Hotels, Cruises and Rental Cars-Can I Do This?

Becoming a travel agent had long been on my list of "things I have to do before I die" and there I was, actually accomplishing it. Soon I'd be booking those hotels, cruises, and rental cars. Little did I know my voyage had just begun and that it was to be a long one, filled with endless nights where I wanted to tear my hair out because I ...Calm down, we'll get to all that later. I tend to ramble and get ahead of myself.

Remember the previous post when I said that a travel agent assists people with their travel arrangements and actually gives advice if needed. Aha, I knew there would be a catch, a kink in the chain of events leading up to my new profession. I gotta get some education! Lucky for me, my host agency, (I just can't say enough good things about them) have at times performed a role much like a parent, attempting to guide me as I first crawled, then walked and fell what to me felt like a gazillion times.

There was so much to learn. Just look at this list:

Every cruise line has their own course, guaranteed to making booking cruises a piece of cake. As long as you have a representative on the phone while you're filling in blanks on the computer as your client patiently waits and you're praying they don't realize this is your first cruise booking and you're sweating buckets inside. Did someone say piece of cake?

Moving on, when was the last time you visited Disney World? There are so many options to consider-like do you want to stay on Disney property and get to ride the Disney bus from the airport and not have to fight the multitudes of van-driving parents with their throngs of sugar-cranked-up kids, all with one thought on their minds. Have to be the first one in line so we can ride all the best rides first, therefore alleviating excessive line-waiting later in the day when everyone is cranky. If you want to be able to sell Disney properly, you must attend the Disney College of Knowledge!

Every destination and supplier has courses, all with the intent to prepare travel agents to better represent and hopefully sell their product. If I wanted to, I could spend 24 hours a day for months just taking advantage of all this (thank goodness a lot of it is free) training. Wears me out just thinking about it.

I have to stop right here and share something about myself. Those that know me well have adjusted and learned to live with my somewhat eccentric and bizarre behavior. I have ADHD. For those not up on the zany world of initials, it means Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. What exactly does this mean to me? I tend to start lots of projects, or travel agent classes, and then when something more interesting comes along, like getting another piece of cake, I lose interest in what I was previously doing, or just plain forget and move onto something else. So now I have about 10 or 15 classes begun but never finished. But I'm getting there, and I will get there someday. Where exactly is there? I always hear people talk about there like it's really a place, but I have yet to see there. I bet there's a class available and I'll just head on over to my agency chat list and ask everyone there if they know- oops, it happened again. Lost my train of thought. Or what usually happens, I got off the train to go to the bathroom and the train left me behind. I left my purse on that train. Would someone please call my husband because I need a ride home.