Leaving it a bit late to book my flights
Jan. 29th, 2006 09:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skyringI've been meaning to go into Flight Centre at the mall and book my flights for Toronto. I should have done it a while back, but I've been rearranging destinations and dates and trying to work out the longest possible trip to maximise the benefit. And ever since Tessa P (the wonderful travel agent who arranged my two big trips last year) left, I've been wondering how to find a replacement. The chap who worked beside her hasn't been available the past month or so, and I know he was pretty good. He was on the ball. Literally, because he sat on one of those big rubber exercise balls and spent his day smiling. I live in dread at getting someone as bad as the bloke who stuffed up my New Zealand trip last year. I mean, we made it Ok and had a great time, but he charged my credit card twice over, changed the times of flights without telling me, and didn't arrange the car hire he promised.
So I've been kind of hanging off booking my flights, hoping to get the right guy, but I found myself seduced by a travel expo put on by Flight Centre this Sunday. They have a bunch of stalls - Qantas, and Peregrine Tours and other travel folk - and a line of desks where the sales consultants deal with the customers, taking deposits and so on. Special deals and rates are made and the whole thing goes from city to city, all of the local Flight Centre franchises sending along an agent or two when it arrives in town.
I'd been looking at their advertising and thinking that this would be the ideal time to arrange the thing. sit down for an hour or two with someone really experienced and get it all sorted out.
So I printed off a copy of my desired itinerary after running it through the OneWorld timetable tool to check the details and feasibility, hopped in the car and drove down Constitution Avenue to the Convention Centre where they were holding it. Sunday, so parking would be no problem on this brilliantly fine summer day.
My heart sank when I reached the city end of the street. The car park was chockers. Absolutely packed. With cars cruising around looking for a spot. And it's not like it's a small carpark, neither.
Oh well. I pulled in anyway.
A few minutes of cruising and I lucked upon a car pulling out and I nabbed the vacant spot. But it wasn't looking good. There were crowds of people going in and out of the convention centre opposite. Mostly in.
The big convention hall was packed fuller than the carpark. With people cruising around. Queues at all the consultants. And me with two hours tops before I had to leave for lunch at the inlaws'. Oh well!
I looked through the stalls, snaffled a few brochures and lined up at the desk for the Canberra Centre agency. I've been mourning Tessa for months now. She did a brilliant job arranging my two big trips, but then left for good, leaving me with a card and a whole bunch of happy memories of her sweet Celtic smile and an ability to sort things out with a few keystrokes. Oh well. I hoped she was doing well in Dublin.
The line moved slowly, and I looked around the hall. So many people wanting to travel. "If they all left at once, Canberra would be empty!" said the young lady behind me, catching my gaze. It wasn't quite that bad, but it kind of reminded me of Heathrow immigration. All shapes, sizes, ages and styles. Backpackers and businessmen. Grandmothers and globetrotters.
I browsed through my collection of leaflets. Nothing like what I really wanted. They all seemed to be package tours and one shot deals to specific destinations. Sure, I want to go to London. But I also want to go to a whole bunch of other places and do it on a fairly strict timetable. My travel needs aren't simple, otherwise I'd do it myself.
The queue shuffled forward. The agent behind the desk stood up and announced that she had an appointment, but she'd be back in twenty minutes. My spirits sank to about the level of my socks, and I looked at the other queues for other agencies, mentally measuring their length and progress and coming to no happy conclusion.
I was on the verge of bailing out and going home. I would hit the travel shop during normal business hours. Then another agent slipped behind a compter terminal and my heart gave a lurch. No!
She looked up, my face lit up and she flashed me a smile so bright it totally banished the gloom I'd been feeling. Tessa! Large as life and twice as beautiful! I pushed through the crowd. "There's only one travel agent I want in all the world, and it's you!"
"I'm working at Kingston now", she said. "Give me twenty minutes and I'll meet you at one of those tables."
So I sat and waited for her, nursing a cappucino and hugging myself with glee.
When she was finally free, I explained my needs to her, filled in a few forms, and I'm to see her at Kingston tomorrow at 2:30, when we'll thrash out the details. Lord, but I'm so happy to have her back in town. Dublin didn't work out, apparently, but I'm overjoyed to have the sweetest, most efficient travel agent in the world back booking my flights!
So I've been kind of hanging off booking my flights, hoping to get the right guy, but I found myself seduced by a travel expo put on by Flight Centre this Sunday. They have a bunch of stalls - Qantas, and Peregrine Tours and other travel folk - and a line of desks where the sales consultants deal with the customers, taking deposits and so on. Special deals and rates are made and the whole thing goes from city to city, all of the local Flight Centre franchises sending along an agent or two when it arrives in town.
I'd been looking at their advertising and thinking that this would be the ideal time to arrange the thing. sit down for an hour or two with someone really experienced and get it all sorted out.
So I printed off a copy of my desired itinerary after running it through the OneWorld timetable tool to check the details and feasibility, hopped in the car and drove down Constitution Avenue to the Convention Centre where they were holding it. Sunday, so parking would be no problem on this brilliantly fine summer day.
My heart sank when I reached the city end of the street. The car park was chockers. Absolutely packed. With cars cruising around looking for a spot. And it's not like it's a small carpark, neither.
Oh well. I pulled in anyway.
A few minutes of cruising and I lucked upon a car pulling out and I nabbed the vacant spot. But it wasn't looking good. There were crowds of people going in and out of the convention centre opposite. Mostly in.
The big convention hall was packed fuller than the carpark. With people cruising around. Queues at all the consultants. And me with two hours tops before I had to leave for lunch at the inlaws'. Oh well!
I looked through the stalls, snaffled a few brochures and lined up at the desk for the Canberra Centre agency. I've been mourning Tessa for months now. She did a brilliant job arranging my two big trips, but then left for good, leaving me with a card and a whole bunch of happy memories of her sweet Celtic smile and an ability to sort things out with a few keystrokes. Oh well. I hoped she was doing well in Dublin.
The line moved slowly, and I looked around the hall. So many people wanting to travel. "If they all left at once, Canberra would be empty!" said the young lady behind me, catching my gaze. It wasn't quite that bad, but it kind of reminded me of Heathrow immigration. All shapes, sizes, ages and styles. Backpackers and businessmen. Grandmothers and globetrotters.
I browsed through my collection of leaflets. Nothing like what I really wanted. They all seemed to be package tours and one shot deals to specific destinations. Sure, I want to go to London. But I also want to go to a whole bunch of other places and do it on a fairly strict timetable. My travel needs aren't simple, otherwise I'd do it myself.
The queue shuffled forward. The agent behind the desk stood up and announced that she had an appointment, but she'd be back in twenty minutes. My spirits sank to about the level of my socks, and I looked at the other queues for other agencies, mentally measuring their length and progress and coming to no happy conclusion.
I was on the verge of bailing out and going home. I would hit the travel shop during normal business hours. Then another agent slipped behind a compter terminal and my heart gave a lurch. No!
She looked up, my face lit up and she flashed me a smile so bright it totally banished the gloom I'd been feeling. Tessa! Large as life and twice as beautiful! I pushed through the crowd. "There's only one travel agent I want in all the world, and it's you!"
"I'm working at Kingston now", she said. "Give me twenty minutes and I'll meet you at one of those tables."
So I sat and waited for her, nursing a cappucino and hugging myself with glee.
When she was finally free, I explained my needs to her, filled in a few forms, and I'm to see her at Kingston tomorrow at 2:30, when we'll thrash out the details. Lord, but I'm so happy to have her back in town. Dublin didn't work out, apparently, but I'm overjoyed to have the sweetest, most efficient travel agent in the world back booking my flights!
