet. Travel agents became even less important. And buying travels guides was not necessary since within a few clicks everything you ever wanted to know about any travel destination could be pulled up instantaneously. It has gotten to the point that with an app on your phone you can book a trip in between talking to your mother. It is simultaneously wonderful and awful. Everything has a rating and a comment.

But rating and comments can cloud the decision making. There is such a thing as information overload. Sometimes you need to speak with a real person—and by that I mean not some outsourced person at Delta.com who has never seen anything outside of his cubby in Delhi India. Sometimes you need the opinion of someone you know. Sometimes you need to remember the breadth of your human resources. 

And this past Saturday my husband and I decided we needed a break—a quick trip somewhere with a beach and an umbrella drink. And we needed quick transit. So he and I played dueling computers and all we kept doing was calling out to each other what about here? And then no what about here? And then I will google the reviews. But all the acquired information turned into a sea of indecision. And then I remembered that I had “people” who knew things. And I texted and emailed them. And we abandoned Tripadvisor and Fodors.com and just listened to their advice. Because my “people” have no skin in the game but to make us happy.

And so we are all set—which isn’t to say the particulars were easy. Flights were at a premium—seats literally disappeared before we had the opportunity to “buy now.” But we managed. We leave from LaGuardia and come home into JFK. We are headed to Fort Lauderdale and while there we will have dinner with one of the key players in making our trip come to fruition. I am relieved and excited.

Now I just need to book my spray tan and hunt for reinforced swimwear. My black bikini which I wear in my backyard where only the squirrels can see me will remain at home. Perhaps I will take my black card to Lord and Taylor and check out the resortwear. I have “people” there who will help me.