AI Thinks We Are Cool!

AI Thinks We Are Cool!

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

A few days ago, Anne got an AI generated description of our company and brand.

Here it is:

“We've been following Visit Dream Destinations Dba Dream Destinations with great interest and have come across some remarkable reviews from your satisfied clients. From being European River Cruise Experts to providing top-notch travel planning services, your dedication to delivering the highest quality experiences is evident. Anne & Hank Schrader, as certified travel professionals, have undoubtedly created an exceptional brand.”.

While we appreciate this awesome review, I’m not sure this review is based on any personal knowledge of who we are—they just scanned our website and maybe some blogs and generated the summary.

You may wonder why we would tell you this—AI is going to be part of travel and there is concern among travel advisors that it is a threat to our profession. 

We are not concerned about this, as we have weathered a lot since our start in 1995, but we need to explore this further and learn together the advantages and disadvantages of AI in the travel industry.

What is AI?

AI is the abbreviation for artificial intelligence.  There are 2 main types of AI—generative AI (gen AI) and machine learning (ML).  Some folks in our industry think that AI will result in reimagining what it means to book, plan, and experience travel.

This would be a newer way to interact with customers.  I’m not so sure AI will revolutionize our role as travel advisors, but there can be no doubt that the digital age has made the industry better.  There will be changes and it is probably too early to predict all the changes but perhaps just a recap of our experience in the digital age can provide us with some clues to the future.

The Human Touch

In our industry, there is one constant—quality interaction between us and our clients and potential clients.  Could this interaction be replaced or enhanced using AI? 

Some possible uses of AI are to create digital assistants that could plan, recommend. book, and monitor travel during the trip.  It would require knowing a client so well that you could segment a clients’ desired trip preferences by their searches and digital presence.

In theory, sounds like a great idea.  For simple trips, it probably is the wave of the future—"recommend 4 hotel rooms near the city center at this price range” (your query) would be an appropriate use of AI, as they could quickly scan options and respond to the query.  That could certainly reduce your search time. 

Again, it raises the question about the quality of information used to curate a response—all of us have seen information in a digital format that is inaccurate or misleading at best.  Eventually it will get to the point that it is very useful and works to the satisfaction of the user, but, in my opinion, we are not there yet.

I have read that currently only information from 2021 or earlier is available for AI use, but I have no way to confirm this, and if true, a lot has happened since then in the travel industry—most river cruise lines were requiring us to wear masks to sail in 2021, and that is no longer required as just one example of how relevant and timely the AI responses are.  It does raise the point that timeliness and accuracy of the responses is a potential problem area.

Marketing Using AI

The concept here is called: hyper-segmentation” where AI would respond to the queries and selectively determine the best trip based on your responses.  Segmentation is not a new concept—we classify travelers by their preferences, but I find the idea of too much segmentation can result in a bombardment of unwanted marketing messages and offers by travel professionals searching for new clients.  Not sure this will happen, but the potential worries me.  Maybe this is why there are so many warnings about AI.

I prefer our approach—you opt in for our blog or visit our website and then reach out to us.

Our Logo

Here is part of our home page on our website www.dreamdestinations.com

We won a Wave Award in 2018

AI for River Cruises

I’m not sure it is the answer for river cruises.  In the UK, I just read an article about a new agency that relies on on-line responses to make decisions about which river cruises to book and the whole process is online.

The real question is—where do they get their information to filter and make recommendations?  Here are a couple of examples:

So, do they rely on Conde Nast Readers Survey published on 3 October 2023 to make the decision on which line to use for a potential river cruise client?  I disagreed with the results only last week in a blog post.  Who is right—neither of us.  It is my opinion and as I say over and over, all river cruises are great options.  No matter how hard machine learning tries, when there are split opinions, they can’t solve the problem accurately.  After all, AI data will only spit out what it has been fed in developing the answers to your query.

Do you rely on awards won, or cruise critic?  Are they using published reviews influenced by advertising dollars?  AI can only scan the information and process it, then make judgements based on the algorithms programed into the response.

If I’m spending $15,000 to $20,000 on a river cruise vacation, I want someone to explain what is the best use of my money that matches my travel style—not a machine that says X number of people picked line Z, so you should also.

So, what do you do?  You must talk with an advisor (hopefully us) and determine if they are better than AI.

ChatGPT for Travel

ChatGPT is both generative AI (gen IA) and machine learning AI (MI).  Why?  It starts off as answering questions or prompts with answers that are generated.  As the process continues, it learns more and refines it responses., making it machine learning.  You may already be using a form of AI for customer service, where the computer begins the conversation and when enough information is gathered, then a customer service representative takes over the conversation and provides the action required.

This AI will be best, in my opinion, for simple trips that already have folks using OTAs (online Travel Agency’s)—Expedia and Kayak already have plugins, but you have to use ChatGPT Plus.   ChatGPT is great for simple input--where do you want to go? how much do you want to spend? Give me 6 suggested cruises—they can handle that.  The idea is to have human-like conversations with the computer to assist you.  There is a ChatGPT app but make sure it is created by OpenAI (free but there is a subscription option that costs $20 a month) but already there are fakes out there.  The real advantage of ChatGPT is speed—in seconds it can respond to the query.

You may be wondering—why not just use search engines?  The short answer is that ChatGPT is designed to have a conversation, while a search engine uses indexes of web pages to find the information requested.  For now, it is clear that search engines provide the best up-to-date and accurate information.  As I told you earlier in this segment of the blog, there is a service called ChatGPT Plus which also includes scanning the internet, which will probably provide better quality results. 

A limitation of ChatGPT—it uses servers and could get overloaded if too many people are online, so the system tells you are at capacity.  Another limitation—ChatGPT does not provide sources for its answers.

Determine which cruise line is best for me—too hard at present—all have earned awards; digital articles pick a wide variety of options, and all are good.  Whose opinion is right?

Another use of the ChatGPT that is already in place on river cruise company websites, is pop-up responses trying to get more information and direct you to a desired trip.  I would recommend caution here—the cruise lines have a vested interest to get you to book as quickly as possible and may narrow your search too quickly.  Remember, AI on a company website can’t answer questions that require a human touch and judgement yet.  Also, travel is an emotional experience, and the machine does not have the ability to make truly emotional responses like we can by listening to you.

So, How Do You AI In Your Travels?

Carefully is my advice.  One thing AI can’t do well is apply human judgement.  AI might speed up the research process, but it can’t pick the right cruise for you on a river cruise.  It might be able to tell you what the lowest price is but can’t tell you the value of the cruise for your travel style.

Our Final Thoughts

We never panicked when the internet went worldwide—it just made our clients more astute and interested in travel.  I think for now our jobs are safe from AI.  To be candid, we were never worried about it.  Let the online agencies use AI but we will only use it if it is reliable and improves our response time on our end to find you the best options quicker.  Even then, we will need to insert our human judgement to ensure you get the best trip.  You will never see a ChatGPT on our website or a way to book online from our site—you need our human judgement and interaction.

I don’t think you would want it any other way.  This is still a people-to-people business and will stay that way.  Even now, we often find clients who say they are confused by all the information—it is just too complicated for most.  Don’t worry—we can and will provide you clarity if you decide to use us to plan your trip—honest, fun, and reliable with your best interest at heart.

We are travel experts, ocean and river cruise specialists, and Europe destination experts.  We have first-hand knowledge of almost anywhere you want to visit in Europe.  We know our products and the vendors who sell them to you.  We have designed special tours for dozens of clients, led several and will continue to find just the right vacation that will exceed your expectations.

When you are spending your hard-earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip.  You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience.  And, you want someone who can help you with the decision making process.  We think we have all these qualities.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you!  We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel.  Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@visitdd.com .  We want to help you:  Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations!  Your journey begins here!

ANNE has earned a degree from the University of Houston in Hotel and Restaurant Management.  Serving as the President of Visit Dream Destinations, LLC, since 2016, she is uniquely experienced professional travel advisor with over 26 years’ experience in the travel industry.  Among her numerous certifications, she is a Certified Travel Counselor (CTC) by the Travel Institute, considered the gold standard in travel agent certification and she is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC) by the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), as well Luxury Cruise Specialist also from CLIA.  Having traveled often to Europe since 1989, she has expanded on her certification as a Destination Specialist in Western Europe (DS) with extensive first-hand experience in luxury vacations.  She holds numerous other specialty designations from individual vendors.  An expert photographer, she delights in capturing the true essence of destinations to share with all.

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 52 years.  He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA).  This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years.  He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees.   His other Certifications:

• AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist

• Viking River Cruise Specialist

• Scenic River Cruise Specialist

• Emerald Waterways Specialist

• Avalon Waterways Specialist

• Brit Agent

So, Where Should I Go?

So, Where Should I Go?  

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

One of the biggest problems Anne & I face in making our personal travel decisions is “Where Should We Go?”  You might think this is an easy problem for destination specialists like us, but in reality, the more you travel to one area of the world, like Europe, the more difficult it becomes. 

Why?  It seems so simple at first but there are just too many options—do you revisit places you have been, look for new places, combine the two, emphasize cities, or peaceful stays in the countryside?

There are so many choices—what should I do?  And when all choices are great options, it becomes even harder.

The inspiration for this blog comes from our struggles to decide where to go in April for Anne’s 70th birthday—we will let you know when we finally decide but here is the process we will use to make the right decision.

Regular readers of this blog, will probably guess Anne wants to go to Brugge sometime during the trip—here is the view from our favorite canal side room in Brugge when we visit

So, let’s explore this dilemma together and see if we can come up with a logical process that will make your decision-making easier and, more importantly, provide you a way to maximize your travel time.

Travel Decision Making

In my opinion, there are 5 steps in the travel decision-making process.  They are:

1. First, you want to go on a vacation somewhere. 

2. Second, you begin a search process, looking for some type of inspiration. 

3. Next come comparisons—what will I do or see while on my vacation? 

4. Now comes the suppliers and vendors–will their product or service that I select provide me the vacation I desire? 

5. Last, you evaluate the decision—did I make the right choices? 

Vacation Time—I want to Go Somewhere

The first step in this process is a decision to go somewhere. 

 During this phase, you should try to decide how long you can go, develop some type of budget and select a general destination. 

Perhaps, most important, you should ask yourself–why am I going? 

Once you know the why, the rest of the decisions become easier.  They always have for us. A word of advice here—the why has to be as well defined as possible. The reason we are struggling with Anne’s birthday milestone trip is just celebrating isn’t enough—it has to be the right celebration and we have not really defined exactly what we want to see or do (we are stuck on step 3 in the decision making process as I wrote about above in this blog).

The Search Process–Inspiration and Destination Knowledge

There are lots of ways you can begin your destination search.  Usually it is a cool picture, maybe a book description, maybe a TV show or Movie or Video posted on the internet—it doesn’t really matter how it starts. 

You begin to see yourself experiencing something new, or perhaps returning to a familiar place where you can relax or be stimulated.  Or maybe you just don’t know enough but want to try something new or different. 

Maybe you went to our website and researched some of the pages to learn about trip ideas or went to our Pinterest site and looked at the over 5000 photos we have taken during our travels or requested one of our 50 Europe City Guides or 51 Europe River Cruise Port Guides.

For Anne’s 60th we attended a cooking school in Wales—maybe a new cooking adventure for the 70th?

Now that you have been inspired, you next need to learn about where you want to go.  Destination knowledge is the combination of 3 types of knowledge–objective knowledge (facts), subjective knowledge (how does it make you feel?) and experience knowledge (what do I gain from doing this?). 

We use all three when planning your trips and, even if you don’t realize it, you do the same when thinking about (or better yet dreaming about) your upcoming trip.  

Travel Planning 101—Comparing What is Available for Your Travel Decisions

I think there are 3 main ways to make travel decisions.  They are:

• advantages and disadvantages method (most common)

• simple prioritization (best opportunity) method

• acquiesce to an expert method (us).

In the military, during our formal decision-making process, we used to call this phase evaluating the course of actions.  We would decide on what to do and decide on the advantages and disadvantages of each course of action. 

While this was a more formalized process than is necessary for planning travel, it is essentially the same process you should use to plan your trips.  Each traveler makes a series of choices (courses of actions in military terminology) and then compares the advantages and disadvantages of each part of the trip to each destination.

Already this is sounding overwhelming, but we have a good solution for you! 

Here is a chart I developed, addressing 7 common travel problems and our solutions to help you. 

Problem	What is the Benefit to You	Our Solution
Will I get the best value for my Money?	Spend your money wisely	We match the right vendor(s) to provide a trip that will exceed your expectations
Will I find the right trip?	A Better Vacation	We Learn your dreams and turn them into reality
Will I make wise choices?	A better vacation and no fear of missing out on great experiences	Our 25 years of experience in the travel industry coupled with our first-hand destination knowledge and numerous professional certifications will help us provide you with the best options possible
Will I remember all the details?	No unforgotten trip details	We check all the details so you do not have any missteps or forgotten arrangements
Will I spend too much time researching my trip?	Saves you time & eliminates hassles	Once we know what you want, we do research to get you the highest quality, expertly planned trip
How can I best protect my vacation?	Peace of mind	We can help lead you to the right people to answer your questions about insurance options
How do I know I can trust my advisor to do the best for me?	Someone thinking and acting in your best interests	We are members of several professional organizations and we have earned the trust of dozens of clients. We encourage you to read their comments about our services

Trade Offs—What Can I Afford and What Will I Get?

I always tell folks we travel to Europe as many times as we can during a year until we run out of money—most all of us have constraints of some sort—time, travel costs, work demands, family situations—all can affect the desired outcome of your vacation. 

Here is simple advice–pick the level of products and services that will provide you the best value.  Don’t let money drive the decision–every time we cut a corner on a vacation to save a couple of bucks, we regretted it.  It always led to poor experiences. 

There almost always is the “sweet spot”–great value but not too expensive to bust the budget.  Let us help you find it.

So, Where Do I Go?

The real answer is that there are usually no perfect choices. I do think it becomes easier if we help you, as you can see by the 7 problems we can solve for you in planning and taking your vacation.

Our Final Thoughts

When we decide on Anne’s trip, we will write about the adventure.

As you can see, making wise travel choices, is more complex than you may have thought.  Trip planning is not easy.  Making sound decisions are critical to the travel planning process.  Time and money issues are complex—we all want the best at the least possible price.  We help you solve those complex issues, saving you hassles, time and worry. 

We are travel experts, ocean and river cruise specialists, and Europe destination experts.  We have first-hand knowledge of almost anywhere you want to visit in Europe.  We know our products and the vendors who sell them to you.  We have designed special tours for dozens of clients, led several and will continue to find just the right vacation that will exceed your expectations.

When you are spending your hard-earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip.  You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience.  And, you want someone who can help you with the decision making process.  We think we have all these qualities.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you!  We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel.  Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com.  We want to help you:  Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations!  Your journey begins here!

ANNE has earned a degree from the University of Houston in Hotel and Restaurant Management.  Serving as the President of Visit Dream Destinations, LLC, since 2016, she is uniquely experienced professional travel advisor with over 26 years’ experience in the travel industry.  Among her numerous certifications, she is a Certified Travel Counselor (CTC) by the Travel Institute, considered the gold standard in travel agent certification and she is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC) by the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), as well Luxury Cruise Specialist also from CLIA.  Having traveled often to Europe since 1989, she has expanded on her certification as a Destination Specialist in Western Europe (DS) with extensive first-hand experience in luxury vacations.  She holds numerous other specialty designations from individual vendors.  An expert photographer, she delights in capturing the true essence of destinations to share with all.

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 50 years.  He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA).  This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years.  He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees.   His other Certifications:

• AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist

• Viking River Cruise Specialist

• Scenic River Cruise Specialist

• Emerald Waterways Specialist

• Avalon Waterways Specialist

• Brit Agent

Packing Light--My Packing Challenge

Packing Light—My Packing Challenge

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

www.dreamdestinations.com

As I’m sure we have all experienced, packing the correct item but not taking too much is one of the hardest challenges for most folks when we travel.  We all want to over-pack for that just in case scenario which leads to over-packing but do you really need all those clothes and items?

Taking less also presents at least 2 other challenges—looking nice or even professional and facing different seasons of the year.

It even gets worse when you have to go on a trip in the winter to Europe and then go to Egypt in a warm weather climate.  We are about to take 2 river cruises at both locations—strange but true!

So here is the challenge for me—use my new 22” carry-on luggage and my trusted leather Tumi second piece of luggage to bring enough to handle 21 days of travel, in 2 climate conditions, look reasonably professional during part of the trip, and easily get my 2 pieces of luggage on a train, since large suitcases often pose a storage problem.

I do realize that it is much more difficult for women than men, as I don’t wear make-up, need several pair of shoes to look proper—you get the idea.

So, let’s explore together and learn if it is going to work for me!

What are Some Reasons for Over Packing?

I think the first and most obvious reason is the “just in case” approach to packing.  It is the planning for the absolute worst case scenario.  Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts have the motto ”Be Prepared” and that means for everything, not the most likely situation.

I also think you can’t ignore the comfort factor of having a lot of different clothes to choose from—less stress because you didn’t make hard choices before the trip.

Maybe the often overlooked reason, is that you may have bought new clothes especially for the trip and just can’t leave it home.

In reality it is a departure from your comfort zone—I can always just go to the closet at home, so if I bring it I will feel more secure.  It reduces stress and anxiety—let’s face it sometimes travel is stressful but so rewarding and just a little something extra brings us comfort.

So understanding these concerns, can I pare down my clothes, look reasonably professional, be warm and feel comfortable? 

I think I can, so here is my game plan.

Some Good Rules for Packing Light

The most obvious is you are not going to wear 1 item 1 time on the trip.  My goal is to get at least 2 uses of each item such as shirts and pants.  I will definitely need more shirts (top layers) than pants.  3 times wearing a piece of clothing or more is a bonus.

No more than 3 pair of shoes.

Anything that can do double duty such as a shirt that would look good during the day and could be worn at night in more dressy situations and still look good for both parts of the trip means I can cut at least one piece of clothing.

I must have clothes that make me look professional or at least not sloppy or inappropriate.

My clothes must also not offend anyone due to cultural norms.

Landry is my friend—it means less clothes and fresh clothes, which it is great thing, so I have to bring clothes that can be washed and dried without causing any damage to them.  It will most likely get me into the bonus area of 3 or more uses on the trip.

I can’t suffer being uncomfortable just to save space—no more freezing nights in horrible weather like it was sometimes in the military.

If it is a toss up to bring or not to bring don’t bring it—be mentally tough and make the hard decisions early.  The advice I have often read is lay out everything you might want to bring and cut it by one-half.  I’m not sure I totally agree with this but I like the principle. I am a partial fan of the idea not to bring it if you only will use it once—evaluate the event—for example, even if you only use your swim suit once, it is probably better than a pair of shorts that becomes too revealing.

Don’t worry about looking perfect—just look good and be comfortable.

Pack early—reduce your stress.

You need a good packing list. I use the Packing Pro App, so i won’t forget things. I also play around with where each items goes, in the vest, the Tumi or the suitcase as it is amazing how often I forget.

Don’t be foolish and bring so little you will hate what you brought. Just go to a bigger suitcase.

A Closer Look at My 2 Pieces of Luggage

I’m using a new carry-on luggage from Solguard. (A quick disclaimer here—I don’t get any rewards from the makers of either piece of luggage or am I not affiliated with them in any fashion).  It is 22 inches and on the inside has what they call a closet insert.  The concept is at arrival you don’t have to unpack—just hand the expanding insert up in the closet or from the handle with the suitcase open.  Here are a couple of photos:

The real question is will it work?

My new luggage empty

The design allows me to open it up and hang in a closet or use it with the suitcase open.

The inside insert part of the luggage. On the left is the fully loaded insert. On the right the insert is empty with the laundry bag.

My carry on is a leather Tumi we bought in Brugge.  Trust me, they are proud of Tumi luggage and it is very pricey, but it sure does look cool.  The true goal of any really light traveler would be to bring only this small luggage piece, but the truth is it just doesn’t work except for ultra-minimalists.  Here is a photo:

My pricey Tumi leather luggage bag

Electronics and Essentials

It goes without saying, you will need some electronics.

My electronics bag (orange net bag) , my toilet kit, my binoculars and the European power strip to charge my electronics,

I bring a digital camera, a head lamp, my IPad, charger cords for my phone and IPad, my fit bit charger and a halo back up battery.

Packing 101 for Europe in the Winter for a River Cruise

As most of you know, river cruises have an informal dress code.  During the tours, trousers, shirts and appropriate warm weather gear are the norm.  So, I have 2 challenges that may require different types of clothes—the daytime activities and the daily night dinner onboard.

The Tours and Daytime

I need to stay warm but still look presentable.  So I need 21 days’ worth of clothes.  This is going to require some hard choices.

Let’s start with the outer layers.  I am going to bring a light weight down jacket, my weather proof rain jacket, gloves, a scarf, a knit hat and my splurge item my special made hat from Germany. I sure wouldn’t need any of these items in the summer or even late Spring or Early Fall. Here is a photo:

My outer wear for Winter in Europe

As everyone advises you, dress in layers to help preserve warmth.  For me, that means at least 2 long sleeve long john type underwear shirts.  Since my legs seldom get cold, no long john’s for my legs.  I also plan to bring my travel vest full of pockets as my inside layer and not bring a fleece vest.

The most flexible part is the pants and daily shirts.  I’m going with 2 rather light weight cargo pants type garments.  I’m going with 4 daytime shirts but 2 could be used for night time.

I will take 2 pair of shoes for day wear—my sandals I wear everywhere and my running shoes with 4-5 pair of socks.

The Dinner Meal

During the evening, many but not all get a little more dressed up.  I always like to wear a jacket to dinner for 2 reasons.  First, as a professional travel advisor, I think my appearance is important.  Second, and perhaps the best reason, the dinner meal is a usually special 4-6 course meal, and I think honoring the time it takes to serve these meals deserves a little effort on my part to dress appropriately.

So, what is the game plan for these meals?  I plan to take 1 Sports Coat, 5 dress shirts and 2 different pair of pants, and one pair of shoes.  While I usually take 2 Sports Coats, this trip will be limited to just one.  I just alternate my slacks, wear each shirt twice, so I look different each night.

My dinner clothes—2 pr slacks, 2 shirts (in the middle that can be worn dressy or for day wear and 3 shirts that could go with a tie,

My one pair of dress shoes are also very comfortable.  I could easily wear them during the day with the slacks if I want to dress up a little.

Egypt River Cruise

I will need some really light weight shirts to add to the 2 pair of light wight cargo pants.

I have combination of short sleeve (middle of photo) and long sleeve shirts

I would not need the short sleeve shirts if we weren’t going to Egypt and the light weight long sleeve shirts are to prevent sunburn. I would probably cut out 4-5 shirts if I was only going in the winter in Europe.

Did it Work?

So how did I do—I managed to get almost all in my new carry-on suitcase. It weights 29.8 pounds or 13.5 kg. It is a little too stuffed and I also put the clothes I plan to wear inside the suitcase, so I have some adjustments,

It is really stuffed but the compression straps got it all compressed so I could get it closed. I tried to get as much as possible in but realize there is slightly too much, so I will learn and adjust.

I will also carry a clean set of clothes in the Tumi, that will come out from the carry-on. The Tumi will have my electronics bag, my Ipad, my hearing aid bag, my raincoat, my small binoculars, my camera and my sandals.

One concern is wrinkled clothes. With the outer wear, should be easy to hide.

My Final Thoughts

We hope you enjoyed this report.  Packing is quite a challenge and after 50 years, I still probably don’t have it right, but I keep trying to refine and get it better than last trip.

We are travel experts, ocean and river cruise specialists, and Europe destination experts.  We have first-hand knowledge of almost anywhere you want to visit in Europe.  We know our products and the vendors who sell them to you.  We have designed special tours for dozens of clients, led several and will continue to find just the right vacation that will exceed your expectations.

When you are spending your hard-earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip.  You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience.  And, you want someone who can help you with the decision making process.  We think we have all these qualities.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you!  We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel.  Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com.  We want to help you:  Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations!  Your journey begins here!

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 49 years.  He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA).  This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years.  He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees.   His other Certifications:

• AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist

• Viking River Cruise Specialist

• Scenic River Cruise Specialist

• Emerald Waterways Specialist

• Avalon Waterways Specialist

• Brit Agent

Stress and Travel

Stress and Travel

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

www.dreamdestinations.com

Is it just me, or do you feel a lot of stress and uncertainty in travel today?

Do you long for the good old days of travel, maybe even before the 9/11 attacks?

Even in uncertain times, a new normal emerges.  Yet we can manage travel stress and perhaps this blog will help.

So, let’s look at travel stress.  We will begin by asking ourselves 3 questions about travel stress, then look at time stress during travel, and finally the stress of planning your trip by yourself.

3 Questions to Ask Yourself Before the Trip to Help Reduce Stress

As a coach and retired Army Officer, the most successful folks always seem to have a plan to adjust to problems.  I like to think of this as 3 possible outcomes.  They are

1.      What is the worse that could happen during my trip?

2.     What is the best that could happen during my trip?

3.     What is the most likely to happen during my trip?

Planning For the Worse

I don’t like to dwell on the negative, but problems do arise during travel and if you don’t have a plan, your stress levels often go through the roof.  So, if you can’t eliminate potential problems—what can you do to mitigate them?

First, evaluate your risk for medical problems, trip interruption and/or trip cancellation.  The most obvious answer is travel insurance.  To help remove that stress factor, we always travel with insurance and recommend our clients also do so. Once you have your travel insurance, just make sure you know how to contact the provider if an emergency comes up.

COVID-19 issues are a big concern for both domestic and international travelers (much more internationally), but just some simple steps can really reduce this stress.

 First, get vaccinated and have proof.  Second, have a digital copy and a paper copy of your vaccination.  Get a PCR test 72 hours before you depart overseas.  Load up a QR code on your smart phone.  Wear a mask when required.

This is our mobile hot spot. You can rent these or buy it as we have.

In our recent trip to Europe in August 2021, we learned we could reduce our stress by bringing some items to deal with these challenges. First, a smart phone and back-up power supply charger for all our electronics. Second, our own hot spot internet connection device. Third, Anne carries all our documents in a passport/wallet type purse that is relatively easy to carry everywhere.

This is my travel vest. Lots of pockets that zip up.

I am also dusting off an old idea—seems like a great time to start bringing my travel vest, with multiple zipper pockets. This solves having to carry a lot of extra things and have a place for each item.

Transportation hassles.  Airport delays and cancellations are the most often cited by travelers as huge stress factors.  Another problem, while not common, is rail strikes in Europe.  So, what do you do?

Air—make sure you buy a ticket with a no-change fee.  We always look for a direct flight to our destination, especially to Europe—less chance for a problem.  But the most important, don’t make the travel time so close to the key events (like a river cruise sailing)—allow a day or 2 extra.

Train—how can you get there by alternate means, a different route or maybe air, a bus or car?  Could you stay an extra day or 2 and then get to your destination?

Unfamiliar Places.  This one may be the easiest of all—just line up your transfers, hotels and maybe even a language APP.  Or, better yet use us, our guides, and most of all, our experience.  It also helps if you look at it from the perspective it will be great new experiences instead of being potentially scary.

Almost all of these problems seem a lot worse than they actually are—trust me we have faced them all and still love to travel, even in these uncertain times.

Planning for the Best

Not many worries here, but just don’t rush things.  A reasonable plan means time to see the key sights, but down time to just explore something new that pops up or to just chill.  Changing cities every day works when you are 21 and eager to see it all.  It just doesn’t work at your 60’s and later.

Planning for the Most Likely

The key is to eliminate the worst as much as possible and make the plan for the best more likely.  I promise you, stress almost goes away when you get the plan just right.  A little tip—use us and it will almost all go away!

Time Stressors for Travelers

There are many time stresses when you travel.  Moving from one place to another in an uncomfortable or rushed manner is often a big stress factor and can make the trip really horrible.

We love train travel in Europe. It has a lot of advantages, especially, high speed train (almost all require an advanced reservation). They are more environmentally friendly than short flights, avoids security checks at airports and a couple of hours waiting for the flight to take off. With a train, you just hop on, and find your seat.

But even these advantages has challenges. Boarding the trains with too much luggage is always a challenge—short boarding times, limited storage space on the train can turn a great method of travel into a stress filled event.

One solution—take twice as much money and half as less clothes. We never have really gotten there but are getting closer.

Even great ideas of train travel can go bad, as the following story will explain how we caused a lot of unnecessary stress on an overnight train.

A Rookie Mistake—A Poor Overnight Train Story

Let me share a story about traveling way back in 1990—we were in Europe during the World Cup soccer tournament.  To save money, we decided to take an overnight train from Paris to Amsterdam.  It was our first time on an overnight train in Europe.

Seemed like a great idea—we would save one nights hotel cost.  The only problem was that our sleeping compartment was not for us alone—when we got on the train we found we were sharing the compartment with 2 strangers from Argentina who were following their soccer team.  It was a very uncomfortable situation to say the least, but luckily since I am fluent in Spanish, we were able to communicate our discomfort and work out who would sleep where.

The train was not air-conditioned or it was not working, so our options were a very hot night of little or no sleep or constant screeching noises with the windows open as other trains roared past us.

When we finally arrived the next morning and found a hotel in a smaller town outside of Amsterdam, we slept for a whole day.  And to add to our discomfort, we both had heat rashes on our legs. 

So folks, we saved some bucks, but lost almost 2 days of our trip.  This is poor travel and our stress levels were through the roof.

 Now we still use overnight trains on occasions but have learned to carefully research all the details and levels of service—a great lesson learned!

Hotel Stressers

Another time stressor is searching for the right hotel.  If you are winging it, this can be another problem.  If you expect a certain level of accommodations, you could be aced out.  

Also consider noise—we once stayed in a very wonderful little village but it was less than 50 meters from the train tracks. You guessed it, all night long we heard constant trains screaming along the tracks. Here is a photo of how pretty it was:

What a wonderful German Village but a hotel too close to the train tracks will often result in a poor night’s sleep, even with ear plugs!

Another stress factor is spending too much or being located in an unsafe part of town—trust me, we had also made these mistakes. The solution—do your homework, or better yet let us plan it for you.

Seeing the Sights and Avoiding Waiting in Long Lines

Even if you get the moving from place to place correctly, and find the right place to stay, perhaps the biggest stress factor is missing a chance to see what you came to see or waiting in long lines to see or experience the sights.

Most key sights are closed on certain days or holidays and can require advance reservations.  For example, few people want to stand in line to see the Vatican Museum for 4 or more hours in the blazing sun during July in Italy—we have witnessed many who have made this travel mistake—if they had reservations, they would have skipped the line altogether.

The Vatican is always crowded. These folks are going towards the Vatican Museum and may have very long waits if they don’t have a reservation.

To get in St. Peter’s Basilica, you must wait in line. This just gives you an idea how many will wait in line and it is worse at the Vatican Museum.

Perhaps one of the most common errors is how many travelers try to see the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam at the last minute—unless you make reservations 2 or more months in advance, you will not get in.  The same goes for the Last Supper painting in Milan—reservations required, often a month or so in advance and only 15 minutes viewing time to see this masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci.

The Stress of Making Your Own Plans

Another stress factor is making your own plans.

Will your selections match your expectations (are you sure or just guessing it will be OK)?

Will you miss out on a key experience you did not know about?

Did you forget the transfer from the airport to your hotel?

Did you allow enough time to make a train connection?

Are you in the right place on the right day of your cruise to see the sight you just spent thousands of dollars to see?

Are you prepared to travel during COVID?

The list goes on and on.

Addressing the Stress Factors

To me, this all boils down to two factors—trip satisfaction and convenience.

Every time we plan our own travel, and I see how complex it is to get the trip right, I just can’t understand why some folks believe they can achieve trip satisfaction by doing their own planning.  Maybe they get satisfaction from extensive research. Maybe it is a control factor—I’m just not sure.

Time value experts often ask this question when evaluating convenience and satisfaction—what would you be willing to pay someone to do the work for you?  This is a great question in my mind, and my answer is even better—it usually costs you nothing extra, as the vendors pay us—the price of our services is already factored in to the vacation price.

The reason is simple—the vendors alone can’t reach enough folks to sell their products by themselves, so they use travel professionals like us, to find customers for them.

It is a huge win-win—you are hiring us as your travel expert for free in most case.

 As Anne likes to say, “Free is good!”

My Final Thoughts

Get rid of the Stress—let us figure it out for you.  Trip planning is not easy.  Time and money issues are complex—we all want the best at the least possible price.

We help you solve those complex issues, saving you hassles, time and worry. 

We are travel experts, ocean and river cruise specialists, and Europe destination experts.  We have first-hand knowledge of almost anywhere you want to visit in Europe.  We know our products and the vendors who sell them to you.  We have designed special tours for dozens of clients, led several and will continue to find just the right vacation that will exceed your expectations.

When you are spending your hard-earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip.  You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience.  And, you want someone who can help you with the decision making process.  We think we have all these qualities.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you!  We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel.  Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com.  We want to help you:  Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations!  Your journey begins here!

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 50 years.  He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA).  This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years.  He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees.   His other Certifications:

• AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist

• Viking River Cruise Specialist

• Scenic River Cruise Specialist

• Emerald Waterways Specialist

• Avalon Waterways Specialist

• Brit Agent

72 and Lucky

72 and Lucky

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

www.dreamdestinations.com

Yesterday I turned 72.

Hard to believe I’ve been around so long in some ways, but in others I still think of myself as a young man.

I consider myself very lucky.  I’ve had a great life for the most part; done some amazing things, laughed a lot, cried on occasion, loved, and faced the many challenges we all face in life.

My West Point classmate Jeff and I share the same birthday but he is one year older than me

So I thought I’d hit a few highlights and tell you how it lead to our current journey as travel advisors.

My Early Life and High School

My Dad was a career military officer and we moved quite a bit as I grew up.  I liked parts of school and didn’t like others and although I was a pretty good student, I really was not a great student, as I got easily bored in classrooms.  The only thing I constantly excelled in was physical education and sports.

Perhaps the two defining aspects of my early life was earning my Eagle Scout at the age of 13 and living in Okinawa in my junior high school years.  What any eye opening experience to live in Asia as an early teen.  In many ways, it started my lifelong love of travel.

Arriving in Okinawa. My Mom and Dad are in the background

My high school years was a constant climb to improve my grades and by my senior year I was doing very well in school.  But the real story is my track success and playing football. I was number #15 as a running back and wide receiver, we went 9-1 and were third in the state in 1966. I earned 3 varsity letters in track, was named the most valuable track athlete my senior year and was a state track level athlete.

West Point

At 17, I began the next phase of my life for 47 months.  In many ways, I was over my head—I struggled with math and engineering subjects, did alright in social studies, Spanish and physical education.  I was always fighting the many regulations and rules and occasionally got into trouble and was punished for violating this or that, so you can see, I was not a model cadet. 

Photo of me as 17 year old Plebe (first year) cadet

The one constant was the track team, where I earned 5 varsity letters, never lost to Navy in my career during our dual track meets and had some success as member of the mile relay team in some of the bigger national track meets.

Indoor track meet against Navy, where I ran the 2nd leg of the mile relay on the way to a win against Navy

Outdoor track meet against Navy, where I ran the first leg on the way to another victory

At West Point, you are being constantly evaluated in your academic standing and out of 729 members of my 1971 Class, I just managed to rank above 50 of my classmates.

Graduation Day 9 June 1971

So on 9 June 1971 I graduated and my Dad swore me in as a second lieutenant in the US Army. Great day for me and during our 2 month leave period, I traveled to Europe for 6 weeks. Loved it and decided to go there as often as possible.

My Army Career

I served 20 years as an Infantry Officer.  After airborne school, ranger school and the infantry officer basic course, I was finally ready to lead soldiers. I served in the First Infantry Division, then in Panama in the School of the Americas (teaching military subjects in Spanish) and later as a Company Commander of B Company 4/20 Infantry Battalion; next as a physical education instructor at West Point; then in the 7th Infantry Division and my last assignment was an instructor in the US Army Physical Fitness School.

West Point Founder’s Day in Panama with 2 other classmates. From left to right, Hank, Rich and Larry

I' have just finished swimming my command track B6 in Panama—I’m in the turret.

The officers of 4/20 Infantry ready for a field exercise

Ready to hit the jungles of Panama

I retired in 1991 with the rank of Major.  I made many lifelong friends, faced some difficult situations, but for the most part really enjoyed these 20 years.

The best part was meeting Anne and getting married to her in 1987 at Fort Ord, CA.  Best decision I ever made!

Prior to our Wedding Ceremony with Anne and our daughter Kelly.

The second best part was teaching and coaching rugby at West Point—it was the prelude to the next part of my life as a coach and teacher in the civilian sector.

1983 at Sandhurst, England as a coach of the West Point Varsity Team

There were many travel opportunities during this period of my life and Anne and I have always had a passion for European travel, so any chance we could, we visited the Old World.

My Teaching and Coaching Career

I spent the next 20 years as a coach and teacher.  My football coaching career and teaching jobs were at St. John’s Military Academy, Brookfield Central HS (both in WI), at Bellevue, WA (where I helped our team win a State Championship in 2001 as their Defensive Coordinator) and last in TX at Westbury HS.

My football team at St. Jon’s—I was the Head Coach.

2001 State Champions Football team—the Bellevue Wolverines

Since I taught most all the social studies subjects, Anne and I often traveled whenever we could, especially to Europe. I used these travel experiences to help my students learn more about the world around them.

The best part, aside from winning a State Championship, was knowing I helped some young folks develop into productive, educated citizens of our country.

My Travel Advisor Career

In 2011, I retired a second time, this time from teaching and coaching and went full time into our travel business, which we started in 1995.

We have had a lot of success for a small mom and pop company.  We have helped dozens have better vacations, led special tours in Europe, become some of the top river cruise advisors in the US and won a couple of awards in the travel industry.

The best part of business—making vacations better for our clients at no extra cost to them.

Anne & I at the Captain’s Table on a river cruise.

At the Regensburg Christmas markets, each of us wearing our hats made by owner of the Hutkoing

As Anne likes to say “Please remember, it doesn’t cost you anything extra to have us book for you.  The prices you see on vendor’s websites is the price we quote, it just means they pay us a commission and you don’t have the hassle of trying to reach them if you need info or assistance.”

Trust, service, unique knowledge and a quest to give the best possible advice—these are the hallmarks of our business and our core values

72 and Lucky

By now, you probably get it, I am a lucky man with a great wife.  A lot of life experiences have gone into our business.  We never forget how lucky we are.  We use it to help you. Here is how we celebrated last night:

My Final Thoughts

What a great adventure Anne and I have shared in life and the travel business.  Thanks for sharing this journey with us!  We look forward to helping you in the future.

We are travel experts, ocean and river cruise specialists, and Europe destination experts.  We have first-hand knowledge of almost anywhere you want to visit in Europe.  We know our products and the vendors who sell them to you.  We have designed special tours for dozens of clients, led several and will continue to find just the right vacation that will exceed your expectations.

When you are spending your hard-earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip.  You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience.  And, you want someone who can help you with the decision making process.  We think we have all these qualities.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you!  We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel.  Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com.  We want to help you:  Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations!  Your journey begins here!

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 49 years.  He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA).  This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years.  He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees.   His other Certifications:

• AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist

• Viking River Cruise Specialist

• Scenic River Cruise Specialist

• Emerald Waterways Specialist

• Avalon Waterways Specialist

• Brit Agent

European Wanderlust

European Wanderlust

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

www.dreamdestinations.com

Have you ever returned home from a trip and immediately started to plan another one?  Do you day dream about being in Europe often?

You are not alone—many of us face the same dilemma—why can’t I travel more?

You are suffering from wanderlust!

So, let’s explore together and learn about wanderlust— a common aliment among many of our travel clients and friends.

Wanderlust Defined

Wanderlust is “an impulse, longing or desire to wander or travel” (according to

yourdictionary.com).

This strong desire to travel is quite common among our clients and the Schraders.

According to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition, it states that the word has German roots.

“Wandern” (German) means to wander (it is from Middle High German) and “Lust” means desire (also from Middle High German).

Literally, Wander Desire is the definition of Wanderlust.

Doesn’t this sound familiar to you?—I’m pretty sure it does.

Our Advice—Start Planning and Booking Now!

We have been through many ups and downs as travel advisors, but the recent shut down of travel by the pandemic is the most challenging event we have faced. 

Changed bookings, restarts, uncertainty, fears and closures were so frequent we had our heads spinning, as we tried to help our clients and friends navigate the new normal.

But the end is here—it is time to act on your wanderlust feelings.

Maybe you miss sailing on the Danube

Why Now?

It is an excellent question—is it too soon or how do I proceed in the new travel world?

There are really 3 reasons to consider booking quickly. 

First, most folks who regularly travel on ships have future cruise credits for both ocean cruises and river cruises.  There is a large group who are currently booking in 2022 and vendors are reluctant to discount the value of these vouchers. 

What this means is there are fewer “deals” than normal and many are taking advantage by quickly booking their preferred cabin or ship cruise at a pace faster than previous years such as 2019, and booking earlier than usual.

There is fear that in the last part of 2021 we are not ready to return to fully normal travel conditions prior to the pandemic.  These include restrictions of comfort (masks, social distancing), but the biggest fear is getting struck or limited venues or restaurants not being open which devalues the vacation experience.  This includes vaccination requirements and documentation to prove vaccines; quarantine requirements; if any; and testing prior to departure, during the vacation and upon return to the US.

 I personally think many of these fears are overblown.

There is the pent up demand factor—I haven’t been able to travel for almost 18 months or more and folks want to solve their wanderlust problem.

The result—2022 is going gangbusters.

Maybe a nice glass of wine and some treats

Our Cruises Recommendations

There is a continuous roll out by both the river cruise lines and ocean cruise ships.  The restart has limited sailings with good safety procedures in place.  Some of these early sailings offer very good pricing, especially for October thru December of 2021.

Most of the wanderlust tribe, which we are charter members, are ready to travel and they are fully vaccinated and are willing to accept the safety rules of each individual country as more inventory and sailings become available.  We will be able to give you our first-hand experience, as we will be in Europe in August and sailing on our 19th European River Cruise on AmaWaterways.

We will get to see these castles on our Rhine Cruise in August

If you are looking for really good pricing, less crowds than usual, we can help you solve the wanderlust problem many of us faced for the last year and a half with a 2021 booking.

My Final Thoughts

Wanderlust in Europe—it always a great adventure!  It is just another reason we love the Old World of Europe so much!  We can’t wait to get back and we would love to help you solve your wanderlust problem.

We are travel experts, ocean and river cruise specialists, and Europe destination experts.  We have first-hand knowledge of almost anywhere you want to visit in Europe.  We know our products and the vendors who sell them to you.  We have designed special tours for dozens of clients, led several and will continue to find just the right vacation that will exceed your expectations.

When you are spending your hard-earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip.  You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience.  And, you want someone who can help you with the decision making process.  We think we have all these qualities.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you!  We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel.  Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com.  We want to help you:  Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations!  Your journey begins here!

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 50 years.  He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA).  This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years.  He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees.   His other Certifications:

• AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist

• Viking River Cruise Specialist

• Scenic River Cruise Specialist

• Emerald Waterways Specialist

• Avalon Waterways Specialist

• Brit Agent

Health & Wealth in Travel--a Devasting Impact but All is Not Lost

Health & Wealth in Travel—a Devastating Impact but All is Not Lost!

By Hank Schrader, USMA ’71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

www.dreamdestinations.com

It is a really rough time for our travel industry.  The lock down and countries closing their borders is unlike anything we have ever seen in my 70 year lifetime.  It will rebound but no one really knows when it will rebound.  This blog is about confidence and why you should be confident about the future of travel.

Before I start, it would be insensitive to not recognize that leisure travel is discretionary spending; we are in exceptionally tough economic times; but still please recognize that of the current 22 million in the U.S. unemployed, over 8 million are in the travel industry—yes over 36% of the workforce!

But I have to get the bad news out first before building your confidence back.  There is just no sugar-coating the truth about the woes of the travel industry right now, in late April 2020.

I’m going to provide you some alarming statistics that currently spell doom and gloom to show the magnitude of what is happening to the travel industry.  At first glance, you could interpret these as the demise of much of the travel industry, but the truth it is only a lull—travel opportunities will return and most of us will be glad and hope it is sooner than later.

There are a lot of anxious folks in the United States—health, the economy and isolation from social distancing are all concerns.

But, believe me, all is not lost.  Travel will return, maybe with some differences, but it will be back.  My guess is it will return starting in this fall and be reasonably strong in 2021 with some (or maybe even a lot) pent up demand and postponed trips driving the train. 

Confidence must return first—you need assurances you will be safe when you travel.

This week, we will help you get your confidence back—let’s start by defining exactly what travel confidence is and then take the next step by defining travel confidence through dreaming and thinking about why you want to travel.  Then 10 prudent steps to determine if you are ready to travel and how to best protect yourself during travel planning and travel in our new reality.

And, finally, when the time is right, why you should use us to plan your travels.

So, this week, I’d like to write about how to get your travel confidence back.

First, Some Tough Statistics for the Travel Industry

1. 8 million out of work in the U.S. travel industry by the end of April (source Oxford Economics impact analysis of COVID-19).

2. 4 million will be out of work in U.S. hotel industry (source American Hotel & Lodging Association and Forbes).

3. 95% decrease in air passenger traffic in the U.S. (source TSA passenger screening counts comparing to present counts and 2019 screening counts).

4. 50% of the world’s aircraft grounded (source analysts at Cowan Bank in a CNN interview).

5. $80 Billion lost tax revenue to the U.S. government (source U.S. Travel Association).

6. $314 Billion lost revenue to airlines worldwide—a 55% drop from 2019 (source IATA—International Air Transportation Association).

7. $1.6 Billion lost each day by the airlines worldwide (source IBIS World market research).

8. 15.8 Million American jobs at risk, directly or indirectly in the travel sector (source U.S. Travel Association).

9. 96% worldwide destinations are closed.  They have completely or partially closed their borders to tourists (source United Nations World Tourism Organization).

These are just staggering statistics and just highlight how import travel is to the U.S. economy and the world.  But it is my belief, the worst will be over in less than 3 months.  Recovery may be slow but it will be steady and things will improve.

What Exactly is Travel Confidence?

Oxford Dictionary defines confidence in part as “firm belief that one can rely on someone, firm trust”; and, “the state about feeling certain about the truth of something”.

More than ever, I am strong believer that the right travel providers will be the key to the return of safe travel and will lead us out of the current mess.

It is my feeling that most just are not confident about safe travel right now, so let’s examine that further.

All humans have needs.  Perhaps, the best known description of the needs, is the famous Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory.  It is a pyramid where 5 needs are identified.  The most basic needs are at the base of the pyramid.

Despite disagreements about the accuracy of the model to describe our human behavior, most folks recognize that lower level needs need to be satisfied in some way to just survive.  The lowest 2 levels, our basic physiological needs (food, shelter, etc.) on the first level is then just one rung above is safety.

Believe me, I am not anything close to a behavioral expert, but I know a thing or two about travel behavior.  We need assurance our travel will not only be rewarding but also safe.  And, there is an emotional loss here also—a great trip we have been anticipating just has suddenly been lost or postponed through no fault of our own—it just takes a toll on us—it is only human nature, and, trust me we feel your pain!

For confidence to return, we will need to know that there will be both 1) enough wealth (money) to pay for our desired trips and 2) it will be safe enough conditions to allow us to experience the wonders of travel again.

Some of us will have to wait for a while to regain enough confidence—if it is only safety concerns about travel, your wait will probably be shorter than those with money concerns.

But confidence will return.  Medical folks at some point will come up with methods to deal with this problem, travel suppliers will strengthen their preventative measures and the travel industry will improve to provide you better, safer trips.

Travel Dreams

Do you want to dream about great destinations?  We all do, I’m sure.  There are so many benefits of travel that make folks want to go experience different places.  Humans are curious, they like learning about others—their culture, their food, their living conditions, the cities and countryside’s they live in, and they way of living.

I would encourage you to start thinking about why you have traveled in the past and what you want to see in the future.  The future is really about hope and travel should be part of this recovery plan.

In troubled times, I think we can’t help but think about what is really important to you.  As you read this, we were planning to be in Europe, celebrating Anne’s birthday.  We will still celebrate here at our home, but already we want to get back to normal and see our favorite places in Europe.

We have plenty of travel dreams—I hope you do too.  We will be there to help when the time is right.

Here is a unique example of a travel dream that might be more meaningful due to the current pandemic.  From times of troubles in the past, you can learn a little about how people handled infectious diseases in some our favorite places in Europe when travel resumes. 

Isolation to prevent disease is not a new idea.  Both Venice and Dubrovnik (it was known then as Ragusa) used quarantine for incoming ships in the early Middle Ages (1300s-1400s) by putting them in “quarantino” (Italian for 40 days).  The big problem then was the plague or “Black Death.”  There are also numerous plague monuments throughout Europe also—perhaps a little bit more of interest after present events in the world.

North Gate Dubrovnik, Croatia

South Harbor of the Old City Dubrovink

The Arrow points to the Lazaretto Complex where sailors were quarantined prior to be allowed in the Old City of Dubrovink

What it must have looked like when the ship and sailors were finally allowed in from quarantine

Plague Monument, Fisherman’s Bastion, Buda side of Budapest

The lesson here is that the world has faced these health problems before and survived them.  But then, as now, there was a lot of suffering and sadly death.  Each generation tries to make life better and we will succeed.

Again, please remember that the future is really about hope and travel should be part of this recovery plan.

10 Prudent Steps to Get Your Confidence Back to Travel Safely in the Future

We hope that some of these steps you were already doing as savvy travel folks, but if you haven’t, now is the time to implement these 10 steps.

1.      Travel Suppliers are facing daunting challenges right now but those with enough money resources and are efficient operations will survive and do well.  More than ever, your choice of the right vendor is essential.

2.      Don’t go it alone or try to use on-line travel agencies.  Many have found a real live person can respond or will respond—the horror stories of the fall out of cancelled trips just has reaffirmed our profession.  Again buyer beware—use the right person who matches your travel ideas and styles.

3.      Always use a credit card unless you know exactly why another form of payment must be used.  The only time we have resorted to wire transfers or check payments is with vendors who have a sterling reputation.

4.      Buy travel insurance but know exactly what you are trying to protect.  Look for exclusions that may render the policy useless to you.  Supplier travel insurance that is offered by a third party supplier must be carefully examined.

5.      Take a hard look at penalties, cancellation fees and supplier cancellation policies (often called contract of carriage).  Recent events have made this once usually glossed over detail, really, really important now.

6.      Review the safety measures all the vendors have added to their products.  Realistically assess your risk.  We will be glad to help here.

7.      Review the risks of the places you want to see.  Again, realistically asses your risk along with any travel advisories and warnings.  I guess, it goes without saying, we can help here also.

8.      Let’s recognize and thank the folks who clean our rooms, prepare and deliver our meals, help to protect us during our travels whether as a captain, pilot, cruise director, travel guide, housekeeper, waiter, and others—the front lines are the folks who will ultimately ensure our safety.  Maybe give them better tips when it is appropriate.

9.      Don’t deny your dreams for fear—address the problems, assess the risk and then take a leap of faith when the time is right—don’t worry, we again have your back.

10.   If you have cancelled plans, carefully consider a future travel credit versus a refund.  There is no right answer here for all.  We are available to advise you on the advantages and disadvantages of your options.  Many vendors are providing increased benefits if you take the waiver.  Any refunds will take time to process (if even available) and there are some disputes ongoing right now, to include legal action against some vendors.

We Are the Right Folks to Plan your Next Travels

Here is what you can expect from us:

·        We design vacations that match your travel style

·        We will help you reach your Dream Destinations

·        We are your Travel Solution and Inspiration

We have 24+ years as a full service travel agency.  We like to say we are small enough to give you personalized service, yet big and experienced enough to get you the right trip.

We are financially and emotionally strong enough to see this crisis to the end and be there when the time is right—also, we like to say, “Thanks for your Trust in Us!”  We will be there when you are ready.

Our knowledge of Europe river cruises and Europe travel is exceptional.  We have been on 18 Europe river cruises, written over 60 blogs about all aspects of Europe river cruises, have 3 items on the first page of Google, we have 51 port guides (they are free) for you, and we have help dozens enjoy river cruising in Europe.  And if that we not enough, we have 50 free guides to most Europe Cities you might want to visit before or after your Europe river cruise.

My Final Thoughts

Wow!—what a strange time we are in right now!  Travel confidence will return slowly but travel will be better than before, maybe just a little different.  We want to earn that trust from you to use us for your vacation needs—start with your dreams first—when travel starts up again, we will make your dreams reality.

We are travel experts, ocean and river cruise experts, and Europe destination experts.  We have first-hand knowledge of almost anywhere you want to visit in Europe.  We know our products and the vendors who sell them to you.  We have designed special tours for dozens of clients, led several and will continue to find just the right vacation that will exceed your expectations.  As you can see, our full service agency can get you to almost anywhere you desire to travel and provide you a great experience and vacation.

When you are spending your hard earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip.  You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you!  We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel.  Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com.  We want to help you:  Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations!  Your journey begins here!

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 48+ years.  He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA).  This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years.  He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees.  His other Certifications:

• AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist

• Viking River Cruise Specialist

• Scenic River Cruise Specialist

• Emerald Waterways Specialist

• Avalon Waterways Specialist

• Brit Agent

The Greater Good

The Greater Good

By Hank Schrader, USMA ’71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

www.dreamdestinations.com

I never thought I would never say this, but it is now true—travel just seems trivial right now.

Don’t get me wrong—I still believe travel is important and remember the words of a client just a couple of days ago, “I just live for my travel opportunities” (so do we) but it just is on the back burner right now.  I doubt our zeal for travel will ever die and we hope it is the same for you.

At some point it will come back, but for now, the Greater Good requires all of us to pause our travel plans.

“The Greater Good Requires You to Pause Your Travel Plans Right Now”

Our business presently has shifted from helping people reach their dream destination to protecting their best interests as vendors cancel trips and governments restrict travel and their bookings are postponed or cancelled.  However, even with this uncertainty, some have booked trips with us for later in 2020 and into 2021.

Our travel industry is facing a difficult time but so is the entire world.  We are all being called upon to sacrifice for the Greater Good.

I hope for the Greater Good, folks will do as we do, by doing the right thing when no one is looking.  Take responsibility and show some personal discipline.

There are many things in this life we can control, but other times we face uncertainty. This is especially true when we are faced with a coronavirus (the correct term is COVID-19) disease that is spreading quickly throughout in the world.

We will always face problems in life but there are usually solutions and those who deal decisively, using facts, almost always arrive at the best possible outcome for their predicament.

So, this week, I’d like to write about the Greater Good.

We All Will be Impacted

For the Greater Good, we are now facing restrictions on our lifestyles. 

Wow, how a month has changed us. 

The Greater Good requires us to be responsible, make some personal sacrifices, and to think about others instead of worrying about ourselves.

Along with our immediate clients, I can’t help but thinking about our key vendors, other agents and most of all, the folks who serve us on our trips, clean our rooms or staterooms and guide us to see and experience wonderful places.

I have read in one source (US Private Sector Job Quality Index) an estimate that 35 million low wage US jobs (defined as under $800 a week) are at risk short term.  Particularly hard hit are the food and beverage sector, hotels, airlines, travel and attractions.  Yes, most folks in our industry are suffering.

Simply put, the folks who can least afford it, are at the greatest risk.

We wish them all well, hope they can survive these trying times and they have our love and support. 

May we all be strong in this difficult time!

We Are Your Travel Solution in these Trying Times

I want to clearly state right now, we are and will continue to be the source of reliable information and transparency.

Decisions about travel right now are difficult.  Plans are upended, and there is an emotional toll of facing the right course of action—do you go if that is even an option, do you postpone or just outright cancel?

I want to make one point clear—we understand your frustration and potential loss and we have your back—you can count on us!

These are unprecedented times in the travel industry.  Sadly, some businesses will not survive.

Let me assure you, we will remain in business to serve you.  We are resilient and can weather this storm both financially and emotionally.

You Can Trust Us

We will all be faced with difficult decisions.  We will help guide you through this unusual time.  We will clearly explain your options, if you are already booked, provide updates as vendor policies change and, if we don’t know, tell you.

The situation is very fluid, and uncertain but not impossible to navigate.

We will never take advantage of this situation, especially if one vendor option might be more favorable to us—we will present all options clearly and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each only as it pertains to your best interests.

Your Safety is Our Primary Concern

Again, let me be crystal clear here—there is nothing more important than your safety and health when traveling.  I would not consider any vacation that puts you in a high risk situation is worth taking, regardless of high important it might be to you or any others.

Remember, just because you don’t have any symptoms, or are sick, you could still be a carrier.

The Greater Good requires us to make the world and you as safe as we can.

Steps You Should Take Now

1.     Please follow public health protocols.  Try to limit touching your face, wash your hands thoroughly and social distance.  We need to stem transmission of this virus and protect ourselves and others.

2.     Sanitize.  I live with a great lady who teaches me daily about how to limit my impact on others.  Thanks Anne!

3.     Comply with government restrictions as best you can.  Take some personal responsibility for the Greater Good.

4.     Try to help others.  Reach out to those who might need your help.  Try to support a struggling restaurant by ordering take-out food and leave a tip.  Donate to a cause that might help others, like a food bank.  Help the less unfortunate if you can.

5.     Be responsible on Social Media.  Enough said.

6.     Give us a call, a text, or send an e-mail.  Let us know what is happening in your world.  We are here for you.

We will be Here When This Passes

To say the least this is going to shake the travel industry to its core.  What once was a fun, exciting vacation plan, has now become a challenge for most folks concerning travel.

Trust me, this too will pass.  It is just a question of when.  Medical folks at some point will come up with methods to deal with this problem, travel suppliers will strengthen their preventative measures and the travel industry will improve to provide you better, safer trips.

My Final Thoughts

We are here for your needs.  We like to think of ourselves as your good friends, ready to help, because that is what real friends do for others.

We are travel experts, ocean and river cruise experts, and Europe destination experts.  We have first-hand knowledge of almost anywhere you want to visit in Europe.  We know our products and the vendors who sell them to you.  We have designed special tours for dozens of clients, led several and will continue to find just the right vacation that will exceed your expectations.  As you can see, our full service agency can get you to almost anywhere you desire to travel and provide you a great experience and vacation.

When you are spending your hard earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip.  You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you!  We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel.  Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com.  We want to help you:  Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations!  Your journey begins here!

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 48+ years.  He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA).  This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years.  He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees.  His other Certifications:

• AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist

• Viking River Cruise Specialist

• Scenic River Cruise Specialist

• Emerald Waterways  Specialist

• Avalon Waterways Specialist

• Brit Agent

This Too Will Pass

This Too Will Pass

By Hank Schrader, USMA ’71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

www.dreamdestinations.com

We are in business for one reason only—to make your travel dreams come true.

There are many things in this life we can control, but other times we face uncertainty. This is especially true when we are faced with a coronavirus (the correct term is COVID-19) disease that seems to spread quickly.

Today, March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the coronavirus was a pandemic.  The WHO has defined a pandemic as a disease that has become wide spread around the world.

We will always face problems in life but there are usually solutions and those who deal decisively, using facts, almost always arrive at the best possible outcome for their predicament.

So, this week, I’d like to write about the value of our services to help guide you through this trying time.

Overview

Decisions about travel right now are difficult.  Plans are upended, and there is an emotional toll of facing the right course of action—do you go, do you postpone or just outright cancel?

I want to make one point clear—we understand your frustration and potential loss and we have your back—you can count on us!

These are unprecedented times in the travel industry.  Sadly, some businesses will not survive.

First, let me assure you, we will remain in business to serve you.  We are resilient and can weather this storm.

Second, we are your source for accurate, honest information. 

Third, if you have booked with us, we will help guide you to the best outcome for already booked travel and future travel.  If you have booked your travel on your own, without using a travel advisor, we may be able to direct you to a phone number or other source that you can use to contact the vendor for assistance.

Your Safety is Our Primary Concern

In January and February, business was booming for us, especially with a good number of bookings for European River Cruises.  Then, what looked like a regional disease suddenly began to rapidly spread to other countries and regions of the world.  It now is a pandemic.

Again, let me be crystal clear here—there is nothing more important than your safety and health when traveling.  I would not consider any vacation that puts you in a high risk situation is worth taking, regardless of high important it might be to you or any others.  Remember, just because you don’t have any symptoms, or are sick, you could still be a carrier.

This disease seems to be a higher risk for us seniors, especially those with previous respiratory problems, diabetes,  and heart problems, so this is a key factor.

How We Are Helping Our Clients

Many of our folks are facing hard decisions about travel in 2020.

One of our first actions, was to quickly find out what changes travel our travel suppliers and vendors had made to help booked and future clients adjust their travel plans if needed.  It is a changing landscape, sometimes daily, that requires us to understand what these changes will mean for our clients.

For example, we were among the first to accurately explain to our many AmaWaterways river cruise clients their changed Travel Waiver Plus Policy. 

Basically, this waiver allows booked guests to postpone their trip up to 24 months into the future by purchasing this protection that previously only could be purchased at deposit time of the booking.  It is a great program (it is not surprising that AmaWaterways was among the first to come out with a great alternative to its booked clients—great companies look out for their clients just as we do), that could reduce many travel worries and help reduce a financial loss to our clients.  We provided examples of how much a client could expect in a future cruise credit and how much would get refunded to their credit card.  Several clients have taken our advice and purchased this waiver.

Our Advice—Stay the Course if Possible

Cancellation of a dream vacation is a tough call.  There is a likelihood of a possible financial loss, a hassle to change plans and an emotional toll of navigating all of this.

We rely on the World Health Organization (WHO), the Center for Disease Control (CDC) for health information concerning travel health and risks.  This is not a time to make any decisions without accurate information.  We also monitoring our USA Embassy’s travel updates if a client has a tour in an overseas location.

Sometimes this decision will be made for us by a governmental ban on travel.

If you are our clients, we will help you navigate this difficult decision.  We do advise that you make the decision as late as possible, as to avoid missing out on your trip, but early enough to avoid incurring any penalties.

Steps You Should Take Now

There are some sound steps you should consider for any travel in 2020.  Here is what we recommend:

1.     Consider the risks for your desired trip.  There is a real possibility you could be stuck somewhere due to reduced travel services and government restrictions.  Are you at a greater risk for this disease?

2.     Buy Travel Insurance—especially consider cancel for any reason policy (sometimes just listed as CFAR).  We use two great companies, Travel Guard and Allianz.  Usually CFAR policies are only available on new policies purchased within 15 days of any payments made on a trip.  We can guide you here.

3.     Try to get refundable flights if booking air on your own.

4.     Understand the cancellation policies and penalties of bookings with any travel vendor.  Again, we can guide you here.

5.     Use us—don’t go it alone.

We will be Here When This Passes

To say the least this is going to shake the travel industry to its core.  What once was a fun, exciting vacation plan, has now become a challenge for most folks concerning travel.

Trust me, this too will pass.  It is just a question of when.  Medical folks at some point will come up with methods to deal with this problem, travel suppliers will strengthen their preventative measures and the travel industry will improve to provide you better, safer trips.

My Final Thoughts

We are here for your needs.  We like to think of ourselves as your good friends, ready to help, because that is what real friends do for others.

We are travel experts, ocean and river cruise experts, and Europe destination experts.  We have first-hand knowledge of almost anywhere you want to visit in Europe.  We know our products and the vendors who sell them to you.  We have designed special tours for dozens of clients, led several and will continue to find just the right vacation that will exceed your expectations.  As you can see, our full service agency can get you to almost anywhere you desire to travel and provide you a great experience and vacation.

When you are spending your hard earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip.  You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you!  We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel.  Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com.  We want to help you:  Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations!  Your journey begins here!

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 48+ years.  He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA).  This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years.  He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees.  His other Certifications:

• AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist

• Viking River Cruise Specialist

• Scenic River Cruise Specialist

• Emerald Waterways  Specialist

• Avalon Waterways Specialist

• Brit Agent

Do You Really Value Our Services?

Do You Really Value Our Services?

By Hank Schrader, USMA ’71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

www.dreamdestinations.com

Everybody who reads this travels somewhere.  Yet, to me, it is amazing how many don’t really take advantage of our expertise to make their trip better.

I’m sure there are lots of reasons—here are just a few I’ve heard--“Oh, my friend planned this”; “I found a great deal on the internet”; “I didn’t want to bother you”; and my personal favorite, “I know I’ll save money doing it by myself.” 

And then there are folks who ask for our help after already booking a trip either by themselves or with another travel agent.  Often, if possible, we want to help but can’t if we’re not involved from the beginning.  Folks don’t realize travel suppliers won’t work with us if we aren’t representing the clients—we can perhaps take over the booking but the client has to contact the suppler directly, give permission and the supplier has to agree with the switch.  It is a process suppliers do not like, as some in our industry try to gain clients by stealing them from other travel agents.  We often wish they had just come to us first, so we could properly help them. 

So, this week, I’d like to write about the value of our services and let you decide if you value what we provide for you.

Ready?—let’s examine this closer and perhaps, you will let us help you expand your travel experiences by using our full range of services!

Yes, We are a Full Service Travel Agency

We have been in business for 24 years.  Here is a partial list of places we have helped folks travel—Bora Bora, Vietnam, Australia & New Zealand, China, Mexico, most Caribbean islands, most every country of Europe, Russia, ski resorts in North America, Africa, Alaska, and almost all top vacation spots in the United States (California, Washington State, Las Vegas, Florida, Washington D.C, NY City). 

Our 2018 TravelAge West Award June 2018

We have helped folks with group and individual tours, single vacations, single country trips, multi-country trips, river and ocean cruises, destination weddings, and honeymoons—just about most types of vacation travel you can imagine.

Kevin & Son in London on a Trip we planned for them 2019

I guess, with all these trips we have planned, it just goes to show that (as listed on our website) “we are small enough to give you personalized service yet big and experienced enough to get you the right trip”.  No limits for us to help you!

Why You Should Use Us to Plan Your Trip

I think there are 2 factors to help you get the right trip.  They are 1) trip satisfaction and 2) convenience.  I think we solve these two factors 4 ways.  Here they are:

We will provide you trips that will:

1. exceed your expectations;

2. help you make wise choices;

3. eliminate hassles;

4. And we will help you get the best value for your money!

It really takes a combination of experience and expertise—in short, professionalism.  We add value to your travel and it usually does not cost you anything more to use us.  But this is a double edged sword—by not charging fees, some tend not to value us as much as they probably should, and not look to us as true professionals.

In the 24+ years we have helped folks, I have learned that those who value our services, almost always get a better trip than they could on their own.

So, let’s examine some of these issues

Why We Don’t Charge a Service Fee for Most Trips

Contrary to most folks in the travel industry with our level of experience and knowledge, we choose not to charge fees for most of our clients.

While only about 10% of all home based travel agents, like us, charge service fees, almost all who do charge fees have our experience and professional credentials (data from Travel Weekly Magazine 2019 Travel Industry Survey). 

Perhaps the #1 reason we should charge a fee is for our expertise, our research and our customer service, just as they would pay any professional like a lawyer, doctor or financial planner.

But here is the reason we don’t want to charge you a fee—we want you to be part of the Dream Destination Travel Tribe!

The Dream Destination Travel Tribe

Why did we choose not to charge fees?  We feel strongly we should provide a service, we are worth hiring and you shouldn’t have to pay more for a vacation by using us.  In short, we value you and provide value to you, so we do not charge extra for our expertise, our research and customer service.

We really don’t want a formal client, distant relationship—we want you to be part of the family and have mutual respect for your concerns and problems in travel and you respect us for our expertise and execution.  Somehow fees just don’t fit into our vision of this relationship.

2 Travel Tribes Members—we call them Travel Chums—Denise & Mark Christmas Eve 2018

The only problem to this approach happens when folks don’t value our services.  But most don’t even think they aren’t crossing that invisible boundary in a professional relationship—they just have a problem, or need some information and often know we are a good source to help them solve the problem.

Folks Who Want Us to Fix the Unfixable

Imagine you are at a party with a great doctor, who specializes in an area of medicine that you need advice about.  So you ask specific questions and he politely refuses to help.  Why does he not want to help you?—most likely he just doesn’t have enough facts and information to properly address your concerns and questions and, quite frankly, this should be done in a professional setting.

We face the same problem—usually we don’t have the correct facts and the time to fully address these inquires due to our work load.  And, if you are already booked or using another travel agent, it is very difficult to fix the problem and may be actually illegal for us to help you, plus it isn’t fair to them.  We realize many ask for our help without realizing that it may be, to a degree, not valuing our services.  So I made up some requests, of items that we can’t help folks with.  Here are some examples:

“I booked by myself but now there is a problem with my trip—can you fix it or give me some advice?”

“Did I get a good deal?”

“I didn’t follow your advice, but now this problem has come up—can you fix it for me with my travel supplier?”

“Here is my price for a trip—can you beat it?”

We All Need Boundaries

If you are in a service industry or a professional, I’m sure many try and get free advice, or a free service from you.  But when someone tries this approach, without often with realizing it, they really are saying “I want your expertise, but I don’t want to pay you for it”!  It happens to all professionals—we are not alone just because we provide professional advice to help folks travel better. 

In a way, we should be flattered—folks that reach out us are actually recognizing our expertise as travel experts.

So, here is our approach when these situations arise.  We try to be direct, polite but honest.  9 times out of 10, our work load just precludes us from helping you.  Sometimes, even if we wanted to, we cannot fix the problem.  

We have some Unmatched Travel Abilities

I thought I’d end this with just a couple of examples of why you should rely on us to plan your travel.

Our 75th Anniversary Tour to D Day was, by any measure a huge success.  No other 2 person agency attempted such a tour for 33 folks.  We planned it for 3 years, our cost was several thousands of dollars less than many other large scale tour operators, and we avoided many pitfalls of waiting for long periods to see and experience the awesome events of that horrible day 75 years ago.

Some of our Awesome Group of 33 on the 75th Anniversary of D Day June 6, 2019

Our knowledge of Europe river cruises is exceptional.  We have been on 18 Europe river cruises, written over 60 blogs about all aspects of Europe river cruises, have 3 items on the first page of Google, we have 51 port guides (they are free) for you, and we have help dozens enjoy river cruising in Europe.  And if that we not enough, we have 50 free guides to most Europe Cities you might want to visit before or after your Europe river cruise.

Some of our best clients who value our services on a AmaWaterways River Cruise 2015

The rest of the 2015 Best Clients Group on our AmaWaterways River Cruise

My Final Thoughts

Take a leap of faith, and take advantage of all our services.  You can trust us to guide you with sage advice and reliable vendors.  When you use us and the more often you do, you are saying that you value our services.  We want to earn that trust from you to use us for your vacation needs.

We are travel experts, ocean and river cruise experts, and Europe destination experts.  We have first-hand knowledge of almost anywhere you want to visit in Europe.  We know our products and the vendors who sell them to you.  We have designed special tours for dozens of clients, led several and will continue to find just the right vacation that will exceed your expectations.  As you can see, our full service agency can get you to almost anywhere you desire to travel and provide you a great experience and vacation.

When you are spending your hard earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip.  You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you!  We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel.  Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com.  We want to help you:  Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations!  Your journey begins here!

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 48+ years.  He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA).  This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years.  He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees.  His other Certifications:

• AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist

• Viking River Cruise Specialist

• Scenic River Cruise Specialist

• Emerald Waterways  Specialist

• Avalon Waterways Specialist

• Brit Agent

The Most Popular Content on our Website

The Most Popular Content on Our Website in 2019

By Hank Schrader, USMA ’71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

www.dreamdestinations.com

Happy 2020!

With the dawn of 2020, I’d like to share with you what we have learned about our website visitors--what is the most popular content on our website and why is it our most popular content. 

In many ways, the content on our website is just what we hoped it would be—we want to provide outstanding information to you to help you make the best possible travel decisions that match your travel style.  This is a constant process of updating and improving the content.

As with any website, the home page or landing site is where folks first go to decide if they want to continue on to other content. 

So, I thought you’d like to know what pages are the most visited on our website after the home page.

How to Evaluate the Quality of our Website Content

Quality of information can be assessed by answering 5 questions, in my opinion.  They are:

• Is the information accurate?

• Who are the authors and what are their credentials?

• How objective is the source?

• How current is the information?

• How extensive is the coverage of information?

So, let’s look at 4 of these aspects for each of our 5 most popular web pages—I hope you will accept our credentials—mine are listed at the end of every blog—trust me, we are the real deal.

If applicable, I will try to provide you a ranking by Google for our website pages.  The value of this in our digital age is that somewhere between 71%--92% of all searches for information only go to the first page of Google (source Forbes website blog post by Kelly Shelton) —usually only 10 listings, excluding Ads, are on page one—and folks do not search for information after that (this first page compared to later pages)—only about 6% go past page one.  The whole idea of a page one ranking is that Google recognizes the content that a website page or blog offers is both quality information and is a source that users trust.

Our #1 Visited Page after the Landing Page—Our River Cruise Comparisons Page

This is not a surprise to me but it is also very gratifying—folks are looking for an honest comparison of Europe River Cruise Companies.  The information is very accurate and researched thoroughly.  It is also reasonably current but could stand a little tweaking—for example Crystal only has 4 cruise ships sailing. in Europe instead of 5 ships  It always ranks on page one of Google.

I’m going to make a bold declaration here—there is no other detailed source like our 2018-19 Europe River Cruise Company Comparisons with multiple comparison charts on the internet.  Here is the link

Yes, there are some good books, even charts with check marks and comparisons of 2 cruise lines on the web, but nothing as in-depth as our resource.  We clearly identify fact from opinion, we are not sponsored by anyone that might influence our work, and we strive for totally accurate information. We are proud of our first page Google ranking—earned not promoted by clever SEO techniques.

#2 Our Europe River Cruise Routes Guide Page

Again, for me, not a surprise, but it validates the need for folks to understand the options available to them for a Europe River Cruise.  We rank #12 in Google search results—this is a pretty good indication of the quality of the information.  We would like to be on page one, but the folks ahead of us are 4 river cruise companies, Cruise Critic, and 5 magazine/travel guides (Travel & Leisure; Jetsetter; Trip Savvy; Frommer’s and Afar) are so big, it may be the best we can do—we are the only small (2 person) company anywhere near the top.  Not bad company considering the companies ahead of us, in my opinion

The importance of this page is clear to me--river cruising is about the destinations and what you will get to see and experience on your European river cruise.  This page will help you quickly learn about the major routes available to you and to help you decide which might be best for your vacation.

Here is the link: 

# 3 Europe River Cruises Page

It makes sense to me that the logical progression would be to read more about European River cruises after visiting the previous 2 pages.  This is the next step in search for a great river cruise vacation.

Here is the link to this page

#4 Our Blog

Folks who are considering a Europe River cruise vacation, want in depth information about what the vacation really is all about and whether or not it will be a worthwhile vacation for them.  We cover Best Value Travel, Europe Destinations, Europe River Cruising, Ocean Cruising and Veterans Travel & Tributes. 

Here is the link to our Blog page

# Our 5 Best River Cruise Blogs

This is my selection of our best river cruise blogs.  We rank on page one of Google in a search for river cruise blogs—currently at #2.

Here is the link to this blog

My Final Thoughts

So, what does this mean for you—we are a really good source of great travel information, especially for our specialty, Europe River cruises.

We are travel experts, ocean and river cruise experts, and Europe destination experts.  We have first-hand knowledge of almost anywhere you want to visit in Europe.  We know our products and the vendors who sell them to you.  We have designed special tours for dozens of clients, led several and will continue to find just the right vacation that will exceed your expectations.  As you can see, our full service agency can get you to almost anywhere you desire to travel and provide you a great experience and vacation.

When you are spending your hard earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip.  You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you!  We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel.  Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com.  We want to help you:  Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations!  Your journey begins here!

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 48+ years.  He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA).  This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years.  He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees.  His other Certifications:

• AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist

• Viking River Cruise Specialist

• Scenic River Cruise Specialist

• Emerald Waterways  Specialist

• Avalon Waterways Specialist

• Brit Agent

We Specialize in Reliable Travel Information

We Specialize in Reliable Travel Information

By Hank Schrader, USMA ’71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

www.dreamdestinations.com

There is a huge demand for reliable information in our world.  I am amazed at the amount of misinformation and lack of candor among some in the travel industry.  While shading the truth may be a problem, the worse problem is the amount of clutter about almost any topic—how do you know what is reliable information?

Reliable Travel Information must be in high demand if there are this many searches for travel information (my source a Google Study—that’s another indication of reliable information—citing a source)!

So, how do you solve this problem?  Let’s explore this together by defining the problem, look a little at some of the misinformation we have seen, and, how we attempt to solve this problem for you so you can obtain reliable travel information.

What is Reliable Information?

According to the Oxford Dictionary, reliable is defined as “consistently good in quality or performance; able to be trusted”.

For the travel industry, to me, this means that reliable travel information depends on the quality and the source of the data. 

Quality indicates the data must be truthful, objective, fact based and useful—the content needs all these elements.  Good quality information clearly differentiates between opinion and fact.  Without knowing a lot about whatever you want to research, this may be difficult for the average person to determine the quality of the information.

The source may be easier to research, unless it is anonymous.  Internet Searches, Travel Writers, Blog Writers, Review Sites and Personal Recommendations are all valid sources--some are consistently good in quality or performance; able to be trusted and it is often easy to learn about the author(s).

Facts about Sources of Reliable Travel Information

Internet searches may be a good source but can be manipulated by savvy marketing folks who use search engine optimization to enhance their ranking that is not in line with the value of the content.

Travel Writers, if objective, can be great sources.

Blog Writers (like me) are only as good as their knowledge and experience.

Review Sites and Personal Recommendations can be valid sources but often lack enough knowledge about what is available that the information is not comprehensive enough to make sound judgements.

According to Myles Anderson, in a 2013 study, 79% of Consumers Trust Online Reviews as much as Personal Recommendations.  My guess is that since the reviewers and personal recommendations appear to not be selling anything, they are more objective to the consumer.  While there may be some validity to this concept, the problem is that data can be manipulated online and it is often anonymous. 

Why do we Search for Reliable Travel Information?

There is a lot of confusing travel information available—perhaps nowadays just too much.  We also live in a world of Fear of Missing out (FOMO)—a lost trip chance or our friends got a better deal/trip/value—you insert the right word.  It is a ripe world for advertising that might shade the truth or just be outright deceiving. 

I recently read about a travel service company started by some former Amazon whizzes who are ceasing operation at the end of the year.  Called the Wanderlust Society, the company “sought to help people find inspiration for trips from friends, save ideas from anywhere on the web, view potential destinations on a map and more.  Kleitsch thought the company could fill a void in travel planning by offering more reliable recommendations, sourced from friends and fellow community members” according to the online article from GeekWire.

I am sorry the company is ceasing operations but the fact that they started at all is starling—they believed there just was a void in reliable travel information.

Clearly, there is a problem, if start-up companies are trying to cut through the clutter—so, how do we solve this problem?

Some Reliable Travel Information Guidelines

Here are some of the guidelines I use when I study travel information:

1.     Google Search rankings may be more a result of marketing power than content reliability—if it looks like an ad disguised as fact, it probably is slanted to some degree.

2.     There is lot of disinformation on the web.  (Two of my favorites are—a homeless shelter got over 100 5-star ratings as a hotel and a yard shack became the hottest, most exclusive restaurant in England with a two year waiting time to dine—both fueled by hundreds of fake reviews—neither even existed as a valid business!)

3.     Look for extremes in reviews—100% positive or 100% negative just does not seem reasonable to me.  I always look for the middle ground—why are the praising or panning the reviewed place?

4.     For unknown sources, do not accept only one source—look for additional back up.  I look for pictures in blogs taken by the writer and experiences that would be hard to make up—kinda a trust by verify mentality.

5.     Apply your critical thinking skills to the info—what is the date of the info, don’t rely on just star ratings, are there enough reviews to make an informed judgement, what is the source of the info, what is their website like—you get the idea—just do not accept the info without examining it with open eyes.

6.     Look for industry sources that value their reputation—reputable sources back up their info with facts and solid opinions and are not influenced by their vendors.

Hard to fake a picture like this on a cruise tour to the Acropolis in Athens, Greece—a good indication we have been there!

Some Examples of Misinformation in the Travel Industry

A while back, I read an article about river cruising.  A quite respected travel agent was touting her expertise in river cruises in a national level magazine for travel agents.  In the article, she used an example of her knowledge of river cruising and said she recommended to her clients to go on a river cruise on the Seine in France for the great wine tasting opportunities in the region. 

I was stunned—while France has wonderful opportunities to sample vineyards throughout the country, the region of the Normandy area is famous for Calvados (an apple based brandy) but there are not many vineyards—the climate is just not right.  The correct choice would be either the Rhone or the Bordeaux region for a wine themed river cruise—both are significant wine growing regions.  This is a classic case of incorrect information, not fact based, and an agent who didn’t really know her stuff.  If her clients were expecting great wine tasting experiences, they would be sorely disappointed unless they brought the wine onboard the rivership. 

The writer and publisher should have noted this glaring error, but allowed it to go to print.  Sometimes even usually reliable sources are dead wrong!

Another example is brochures making a river cruise look perfect when there are potential problems that are glossed over.  If you want to cruise the Elbe River, the brochure makes it sound like it will be perfect, yet the consistent low water situation often results in small cruising distances and a lot of long, disappointing bus rides.  The same goes for the Po River in Italy—short distances for the cruise, a difficult river to navigate due to swift water and unfavorable river banks that impede docking operations in some locations, turn a river cruise into a glorified bus tour.

3 AmaWaterways riverships rafted (tied together) in Vienna—you would never see this picture in a travel brochure, since some cabins views are blocked—may be or not a big deal to you during a vacation, but you can trust us to tell you about this!

How we solve the Reliable Information Dilma for You

It is our job to sort thru the clutter and decide what information you need to make an informed decision.  For me, this often is the advantages and disadvantages of a desired trip.  We use this technique a lot when working on a desired trip with our clients.

Here are some other techniques we use:

First, we need to know our stuff about where you want to go.  If we don’t know, we must be honest and tell you we need to learn enough to make reasonable recommendations or refer to another advisor to help you.  This requires us to apply the research guidelines we provided you earlier in this blog.  

Second, better yet, we believe in gaining a lot of personal experience by going to see the places first hand—we use our experience to enhance your trip experiences.

The third part is honesty and transparency—we value our reputation and back up our opinions and recommendations with facts and sound reasoning.

The last part is handling expectations and desires—what is the best value trip, given constraints we all have when traveling—money, time conflicts, etc.  

A Great Example of Reliable Travel Information—Our 2018-19 Europe River Cruise Company Comparisons

I’m going to make a bold declaration here—there is no other detailed source like our 2018-19 Europe River Cruise Company Comparisons with multiple comparison charts on the internet.  Here is the link Our 2018-19 Europe River Cruise Company Comparisons

Yes, there are some good books, even charts with check marks and comparisons of 2 cruise lines on the web, but nothing as in- depth as our resource.  We clearly identify fact from opinion, we are not sponsored by anyone that might influence our work, and we strive for totally accurate information.  We are proud of our first page Google ranking—earned not promoted by clever SEO techniques.

My Final Thoughts

Reliable travel information—who would have thought it would be so hard to find the answers about your desired trip?  We hope these guidelines and the stories in this blog will help you make more informed decisions and get you started on the right trip for your vacation.

We are travel experts, ocean and river cruise experts, and Europe destination experts.  We have first-hand knowledge of almost anywhere you want to visit in Europe.  We know our products and the vendors who sell them to you.  We have designed special tours for dozens of clients, led several and will continue to find just the right vacation that will exceed your expectations.

When you are spending your hard-earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip.  You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience.  And, you want someone who can help you with the decision making process.  We think we have all these qualities.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you!  We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel.  Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com.  We want to help you:  Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations!  Your journey begins here!

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 45 years.  He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA).  This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years.  He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees.   His other Certifications:

• AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist

• Viking River Cruise Specialist

• Scenic River Cruise Specialist

• Emerald Waterways  Specialist

• Avalon Waterways Specialist

• Brit Agent