The Online Traveler

Getting in on the wheeling and dealings of traveling is a bit of a sordid affair. There are a lot of different things to choose from and, quite frankly, most of us don’t have the time to go around and look under every rock and inside every niche for the best package holidays to Gran Canaria or to Ibiza or wherever we decide to go that year. It’s times like these that we would instead trust a holiday dealer or a travel agency, but they have a reputation for trying to get the most money out of us for the least amount of quality services they can provide, and, although probably somewhat exaggerated, the reputation is still deserved. Travel agents provide slightly cheap packages and deals not because they have contacts in the travel destinations or because they happen to be excellent businessmen or have a great eye for what’s cheap and good quality. They have these competitive prices because they buy in bulk. And that’s why you end up on a plane with a bunch of people from your home town and you all stay in the same hotel, which, at least for me, pretty much ruins the whole concept of holiday. Having Tom the butcher and Sam the mailman staying next door when you’re supposed to be enjoying the beach at Majorca isn’t really a lot of fun.

So, if you don’t have time to go around looking for good deals and phoning people left and right looking for rates yourself, and if you don’t trust a travel agency, then where do you go? The answer is: nowhere. You can book a perfectly nice holiday, catered to all you want, without leaving your house. 

Let’s say this year you want to go to the Canary Islands. You can book your cheap Canaries Holidays from on the beach in a matter of minutes. All you need to do is figure out how to use their website, and if their user friendly interface is still too much for you, you can always resort to their helpdesk, available by phone or e-mail. And what do they offer? These websites will allow you to book your hotel and your flight separately, to help you find the best deal yourself, or offer actual holiday packages. But of course, unlike a travel agency, they don’t buy it in bulk, they just do their research and find the best quality for the cheapest price.