In a world where it seems like you can book everything online with just a few clicks, you might wonder why you'd ever need a travel agent. Well, in today's episode, we have a guest who has traveled to over 120 countries around the world. She will share some of the reasons that you might want to consider using a travel agent when planning your next trip. We'll also bust the myth that using a travel agent is more expensive.
I'm Scott and I'm Melissa and we're the Sunshine
and we're
the Sunshine Travelers. Our passion is travel and sharing our experiences with those who enjoy it as much as we do or those who want to learn more about travel or even those who just want to live vicariously through our travel stories. No matter where you fall along that journey, get ready to hear about our first-hand experiences as we visit some of the most interesting and amazing places on Earth.
Melissa, it's hard to believe that this is episode 80 of the Sunshine Travelers podcast. We're currently in the middle of an epic safari in Kenya, and we can't wait to share all of the details with everyone. We hope you're following along on our trip via social media at Sunshine Travelers podcast.
Yes, Scott, that's crazy. 80 episodes. Like, that's 80 weeks in a row. So that's quite a quite a bit and quite a learning curve for us. And so it's just super exciting to see all those episodes out there and have them in your.
interesting to watch the evolution of our podcast as well. You know, the very first ones were just us kind of chatting back and forth. But I really enjoy this talking to other people and mixing some of that in with our podcast and stuff like that. And so, you know, today is going to be one of those where we've interviewed someone who's done a lot of travel and we'll talk all about that in just a few minutes.
Yeah. And to add to that, I mean, yes, that we have interviewed people that, you know, that we know. And a lot of times we've said, these are friends of ours that we know. And then we have met people and then invite them to the podcast. But then sometimes we have guests who without this podcast, it is people that we would have never come in contact with, Without this it podcast, is people that we would have never come in contact which with, I think is just a really cool thing. And so one of the topics that has been on our show list for a while is why you should use a travel agent to help plan your travels. Today we are talking to Rakeema Glimp. She's an avid traveler who has been to over 120 countries in her travels. over 120 countries in her travels. And she also travels with her 13-year-old son, who has been to over 90 countries at 13 years old. I mean, talk about an education. So in addition to being an avid traveler, Rekima also owns a travel agency that is part of the Cruise Planners franchise.
But right now, please welcome to the show Rekima Glymph. We ran across Rakeema. She and her son travel together. And so they've been all over the world and visited some of our bucket list destinations. And then also Rakeema has a travel agency. So Rakeema, welcome to the show.
Thank you for having me. Super excited to have a chance to chat with you all.
Yeah. So why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself and your passion for all things travel?
Yeah, yeah. So I grew up dreaming about seeing the world. My dad was a world traveler as I was coming up also. So by the time I got into college, I knew the first thing I was going to do was do a study abroad program and get myself overseas somehow.
My dad was
And that literally is what jumpstarted everything. I guess my second year of college, the first trip I ever taken was to South Africa. And I took that long journey. Nobody explained to me at the time how to make that long journey not feel like five days. How to make that long journey But not feel like five it's days. a journey. But it's a journey. And when I got there and got to see all of what was going on in a world that was so far away from what I had what I had known, been trained to all these believe, it just things, kind of opened up't even know how to say it because I got super, super excited super, about getting to know the ins and outs of people's cultures, the foods they were eating, the languages that they were using to speak it. And to this day, I mean, it's something that I've talked heavily about with my kid. Because a lot of people say, why is your son traveled so much? I mean, he just hit his 93rd country. And everybody says, what in the whole wide world? And I said, yeah, from the time he was six months old. I mean, one of the first things I did was got him a passport, right? Right after his Social Security card was his passport. And they said, what is going on? I said, I just need him to see the world. I didn't get to see it until I became an adult. He needs to start early because I think his generation is going to be so much better than mine. They're going to be able to work with anybody, talk to anybody, do anything, not be inhibited by all of these barriers that either we create for ourselves or environments create for us. And I wanted him to believe that the world was his oyster. And so it's just been nonstop ever since. So that first trip to South Africa, all the way to, you know, giving birth to my first son and him getting older in 93 countries, it's all been a part of the same thing, which is like, how much can we learn? How many people can we meet? What is it that we don't know? Let's go find out. Rekima, that is
that is amazing. And that is definitely, like, we haven't even been to anywhere close to that. I mean, that's obviously our goal. So that is, that is great. And that is great that you have made it a priority to, to share the world with him and do that with him so you just got back from an amazing trip it was a whirlwind trip we want to know what's a little with him too right tell us a little bit about that because you actually hit several of our bucket list places just recently yeah yeah so anybody who
yeah yeah so anybody who knows us knows that we have a gigantic world map that is on a wall. That map has dots all over the place of places that we had been. And Malik and I had said, Malik is my son, 13 year old. We had said, you know, I am getting fancy. I feel like it's time for me to go. Mind you, we were just in Hawaii in February, and we were just in Central America in life. But I am a Gemini, a very true Gemini. I love to be out and about. My son has a cancer. He's very homebody. So trying to sort of make it like me in the middle has been a bit of a thing recently as he's built his own community and gotten his friends and that sort of thing. But I said to him, look, son, you're getting ready to head off to high school next year. He's going into the actual traditional system. And I said, if you're heading to high school, that means between swim and he's on a national school team between swim and high school, there's not going to be a lot of free time. So this means that this is my last summer that i get to just rip and run and he said oh yeah i understand that part i said okay so how would you think like what do you think about us hitting a couple of different countries and i said my biggest thing is i just want to get over to polynesia i'm going to get into the south pacific like those are places i've never been it seems too far every time i look up, it's 30 to 40 hours. I just, I can't, right? We're minding around it. Because naturally we're on the East Coast. So everybody's taking a lot longer trying to head into that particular part of the world. And we started looking at the map and literally start calling our countries. Fine, all right. So we're going to start with Greenland. Nope, not going to Greenland because you can't get direct flights from the States because that's going to drop us in Iceland for And then we're us. going to start with Greenland. not going Nope, to Greenland because you can't get direct flights from the States because that's going to drop us in Iceland for us. And then we're going to go up to Greenland. So I said, forget Greenland. After two weeks of trying to figure out how to get to Greenland, let's just go to Norway. Norway, my son is a never-with-biking culture. He loves that history. He loves, you know, learning about sort of like the way they move even now, like that sort of Scandinavian experience so Norway was on when he knew it was going to be there but then I was like I can't go from Norway to New Zealand that that is a long way I'm not doing that so
is a long way I'm not doing that so I said so I have been to Italy you have never been to Italy we're going to take you down to the Amalfi Coast you need to see Amalfi you need to learn about Na have never been to We're Italy. going to take you down to the Amalfi You Coast. need to see Amalfi. You need to learn about Naples. You need to learn about Pompeii, right? I started earlier saying he's homeschooled. So Viking history, check. Geography, landmasses, check, right? Like even environmental stuff, because he had never seen fjords before and stuff, right? And so check. Go down into Pompeii. So now we're talking about Roman Empire type stuff like the Colosseum the Amalfi all the things and then we said all right fine we need to try to get into either Seychelles or Madagascar that did the same thing to us the way Greenland did we couldn't find any place that wasn't going to put us into Africa somehow, elongating our experience. So we decided to skip that and went straight to New Zealand from India. So to know about that route, you're going through Dubai or Abu Dhabi or somewhere like that to drop into.
into.
And that took us about 15 and a half hours. So we stopped in New Zealand for a week, gave ourselves eight days. And there we were learning about the Maori, the indigenous people there. And, you know, we were tracking all the clinics, trying to eat up every meat pie we could find. I mean, it was like legit. We were like, this has got to be a food experience. Took some ferries. My son had never really done ferries before. So took the ferries over to some of the other islands that were right in sort of the area we were in. And then we went over to Fiji. Fiji is my favorite. It is absolutely my favorite. I thought I was going to get there. And of course, I was like, great. New Zealand was cold. Fiji is going to be warm. I'm going to love it because that's the big difference between my son and I. He is a guy who loves cold, anything cold. Me, I want to bask in the sun. I want to burn my skin. I want to stay in the sun. And so we were having a moment where we were like, well, this whole climate is in winter. So we're not really going to get that Fijian sun. And it's not, you know. So we got down to Fiji and it was about 80 degrees, which is lovely. And neither one of us wanted to do anything. We got to Fiji thinking we're going to just like island hop and party it up and just nothing. Nothing. It was almost like the entire island was like, take a seat, take a seat, take a deep
a
a deep breath, relax, do nothing. take a deep breath relax do nothing so the most adventure we did we did there was i rented a private boat because like i said as homeschool family everything is about learning so we rented a viking boat so not a god not a not a cat i ran one of those small boats that's literally on the ocean floor and we took that out several hours to go and see other Fijian islands, to go and have lunch at Castaway Island, to, you know, all these things. And the funny part about that one is that on the way home, the South Pacific is a rough ocean. That's a rough ocean. I'm not sure I'll do a Fijian note again. I think I need the bigger boats. Because at some point we hit a wave that was so hard that if you can imagine, okay, imagine, I flipped back, legs in the air, everything. My son and I are dying laughing, saying, this is unbelievable. Only we can have this type of experience. And I couldn't even get up. I laughed so hard that he just wanted to take photos of like what i was tripping off of because he said nobody's gonna believe you just flew all the way to the back of the boat and just still on this ground busting up but i told him when we're moving like this is it but this is how fiji is doing this is what we're doing so no problem so we finally i'm like praying to everybody's god at this point please get us off this ocean this is making me feel like something's not going well like i don't want to be out here and seeing what these you know because they got some serious animals out there in the water we finally make it back to shore and literally i was like little boats little boats we can canoe a little bit we could sit on ocean, but I don't want to be in the ocean. So that was Fiji. And when we left there, we felt so rested, though.
That's awesome.
I don't think, with the exception of Barbados, we had never been anywhere that set us down like that before. And then our final leg was in Australia. So we stopped in Sydney and we did some museums. There were museums of crime and punishment. There are museums of Sydney, the creation of Sydney. We drove all the way to the Blue Mountains to go see that landscape. Because while I am nobody's hiker, let's be clear, I'm not. My son is very aggressive. So again, you can see sort of like this juxtaposition that's happening. So I knew to take more because that was what his soul really wanted to be doing. We got to Waterfall. Of course, I'm like mad livid saying all the bad words under the breath because I'm just mounted outdoors in China. But we felt so great about it because it's a different way to
livid saying
about it because it's a different way to see Australia. It was a different way to engage in the climate that we were in. So we enjoyed it. The food was great. I think the only place that we didn't have really good food, we didn't like the food that we had while we were out in Italy. But mostly because I think we had built it up to be something different. You know, we were in Norway eating potatoes and sweet bowls even. This this is very ikea like filling for me if i'm if i'm in fiji i need
know, we were
me if i'm if i'm in fiji i need a lot of fish right if i'm in australia they swear i'm trying to eat kangaroo but i'm not not eating kangaroo at all you know my son that's his thing and and if you're in new zealand you don't eat pies and stuff right so I think we ended up on a tour that felt like the countries were given very different things if we we both said to each other and people have asked us along the way because sometimes when we're traveling we run into other people who are also on their journeys and this lady asked she says of all the places you've been, where would you go again in this particular time? We both looked at each other and said, Norway.
Interesting. Okay.
The question that I have for you, Rekima, is when you're traveling like this, how do you connect with the culture? Because you talked about wanting that cultural experience. So how do you connect with the culture mostly Because you talked about wanting that cultural experience. How do you connect with the culture mostly when you travel?
That's awesome. So we do a lot of reading before we get into any of this country. I never, never, we never, never go without knowing a little bit about the histories, without knowing a little bit about if there's language that would turn into a barrier. We've had a lot of experience with the French who don't play this whole saying, hi, they're lucky you're in our country, c'est bonjour, right? So we take that attitude every country we go. No, no, no. Do we know how to say thank you? Do we know how to say bonjour? You know, like, is there something that we can do that demonstrates a level of respect for the culture and that demonstrates to them we're trying? So we always go we always that demonstrates in, to them we're trying so we always go in we always say look we're trying we ask millions of questions so for example in norway tipping has not been there they don't tip there they their their whole ideology is no it's already open to our salaries we're paid well but that doesn't translate to places like fiji to places like you know, even though New Zealand has that same attitude, you talk to the white staff, it doesn't translate, right? And so we even had to make those types of cultural adjustments where we go in and say, we recognize that this is the way you will operate. And I want to explain to you
And I want
to you where we are coming from in terms of what this means for us. We can't give you an award for being the best housekeeper we've ever met, but we understand that like money is universal. And so we can't give that as a thank you. And it's not about anything else besides our way as Americans to say thank you, right? So there was a lot of cultural sharing. My son is probably the most inquisitive person he'll ever grade. He's also one of the most loving and daring people in the 11th grade. So like every time we have a driver, they get so close to him. Like to the point where I'm sitting in the back and he's sitting in the front seat. Like that's how close he
he gets. Yeah. Yeah. He breaks the ice a lot
Yeah. He breaks the ice a lot when it comes to that. And, and he's very attentive. So we listen a lot. We talk less. In the States, I feel like we're always talking. But when we're overseas, it's more about we're going to ask our question and we're going to let you tell us. We're not going to go in here thinking we know everything. We're not going to tell you your history, right? Like we are open ears, open minds. And we even go as far as like we hire drivers wherever we go because you know the same along with a kid it can be dangerous in some of the places that we go to so we do get a driver that will help to help us navigate you know cultural norms that are happening on the roads and things of that nature but it goes as far as us even you know inviting them to have lunch and dinner with us like we've never had a driver or people you know died or anything that's ever that we've ever allowed to walk away while we're eating or while we're you know i'm taking in my patients and stuff they look at us funny all the time when we say we're family now we don't spend the whole week together i mean right and we love that because then you can additionally
that because then you can additionally ask them like what, what should we eat? What should we order? What would you eat? Not just, yeah, what's popular. We love that.
That's right. That's right. So the guy in Norway, that's exactly what happened. We went, I graduated with rainiers. I'm a Christmas lady, 100%. So when my son started eating rainiers, I was nipped. But that happened because he asked the guy, he says, well, what would you have? And the guy ordered porridge and all would you have for the guy over four inch and all these things and these he's cured meats and stuff and my son's like in it so they're like high-fiving each other and trying all these things me and my uh older sort of not so open mind is like that's very judgmental why are you guys getting married why are you leaving all those homes right but like the truth is, he was able to make a commonality experience with this guy, right? Where they were like, you know what? He's open. He's willing to try it. He's going to allow for me to lead the way on this thing. And I saw exactly when the connection was bridged in that moment. So you're right. They do tell us where to keep, right? They tell us where to keep. They can explain to us some of the things that we see on the road that we may not understand. You know, we saw some signs at different places where we were like, what is that? What does that mean? Because, you know, there was one time we were in Portugal and they had writing on the wall. And it was in Portuguese, but it was spray painted everywhere. So I was like, somebody's organizing or somebody's like protesting something's going on so why am i seeing the same sign everywhere i'm going right the same criminality the same whatever and it turns out that absolutely there is an issue under the surface of the country and the writing that was there was very much about what's going on with with folks who are coming into the country with all this money. It's just really great to have the best allies.
That you're not going to get by Googling it or something like that, right? You're not going to get it from, hey, here's what's really going on. That's interesting. We had a similar experience in Quito, Ecuador, where we were almost surprised at some of the way the tour guide, you know, phrased a lot of this stuff or explained a lot of the political and economic things that were going on. But it was like, hey, like this is like this is how it is affecting them in real life, right? A person in real life. And I thought that's very interesting. I want to back up for just a second. So where do you and your son, like like how do you guide him on that research? And where do you do most of your research before you go?
So we will look anywhere. I mean, he's been so trained to look under every rock. It's ridiculous. So we're pulling stuff from CDC. We're pulling stuff from in-country resources. And so we use a VPN to try to get into some of these countries because what we also realize is what we see when we Google here is not what we see when we're over there. We can use the same search terms, different things to start pulling up in different places. So we'll do that also. We buy resource books and we ask people who have been there before things they may have seen. We ask for contacts and because of my background, I always end up getting engaged with concierges and with local staff before i even show up so i'll have our entire plan before we even leave there and you know this room of course to be the flexible world we need to be but and it's me asking these guys too like what do people typically do fine that's great and my son's a parkourist so are there any parkour studios around and right we're homeschoolers so I need to know history is that museum a really good one or not right so so yeah we use a lot of different programs I think that's great and
think that's great and I think it's great what you pointed out about like finding the different activities for different places and different people as well. Right. So like you want to make sure you hit certain things. You want him to have certain experiences that he would enjoy. But you also want to have the culture experiences and, you know, be able to hit the nature. And because we're kind of the same way. We love all the things, right? So being able to balance, you know, being able to balance that, I think that's awesome. And so just perspective, how long was your trip? Just so people understand, like, how long did that take?
Yeah. So we took about a month and a week to do all of those places. Some places, like, for example norway we wish we had had the same amount of time we made it for new zealand so we did four days at norway but then new zealand got eight days egypt got eight days australia got eight days right like so even italy got more i think they got seven days or six days or something like that i think it depends on what you're interested in now because most of those were all like for the most part new with the exception of benley for me if i had to do it again for example i would give myself a week and a half maybe in norway so that i could travel to the western side of norway where the fjords and stuff are because to know a little bit about that landscape you're not driving unless you're driving for eight hours one way. You need time. And so that place, because it's not all built up and industrialized and stuff, you do need time there. But I could have done less time in Italy, for example, because I'm not a person who likes the big city. I mean, booking classes in Italy, but it was a lot of driving. And they have exorbitant prices there, whereas in New Orleans, we're spending half the amount, because our dollar goes further in global than it does in Italy, for example. So some of those things matter, I think, for us. Even in Fiji, I think we got it right with the amount of days, but like Australia felt too long for the part we were in, because we weren't where the Great Barrier Reef was. We were in Sydney, right? So maybe I would have given Australia two weeks and I would have flown to Melbourne or to, you know, the other areas. Because Sydney, I think you could have been all right with a good four or five days. So good lessons. I have
I have a couple of questions to go back to with you. You said you love Christmas and things like that. And you were talking about eating the reindeer. Have you ever been to Lapland?
No.
Oh, you need to do your research on that one. That's the Christmas village.
In Finland. The home of
The home of St. Nicholas.
Oh, my God. Now, that's a huge fight, because the guys out in the guys in Norway said that they stole the Santa Claus. Oh, okay. There you go.
okay. There you go. Well, you need to check out Lapland. A friend of ours takes his family every year and goes to Lapland, and so the pictures are just, I mean, so amazing there.
And then the second thing is, are you familiar with the Century Club?
Century Club? No.
So I think you've already passed it, but your son is getting really close to hitting those 100 countries.
So you have to have the 100 countries and all continents.
I have Okay, not no, heard about this countries and all continents. Okay. No, I have not heard about this, but this is exciting news. We do have a trip that we have been planning because we've gone to Antarctica. And that would be our second continent.
So we're planning a listener's trip to Antarctica.
Yes.
And so we're going to invite, or we have invited all of our listeners to come and go on a trip with us to Antarctica and we're going to do that in January of 2026 that's amazing we literally just said I
amazing we literally just said I don't love the cold but I'm definitely here for a polar plunge definitely here to see that landscape and I also want to get to Patagonia and that's going to be my excuse to get down there so we're trying to
to hit Melissa still has, so we'll be in Africa. So we'll have that continent covered off. Melissa still needs to go to Asia. And then we both need to go to Australia. So next year in 2025, we're going to get to Australia. So next year in 2025, we're going to get to Australia. And so next year in 2025, we're going to get to Australia and Asia so that we can make sure that in 2026, when we go to Antarctica, that that's both of our seventh continents.
We also sound like you when you were describing we want to go to Greenland and we have to get here and we have to get there. That's kind of how we're doing the Africa trip is that we're going to Kenya. Scott wanted to go to Morocco like so bad, just like a few days early, go to Morocco. But you can't get from Morocco to Kenya without going, you know, somewhere crazy back to Europe or whatever. So we're going to do. So we were kind of the same way. Okay, well, I, so I was using the flight app, soft, you know, website that you can see. And because I was like, okay, we've got to, you know, figure this out. He was like, I really want to get these tickets booked. And so I think I called from the living room. Hey, Scott, what about going to Cairo? Because you can go from Cairo to Nairobi, you know, so so so that kind of thing so and we need to pick your brain on South Africa maybe we can swing back around and do that because then that's our that's our third stop
so I think that's crazy if you can get to Morocco you absolutely should so but we'll I think we'll have to do like you
I think we'll have to do like you know like a whole separate trip and have a guide and have somebody that we could... Yeah.
I took my son, so Morocco was easy to get to from Spain. And so I had taken him to Morocco and then to Senegal, because Senegal was my other favorite country also. But they just had the freshest food I've ever had. And my son still talks about it to this day. Every time people say, where's your favorite part of Africa? Because he's been northwest and south. He hasn't been east, I've been east. And he says every time, he says, welcome, every time. So when you get there, there's no one to do it.
That's been on my bucket list for a really long time. As a matter of fact, twice we've been close enough to it where our phones actually said, welcome to Morocco. And I was like, this doesn't really count though, right? So yeah, we definitely want to go. I think originally it was, I knew that I needed to get to Africa. My sister-in-law and I, she's an avid traveler. She's an avid traveler. She's been to probably far more countries than I have. She's been to probably far more countries than I have. But we both we're said, going oh, to race to see who can get to all seven continents first. And so she has everything except Antarctica.
first.
And I think she's actually going to do Antarctica with us on that trip. So we'll end up getting to seven which together, is I guess. good,
You love Kenya. My experience, and I've been in, I guess, maybe 16 African countries, they just all look different. And they all feel different. And the food is so different. When I first went to East Africa, I was so confused. Because I was like, these people look nothing like West Africans. Like, what is going on here? Then I went down south, and as I was going to the sub-channels at Bomboy, I'm thinking, these guys don't even look the same. These guys are all south. And it changed how I was even viewing the landscape, even. Because I'm like, man, it's a different country. You know? When I think of Africa, I'm thinking, oh, it's Africa. No, it is different places and different, you know, anyway. You know, the map that we use makes Africa look smaller than it actually is.
we use makes Africa look smaller than it actually is.
Yeah.
And so Africa is such a huge continent. And I think we're going to be really blessed to start in the north, you know, go kind of mid-middle Africa and then down to the very tip to South Africa, to Cape Town specifically. Cape Town would be great too.
Town would be great too.
Well, look, in addition to your love of travel, we understand you're also a travel agent. So what are the key advantages of booking a trip through a travel agent compared to doing it independently? I
mean, I think it depends on what people care about, right? Like I wasn't always a travel agent. And just in the last two years, I decided to do that, mostly because when I was doing retreats overseas, people kept being like, Rahima, you're the only person we know that loves logistics the way you do. Figure it out for us. So, you know, folks would ask, well, how are you getting from this place? Well, why did your son know that that's going to be a total trip about like 48 hours? Or like, you know, and I would say, oh, we spent time mapping out. So like we now know the next time we go down to New Zealand or Australia, we're going from the West Coast. Shave it off. It's seven to ten hours, right? And I said, well, that just comes because we've been out so many times. That means we had to also crash and burn so many times. So anyway, so when people come to us, sometimes people come because they hate logistics. They don't want to dream about it. Some people actually get stressed with logistics. Sometimes people come because they've not traveled a lot and they need ideas. They want someone to help them dream up some magical itinerary. Some of our first clients were people who watched my son learn about the Atlas Mountains by ziplining in Morocco. And they said, why is he doing that? And I said, because what better way to learn about the Geography of Mountains than to zipline through it, you know? So people are like, what is happening with these folks? So sometimes it's about, you know, people wanting to have different types of itineraries, but they don't have ideas. Sometimes it's because people are like, I'm too busy. Right? Like if I work with a politician or if I work with, you know, people who are political and or in some of these roles that they don't have a lot of time. Sometimes it's just they don't have time and they don't want to be together and so there are many reasons why people come to us what i'll tell you is for me the thing that i've got the most joy from has been being able to educate people on different countries because we've been so many places i get that away for free as you can see i don't it's something i really enjoy talking about the other thing is that a lot of people get turd because they think that it costs them something to work on travel agents and i think it's because they don't understand how the how the how to travel agents actually get paid right so a lot of times i also like to tell people hey we get paid by the you know by the vendors and stuff not actually through you all you know with the exception of if we're building out a trip we might charge you some type of administrative fee for the time right if it's not a traditional experience but for the most part it actually doesn't have a cost to people at all so i feel like you know sometimes people are going to come and they are coming to say look i'm writing this then whatever you're going to charge me other times i find that the more i talk to people, the more they're like, eh, but maybe I'll struggle through it. And then when I get to the surface, it's because they're wondering if there's a cost that they don't really want to have to pay for.
I think that is one misconception that people have, is that using a travel agent will make the trip more expensive. But that's not the case.
No, no. And sometimes it can be the case. Like if you are, like I said, if you're building out some epic journey, if I had to build out the five countries that I did for myself, it took me literally two weeks to map that thing out and to get the logistics together. That would probably be something where I'd say, you know what, let's negotiate a service fee because this is how much time our business is going to take. And this is not the traditional thing. But when you're talking about like vacation trips that are straightforward, you're talking about like traditional tours. You're talking about cruises. Those don't take a lot of time because we have access to systems that give us access to all types of flights and deals and tours and all these things and of course if you travel the way we have we also just know of things that means that like this is not going to take us all our lives put together so i like to be transparent with people 100 like just up front and say hey this is easy no problem i'm i'm charging up and minding worry about it like we'll go get you situated and i also tell people too like hey if i book you a cruise and it took me no time to book that cruise you know the the vendor is going to give me 16 of a commission anyway for doing this right so even if i spent 30 minutes getting all y'all's information or whatever it is the vendor has that that's not even on me don't worry about that you know so i do try to be very, very transparent with people about if there's cost, if there's not. But almost 95% of the time, there's no cost to the actual client themselves.
Yeah, that makes sense.
sense.
You talked a little bit about it, but what kind of insider knowledge or industry connections do travel agents typically have that other travelers can't easily access on their own?
Yeah, I mean, we get access to both flights rates. Those rates are cheaper. They're unpublished fares. So the fares that everybody else is going to see usually are several hundred dollars more expensive than what we will end up having access to. So we've got both flights, both flight rates, and we also have unpublished fares. Two different categories. Both of them are cost savings. The other thing is that sometimes we're able to get special amenities within the rooms, for example. So like if someone walked in and said, oh, I'm doing this because we're on our honeymoon or we're traveling, it's a birthday or whatever, then oftentimes because we do so much business, we have credits that we can use to show people the time. So, for example, like I have a group, a group cruise that's going out next year. I decided to put together a spring break cruise for the middle schoolers. Those are my local English kids. And so we're taking them all down to Turks and to the islands and stuff. And one of the things I had talked to one Caribbean about was, hey, I'm going to put this group together. But what that means is that I want each of my families to gain access to X amount of honorable credits. I want each of them to have champagne in their rooms from all the day. And I also want to have these little treats or these fruits or whatever. And they're for the kids so that when they come in, they get the welcome, like they are part of the family. And there are some travel agents that would take those credits and turn it into a bonus for themselves, because that's actually what we can do. But instead, you say things like, no, but I want my clients to feel that way. And so I have the liberty to do these things. And, you know, or I think for travel agents who are short-sighted they may say let me take the bonus but for those of us who understand how to build community and family we say no we don't have the bonus this is a lifetime experience worth of bringing joy to people and have them at return because they felt so great you know so good to take care of so we have a lot of flexibility even when people run into oopsies while they're out sometimes flights get changed sometimes the carrier's dropping sometimes hotels try to play people especially when you book on your own go to the go we're overbooked and we only have this other green which you never would have chosen right but when we book it it's guaranteed confirmed and so if you run into a problem you've got to do is call us up and we can get a situation because they care more about those relationships with you know for example for us cruise planners or during vacations or any of those types of people also that they do uh for the average and you know the individual that's looking through gtickets.com or something like that so i think it just gives us an opportunity to support you guys more and to make it seamless so that it doesn't feel as stressful as it could feel for those of us who have had things come up on our journeys.
Absolutely. So what should people like be asking then when they are, you know, looking for a travel agent, looking for a travel agency, what kind of questions, you know, can help them so that they'll know that they're getting that top level of service and not just a booking and then where is this
person? Yeah. Yeah. For
Yeah. Yeah.
me, I think, you know, they should be asking if the person travels. I can't tell you how many travel folks I run into at these conferences. They don't travel. They don't travel. I mean, one of the first things I tell people is like, I can't give you feedback on ships because this year I just did my first cruise, and that cruise I get, Caesar. I go, no, you know, but I can tell you about a lot of countries because I'm a land girl, right? And so I think that they need to be asked it. Have you been there? Because they'll send me there if you haven't been there, you know? Don't put me in a hotel that you can't vouch for right i can't tell you how many stories we heard that where you're like oh the travel even said it's a four-star right but you gotta know that certain places around the world four-star ain't four-star five-star in africa but is it gonna feel like five-star i don't think so and i don't care you know so unless you know but i feel like getting with someone who's super knowledgeable about stuff like you need to ask those questions how many places have you gone where have you gone what you know what kind of places have you stayed are you a five-star place or three sectors like my sister is also a travel agent but she is a budget traveler i am not i'm absolutely not a budget traveler i am like a four-star and above traveler because i the hotel room is part of my travel experience if i'm in a you know roach coach two-star for example i that's gonna kill my wellness i'm unwell on my travel i'm very honest with people saying i can tell you three star i can't tell you i'm safe there but if you ask me about your four seasons or your race or somewhere like that i can i can absolutely vouch for these places so i do think they should ask those questions and the other part is i do think they should ask people like why are you in the work for people who are in the work to make a buck and this is their sole thing, it's going to be about the bottom dollar. And that I think will change the experience also, right? But for people who could still be in for the bottom dollar, but who love what they do and you could hear how contagious it is that they love to travel, those guys are the ones you want to be with because it's not going to fill up the job when you have something that comes up that you need help with.
Absolutely. I think those are great tips. And it just reminded me of several years ago, we did a Mediterranean cruise to Europe and it was kind of last minute, you know, and it was one of those things where I was like, I can do all this research. And so finally I reached out to somebody and I think she was with cruise planners and, you know, and for her to say, oh, like texting me, I got your message. I'm getting off the ship now. I'll call you back in a few. And like, she's like, I'm like, oh my God, she's on a cruise right now. And then when we got on the phone for her to then say, oh, I've been on that ship. Like the one we were booking like four times. This is the room I need to book you. Here's the advice. So 100% agree with what you're saying.
So how would people find you if they wanted to follow along with all of your travels or reach out to you about a trip?
Yeah, yeah. So we, I mean, we've got lots of different things going on. If they're just interested in following so they can try to get right in on some of these latest trips. We've got a Instagram called Jet Setting Juniors, which is not the same as our cruise planner Instagram. So we've got one for the Keno Glen Cruise Planners, which is going to be sort of the cruise planner experience. But the personal photos, the photos of these Pompeys and all of these things, that's going to be on the Jet Setting Juniors. And that is the place where I also would say, if someone was trying to talk kids into a location or something like that's that, going to be on the Just Said It Juniors. And that is the place where I also would if someone say, was trying to talk kids into a location or something like that, that's going to be close to go. We're also on YouTube also, Safe and Just Said It Juniors as well. And then if they want to reach out, they can reach out. So we've got a website. It's BeWell365.com. And the BeWellTravel365.com, the name comes from the fact that I wanted to travel as wellness. And so to be well, I think you need to be traveling. You need to be in the world, even if it's just going to the nearest city or the next state over or something like that. So that's the emphasis behind that name. But it drops you right in the first place. It's right into me.
Awesome. into it. Awesome. And so we will put links to all those places in the show notes so that it'll be easy to, you know, for listeners to click on that as well. So Rekrama, we wanted to close with a few questions that we ask everybody. And so I think these are going to be super exciting as much as you guys have traveled. And you might want to just say, because you mentioned a couple, I think it might be interesting if you know your son's answers like maybe here's mine and here's his if they're different if if that's okay and then some of them you know obviously will be the same so what is your favorite place in the world that you have ever visited yeah yeah I think that let's see it was Barbados but after this last trip
visited yeah yeah I think that let's see it was Barbados but after this last trip Norway, it's probably my favorite at this point. I think my son would agree to Norway.
That's great. And what are the top places that are left on your travel bucket list? Places you haven't been yet?
Yeah, so we've still got to get to Croatia. We've got to get to Slovakia. We've got to get into Czech Republic. We haven't been to Greece, so we need to go see three gardens. And then, you know, there are some island places that we're still curious about, but we've not been to Dominica, for example, because it's not as built up, but we know we need to go. And remember I said, I'm not an outdoor but it's there.
The next trip, though, that we're taking is for Antarctica. I promised my son that I would leave those countries so that he could travel with his friends when he graduates from high school.
Awesome. Just curious, when is your Antarctica trip? Do you have that planned for, is it in the winter? It's
got to be in the next two years because I don't think we're able to survive otherwise.
Well, I think you should definitely check out our listeners trip that we're planning. We're in the final stages of getting all the details put together on that. But if you follow us out there, then we'll get those out shortly.
Yeah. So I guess the last question that we have
I guess the last question that we have is where are you going next yeah i mean so in
yeah i mean so in our group we are in between how we're going to get there because there's lots of people trying to get there we have been talking about going through that geo because they have a kids world travel program or they it's a it it's called some kids floor or something like this. Anyways, but they've got these things that these trips that they book, they build out that is specific to homeschool kids and the learning that they get to do as they walk across these sheets of ice and stuff like that. So, but we might change their mind around that. I mean, you just told me about your list, your listeners trip is coming up. And also because my son is over here looking like, how much is it per person? So, you know, all of those things will play a role. But I see your question earlier, Melissa, I think we're going to end up taking a trip probably within the next year. Okay. Because I imagine because when they go out, I think the kids are still in school and stuff. It's going to create a problem further and further along if we get to the academic center. Yeah, I think
what like December through maybe early March, I think is probably the peak, right? For that is usually. I would also offer some advice that we got from someone is think of
would also offer some advice that we got from someone is think of going on a smaller boat. So 200 people or less, it can get in closer. And then also there's some limitations on like how many people can be on land or on ice at the same time. And so when you're on a big
so when
you're on a big boat, they have to shut, they have to keep those windows very small so that they can, you know, cycle everyone through. So that was just a piece of advice that was given to us is look for a smaller boat rather than a larger one when you're doing that Antarctica trip.
Well, we've been thinking about it because we heard some boats can't get to the Great Passage and stuff like that because they are too big. So I think it would be good to stay in touch with you all. I'd be curious about how you guys structure it and also the research we'll find. Whatever it is, we've got to figure it out pretty soon. And also, you know, I was going to say one more thing about this travel agency thing, which is that a lot of times people use us too because we're able to provide payday plans, which traditionally you couldn't do. So a lot of places will allow for you to put something down and then in a month's time, you have to pay the full thing. There are times when people are doing land travel, depending on how much time they have before they are supposed to be out. And they've got six, seven, eight months to pay that thing down, right? So if I was in college, if someone had told me as a college student i would have gone that route 100 because i think it kept me from traveling as much as i wanted to thinking that i had to have everything in that moment at that time right so anyways hopefully that's helpful yeah that's a great point yeah and i wanted to
that's a great point yeah and i wanted to i wanted to say we have lots of resources on greece we have a few podcasts a few blogs. We absolutely love the Greek islands. And of course, it's one of those places where, you know, like you were saying about the other places
point yeah
you were saying about the other places is that, you know, you could spend as much or as little time and you're always going to want to go back. So like cater it to your experience, you know, have some rest time, have some exploration time, have some cultural time, because you're never going to be able to explore all of Greece or all of Norway or all of Fiji or all of any of these places. Right. So just wanted to point that out because that's that's one of our favorite places. And we're always surprised that, you know, people, a lot of people haven't haven't been there, but we love it. So that's awesome.
Well, Rakeema, thank you for coming on the show today. We look forward to following your adventures as you continue, you and your son, to travel the world and just experience it one country at a time. And so thank you for joining us. And we look forward to seeing where you go in the future.
Thank you for having me, Bill. Take good care.
You know, her son is getting such an education that could never be replicated through traditional education by visiting all of these countries in his childhood. You know, being exposed to so many different cultures and understanding geography in a way that most kids are never going to know.
Yeah, I, you know, just the fact that this trip that she just talked about, like all the different, the variety of different places, and then understanding like where those places are in the world and how to get between them. I think that's just so amazing.
And she's exposing him to the logistics of how do you get from here to there? And, you know, things like, well, if we can't travel from this place to that place, then we need to choose a different location.
Yeah, for sure. And just working those out. So one of the things that stood out to me was when Rakeema talked about when choosing a travel agent. So she said, you definitely want to make sure that you choose somebody that has travel experience.
You know, you gave the example about the person who booked our cruise for us when we went to the Mediterranean. And when you first reached out to her, she had actually just recently been on the ship that we were looking to book.
Yeah, it wasn't like, I mean, she got back to me very quickly, but it was like, oh, wow, like she's actually on a cruise right now. Like she does this a lot, you know? And so just having that experience, like when you haven't done something that you, you know, or when they've done something that you haven't done before, been somewhere and just have that firsthand knowledge. I thought that was just really great advice. So be sure to ask your travel agent if they have ever been on a trip like the one they are trying to help you plan. And don't be afraid to just ask them and learn more about their travel experiences.
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And then, Scott, there's one other thing that I really liked about what Rakeema said, and she gave great advice on planning trips, but then also just really practical advice about how to get the most out of them. So the planning and the preparation and learning some things about the destination of the culture or what you're going to see before you go. But then, you know, just the things like and it's a lot of things that we talk about, which I felt was interesting because we've mentioned them several times. So talking to your taxi driver and asking them, you know, for recommendations or your Uber driver asking for recommendations. And then if you have tour drivers, we have said in, you know, like in Jamaica before, hey, come have lunch with us. And then what should we order? And then, of course.
And it gives you an opportunity to get to know them at a deeper level. You get a little bit about maybe their background and maybe some of the culture and stuff like that. So that's sort of the, you know, the benefits of doing things like that. Yeah. And then just
just some of the conversations that you can have and then the way that they can, you know, mention stuff and you can just pick up on, you know, their experience and their everyday life and then just the way that they describe things to you as well. And then I think especially what she said about learning a few key phrases before visiting a foreign country, I think is so appreciated. You know, even if you, you know, have mispronunciations and, you know, because we are very, I feel like very forgiving to people, you know what they mean, right? And so we try to, and I think that goes a really long way.
We also learned that sometimes travel agents have access to discounts, or they know of certain types of fares that the average person wouldn't know or have access to. And I think in this case, like it's good to just kind of check prices beforehand. So you can know if you're getting a good deal or not. And, you know, just having a general knowledge. And then that way, if they come back with a great fare, or, you know, rate or something like that, then you'll be, you know, really appreciative of the work that they do.
And I wanted to mention something that didn't come up before about that when we did book that trip with the cruise planners is that we were kind of doing all our research. And I mentioned we didn't have a lot of time. And that was exactly the case. We had seen a deal. And then she kind of said, oh, it's this price. And I said, well, I'm seeing this price. But she was able to match that. But then beyond that, it was the level of service that we were able to get from her, being able to ask her questions and things like that. And so that is something I think that is invaluable that you get from a travel agent.
Yeah, because like on that trip, we were looking at the room types, I remember. And we were kind of sketched I a little bit because out, guess, it said partially obstructed view or something like that. And she was like, wait oh, a minute. well, On this this is what that means. ship, It just has a solid railing on the bottom. And she was but like, you you, when know, you're out on the balcony, your view is not obstructed at all.
Yeah. And there was other piece of advice. For example, you could pick your room or you could have a cheaper fare if you let it assign you the room. And she could tell like based on what was left, because like literally this was like six weeks before the cruise left. And she said, they're going to assign it immediately. And this is what's left. And she was like, so I don't see you any point in you paying this extra money to, you know, have that assigned. And I mean, that would be extra commission in her pocket. But yet she was more about here's what I would do, which I think is great.
And I liked what Rakeema was talking about with, you know, as a travel agent, she has access to certain benefits and things like that. And she likes to pass that along to her customers. And so, you know, just I think what we would say is if you're someone who wants to travel, but you don't enjoy all of the planning and logistics part of the trip, but you don't enjoy all of the planning and logistics part of the trip, then probably using a travel agent is the ideal situation for you. Agree.
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From navigating the best deals to handling unexpected hiccups, a travel agent can be your secret weapon for stress-free and unforgettable travel. So if you've ever felt overwhelmed by planning a trip, or if you're simply looking to make the most of your travels, we would recommend that you consider working with an agent to help you plan the next trip. Our goal is always to help you travel more and better. Where are you headed next? Send me an email at scott at sunshinetravelers.com and let me know. We are always inspired by your travel stories. We hope you enjoyed this episode and found some inspiration to help you with your travel stories. We hope you enjoyed this episode and found some inspiration to help you with your travel journeys. If you could take a moment to leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform, it would be greatly appreciated. Your five-star reviews help us get discovered by others and possibly featured on your favorite platform. Don't forget to follow or subscribe to our podcast to get notified of new episodes as they are released. You can also find us on Instagram and Facebook at Sunshine Travelers Podcast. Remember, that is Travelers with one L. Most importantly, please share it with your friends to help them catch the travel bug. You never know, they may become your greatest travel companion.
