The 5 Ws of Travel: How to Avoid the Pitfalls That Spoil Your Vacation

By Lindy Rothenburger

Have you ever been disappointed in your vacation?

Have you ever travelled with someone who spoiled the whole trip for you?

Have you ever booked your trip with a tour operator who turned out to be unreliable?

The smallest detail can turn your vacation from bliss to disaster! By using these insiders tips you will turn every vacation you plan into the perfect trip you dream about. Let journalisms five Ws - Who, What, Where, When, & Why - help you discover your own, personal travel style so you can plan the perfect vacation that is suited exactly to your personality. Asking yourself, Why do I want to take this trip? Why am I choosing this particular travelling companion? Why am I travelling at this time of year? could make the difference between enjoying a trip filled with exciting memories versus an abysmal disappointment.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Dec 5, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490751290

Lindy Rothenburger

Lindy Rothenburger changed careers in 2000 to follow her life-long dream to travel the world. She brings the attention to detail she gained from a lifetime of working in business administration to her travel business, making sure her clients never overlook the small details that could change their vacation from bliss to disaster. Lindy believes it is just wrong for someone to come home from their vacation disappointed with the experience so she is sharing her insider’s tips with everyone who loves to travel as much as she does. Lindy lives in Vancouver, Canada but she climbs on a plane every opportunity she gets because travel is her passion.

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© Copyright 2014 Lindy Rothenburger.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

ISBN: 978-1-4907-5128-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4907-5130-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4907-5129-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014920714

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Trafford rev. 12/04/2014

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Contents

Introduction

Part 1 What?

What?

The What Exercise

PART 2 Who?

Who?

The Who Exercise

Part 3 Where?

Where?

The Where Exercise

Part 4 When?

When?

The When Exercise

Part 5 Why?

Why?

The Why Exercise

Part 6 How?

How?

Conclusion

Introduction

D oes the very thought of travelling get the blood coursing through your veins? As you start to plan your trip and dream about the possibilities, does your heart pump faster, and you can’t wait to experience it all? That happens to me every time I plan a trip for a client. Every trip makes me think, Oh, I want to do this too! Maybe they’d let me stow away in their suitcase!

Many people who truly love to travel find the planning stage of the trip almost as much fun as the actual travelling. For them, the trip begins when they turn on their computer to start researching their vacation. Unfortunately, as you make your way around the Internet today, it seems that travel planning has become more complicated than it has ever been.

Anyone can start a website and make claims. How do you know which promises you can trust? Have you gotten excited over the price of a trip only to find that, when you get to the booking stage, the added taxes, surcharges, and hidden fees actually double the cost? Do you worry that you will pay your money and get a confirmation number but get to the airline check-in counter only to find out they don’t have any record of your reservation?

Airlines and car rental companies are confusing the public with extra fees for everything. Natural disasters seem to be happening more frequently. And political unrest is making some countries unsafe. Add to that the surge of social media, where everyone is bombarding you with where to go, where to stay, and what to do while you are there.

The information overload is staggering, and people are getting increasingly confused! Those who do manage to wade through the confusion are finding it more time-consuming to plan even a simple trip. Recent studies show that vacation travelers are turning back to travel agents for assistance in planning their vacations.

I wrote this book for those of you who love the planning and don’t want to give it up. It is designed to help you avoid the minefields out there and plan the best vacation within your budget. I became a travel consultant because there is nothing in the world that excites me as much as travelling does and also because nothing gives me more fulfillment than using my knowledge and expertise to help others accomplish their dreams.

One of my talents is my attention to detail. I have the ability to take the complicated and simplify it. My clients have discovered that I know what questions to ask. I ensure they don’t simply take a trip and miss the opportunity to fully absorb the experience. While it has been rewarding for me to work with my many clients, this book gives me the chance to share what I’ve learned with a much larger audience.

The simplest and most organized way to examine the questions that need to be asked when planning your perfect trip is to take the five Ws of journalism—who, what, where, when, and why—and apply them to travel planning.

The first thing they teach in journalism classes is that those five Ws must be answered within the first paragraph of every article written for newspaper or magazine. Very early in my career as a travel consultant, I realized that those same questions must be asked and answered at the beginning of planning a vacation. To avoid the pitfalls that can ruin your trip, it is important to explore those five questions. This will ensure you get the best vacation.

Most people planning their holidays, and most travel agents you might call, only ask who, what, where, and when. But the most important question to ask is why. I will show you how critical that question is and how it needs to permeate the other four Ws, but first, let me tell you who I am.

Who Am I?

When I was a little girl, I wanted to travel and see the world. Whenever someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would tell them I was going to be a flight attendant (or, in those days, a stewardess). When I got into high school, I had an interest in languages and thought I might be able to travel if I became an interpreter. But I didn’t do either of those. Like many women in my generation, I got married, had kids, and settled into an office job. I never lost my desire to travel though.

When both of my children got married in 1999, I was divorced, so there was now no one to worry about but myself. The first thing I did was quit my business administration job and go to travel school. I was determined to become a travel consultant and fulfill my lifelong dream.

I graduated from travel school with honors, entered the travel industry in 2000, and have never looked back. This career is everything I imagined it would be, and I still love every minute of it. Agents who had been in the business for twenty-five years when I came along told me I was getting into travel at the wrong time. They told me I had missed the days when it was so good. But I don’t have those good old days to compare with what I do now, and for me, it was, and still is, the best thing I ever did!

Because I am a perpetual student at heart and love to learn, it was easy for me to immerse myself in all the product and destination training available to me. To this day, I still go to every workshop or seminar I am able to attend, and I participate in two to three webinars a week, ensuring my knowledge and expertise are current. It is important to me to offer my clients expert advice, exceeding their expectations wherever possible. To do that, I have become a CLIA (Cruise Lines International Association) certified cruise counselor and completed specialist training in many destinations.

Travel is the reason I got into this business, and travel I do! I’ve been to St. Petersburg, Russia; Beijing, Shanghai, and the Yangtze River in China; Bali, Indonesia; the Kerala district of India; Singapore; the Maldives; New Zealand; the Cayman Islands; Bermuda; the West Coast and Cancún, in Mexico; France, Germany, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland, and Britain in Europe; many places in the United States, including Hawaii; and I’ve