How to Find the Right Travel Planner: They Still Exist
(Photo: iStock/CHRISsadowski)
Veteran consumer travel expert Wendy Perrin has just released her annual list of best travel agents in the world, The WOW List of Wendy’s Trusted Travel Experts. The 2016 collection names the top travel planners, as reviewed by Perrin herself and by her readership of savvy high-end travelers, along with the destinations in which each planner specializes.
As she explains on her site, the problem many travelers face is: “You’re planning an important trip to an unfamiliar destination. You want minimal hassle and maximum efficiency—no time-wasting logistical surprises, no battling tourist hordes and lines. You want to experience the destination like an insider.”
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The solution, she says, is “a travel fixer with unparalleled on-the-ground connections and expertise—a destination specialist who lives where you’re going, or visits often enough to have an office there, and who holds the keys to the kingdom.”
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Perrin began her list of the best travel planners more than a decade ago, and it’s been joked that it’s harder to get into than Harvard. The travel agents, tour operators, and destination-based travel companies who have earned a spot on this year’s list cover more than 100 of the world’s most popular and most up-and-coming destinations, from Italy to Disney to the American West to the Arctic.
Here’s a sample of travel planners on Perrin’s WOW List. If you contact them through Perrin’s site, she promises to personally watch over your trip planning process to make sure you’re satisfied with the experts on her list. See the full WOW List here.
American West: Caroline Bach Wood
Australia: Stuart Rigg, Southern Crossings
Austria: Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland: Gwen Kozlowski, Exeter International
Bhutan, Myanmar, and Nepal: Antonia Neubauer, Myths and Mountains
China: Mei Zhang, WildChina
Costa Rica: Michael Kaye and Natalie Ewing, Costa Rica Expeditions
East Africa Safaris: Linda Friedman, Custom Safaris
England, Ireland, and Scotland: Jonathan and Preston Epstein, Celebrated Experiences
Expedition Cruises (Arctic, Antarctic): Ashton Palmer, ExpeditionTrips
India: Sanjay Saxena of Destination Himalaya
Italy: Brian Dore and Maria Gabriella Landers, Concierge in Umbria
Luxury Small-Ship Cruises: Leslie Fambrini, Personalized Travel Consultants
Mexico: Zachary Rabinor, Journey Mexico
New Zealand: Jean-Michel Jefferson, Ahipara
Ocean and River Cruises: Tom Baker, Cruise Center
Pacific Northwest: Sheri Doyle, Pacific Northwest Journeys
Portugal and Spain: Joel Zack, Heritage Tours Private Travel
Southeast Asia: Andrea Ross, Journeys Within
Southern Africa Safaris: Julian Harrison, Premier Tours
Uzbekistan and Central Asia: Zulya Rajabova, Silk Road Treasure Tours
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