Why NOT to book via travel agent?

A couple of years back from now, I decided to finally travel abroad for a holiday. To be honest I started very late (First overseas trip at age of 27), however in a span of the next two years covered a hell lotta more destinations.

The first trip was to Czech Republic and Hungary. Why these two countries? 

I was very sure that I wanted to enter the European domain, however passport being a virgin. lead to doubts about getting a guaranteed visa. Fear of a reject visa lead to approaching travel agents and seeking advice. SWITZERLAND is the homeland for Indian Tourists and their consulate is usually very fair in giving visa to even first time goers provided the papers are in order.

Accompanied by a couple of friends, a Swiss destination was not the thing on our minds, since we are all brainwashed from childhood that it is a country more suitable for couples. After a few consultation rounds, got to know even Czech Republic is quite fair for giving visas to first time goers. So there it is, plan got finalised for Czech. Now going all the way to Europe, who does just one country especially when with Schengen visa, it’s so easy to trespass the neighbouring countries! So let’s do two to three countries in 10 days or why not even more.

MIND THIS! It’s the worst idea to cover even two countries in this usual span of ten days, ideally stick to one country, this we realised only after the trip fiasco. Don’t think oh the flight is expensive, so let’s cover more. That’s the usual mind-set and it leads to nothing but chaos, trust me!  Nevertheless we decided to do Hungary along with Czech Republic as it is adjacent and decided if time permits why not visit Vienna in Austria (BAD PLAN!). So we fixed this itinerary with a travel agent who took care of all our booking, hotels, inclusions, tours and so on. Referred us to a visa agent and we began the process. The paper work seemed to be never-ending for Schengen visa especially since it was the first time. But we managed to complete all in a week’s time and initiated the process. Got the VISA in one week and hell yeah, the trip is on!

We did Prague and Cesky Krumlov in Czech Republic followed by Budapest and Eger in Hungary and finally Vienna in Austria in a total of 10 days. Although the trip was awesome, we realised booking via travel agents is not a good idea. As they give limited choices of hotel, where once you visit, you feel ripped off for the amount you paid. Also they don’t focus much on an itinerary and give you inaccurate info, for instance we reached Cesky Krumlov (fairy-tale town) very late because our travel agent gave us misguiding travel time information. Also we decided to stay back there, we had a day tour already booked next day and wanted to postpone it or cancel it. This was prepaid. However even after calling the travel agent repeatedly they didn’t help us and said their supplier is not responding, so what was paid could not be recovered obviously for them it was a pure profit.

Also we were charged for a hotel room and made to stay at a hostel in Budapest. It was not bad however was definitely not worth the price we paid.

Looking at these things I strongly felt the need of booking an international trip always on my own from the next time and so did I. We have too much fear and also sometimes we worry unnecessarily. On doing just a basic research on web and designing your own itinerary will always lead to a more fulfilling trip.  So I decided for sure that any future trips will be completely devised and planned on our own and never to involve any third party except of course visa.