Back at it again! Some travelers have been asking what are some of the many benefits there are in regards to travel.

1. You get to see several destinations in one trip. This means that instead of going to just one destination and seeing sights and doing activities in the surrounding area, a cruise allows you to go to different ports of calls, being able to see the sights and go on excursions. It also gives you a chance to immerse yourself into the many different cultures. The pricing may be higher than you would normally pay for a vacation, but it is worth it to have the experiences that will last for a lifetime!
2. There are many cruises options that you can choose from. Whether it be a Disney cruise where there is something for the whole family to enjoy, to a River Cruise where there are less passengers on board because of the cruise ship being smaller. There are several cruise lines that are River cruises that creates lifetime memories when it comes to learning more about the history of the areas that the cruise goes to.
3. There are cruises for about any budget. Saving for a cruise can take some time, but you never know what times of the year that savings can come to where it saves some of what you would have paid and you can save that money for more souvenirs to bring back from your cruise, or you can put it into savings for your next vacation idea, whether it be a cruise or another type of travel plan. One great way to be able to keep up on deals, is by having your travels planned out by a travel agent. Travel agents will get the first scoop of new deals coming that they can give to their clients. Most cruises have the option of payment plans, with the payment of a deposit. Just know that you will not be able to choose the stateroom until the payment is paid in full.
4. One last tip for cruising is that if you decide to become an avid cruise traveler, there could be areas on the ship to talk to a crew member to ask about booking your next cruise if you already know where and the time that you wish to travel. Most times, you can book it with a payment of a deposit.

There are so many benefits to travel by cruise ship, but I know I cannot wait until I can take a cruise and give even more tips as an insider.

If you want to book travel, please email Golden Opportunities travel at goldenopportunities@yahoo.com or by calling (800) 497-5989.

If you wish to know more about becoming a travel agent, please text Travel Agent with your name to (602) 477-9882.

Until next time!

Hello All!

I hope that this newest blog brings you to a happy place. I have been thinking a lot about what a travel agent does. Here are a few of the many job duties for a travel agent:

1. Preparation: getting the basic information needed to get the quote started for the client.
2. Sending the quote to the client.
3. If the client is ready to book, making sure all of the necessary forms are filled out to take payments and get the travel plans booked.
4. Making sure before the client goes on the trip that they have everything ready to go (depending on where the destination is: passports are valid, reminder of some of the fees for baggage check in, etc)
5. Be available for the client while they are on their vacation (I will go into a little more detail later on).
6. Send out Thank you cards for letting the client know they are appreciative of their business and to remind them to spread the word if they have other people in mind that would benefit from the travel agent services.
7. Keep up to date information (especially with COVID-19, Real ID Act updates, etc)
8. Just like any job….on the job trainings (there are never ending amounts of vendors to choose from and in order to book through the vendor, you have to complete the training in order to make your commissions)

The above mentioned items are just the basics. It is not an exhaustive list of what travel agents do.

What I was talking about earlier in List Item #5 is being available to client. Normally, I am off on Sundays and any time off of my regular weekday job. But the only time I am available during those times is if a client is on their trip and an emergency comes up. I have to be ready to go into action at a moment’s notice. This week, my wife and I were on vacation for our 14th wedding anniversary. My current client who is on a missions trip, became ill and had to be hospitalized past the date of her return flight. I had to take about 2 hours away from my vacation to cancel the return flight and get a credit issued so when it was time to re-book the return flight, at least she would not have to worry about a good amount of the fare difference. Today, she let me know she was ready to re-book. There are now more items to consider in her re-booking. I took about 6 hours of my day trying to get everything together. A lot of that time was sitting on hold between the airlines and the vendor. In that 6 hours I was able to get her return flight re-booked and was trying to get back with the airlines because I have to deal with seat assignments and talking with the specialist team regarding another request that only the department can handle. I get to work on that some tomorrow. A lot of the hold times are because people are having to rebook due to COVID-19. That is an example of the one-off situations that a travel agent can deal with.

In the above scenario, the travel agent takes the stress off of the customer (as much as they will allow the agent to do so) by making all of these calls when situations arise.

When it comes to this business, I do not see it as work. Do I see it as a hobby, not at all! But there is a saying that I have heard: If you enjoy what you do, you do not regret going to work (Paraphrased). I do not consider this work because I am in love with planning (you can ask my lovely wife). She basically gives out ideas on where to go and then we see what we can make happen. So basically, you give me an idea of where you want to go, when you want to go, budget, etc and I go to town with research and we go from there.

I get a lot of people that love to book their own travel, for many reasons (they like the process, they have people who do the booking for them (they just pay their part), and the list goes on). Those are the people that I love to talk about possibly becoming a travel agent because you are paying the commission to someone else when you book through other sites, so why not get a piece of that commission for any trips that you book for yourself.

I have learned a lot in the past close to 4 years now of being in this field and continue to learn more every day. If there is a situation that I have never been in before, I go through the process of finding the solution, and as I go along, find ways to fine tune it to where it will not take as long for the future.

One of the many joys I get with this field of work are the smiles I see on people’s faces when they come back from their trip and let me know how things went. It definitely makes it worthwhile to give a service to others who can benefit from wanting to go on vacation, but do not want the stress of the planning. Let the travel agent do the work and let yourselves loose and have a great time and relax on your vacation.

If you are needing a trip booked, please contact me at 602-477-9882 or email me at goldenopportunities@yahoo.com

If you are interested in becoming a travel agent, please contact me at 602-477-9882 or goldenopportunities@yahoo.com for more details.

If you have any questions or have any topic ideas for future blogs, please contact me at goldenopportunities@yahoo.com

Until next time!

Good evening everyone! I hope you all have been doing well. A lot of changes have come about and I am ready to get back into the blogging world again, bringing you different tips, tricks, and any other information you may need in regards to travel.

Tonight, I want to focus on some of my travels when I was younger and what my favorite travel areas are.

When I was growing up as a child, my father was in the Marine Corps. When I was 5, I lived in Japan. That particular area, I do not remember much of, but I would love to go back to Japan at some point to visit the country I lived in for about a year or less in.

Ages 8-10, I lived in Iceland. And yes, it is like we have learned in school, where Greenland is more Ice and Iceland is more green (outside of the winters – I lived through at least 2 blizzards). It is such a pretty area to visit. My 2 most favorite spots when living there were the Blue Lagoon and anywhere there was a waterfall. The Blue Lagoon is so warm and soothing. When you get out, on the other hand, you will wish you had your sweater, but it is still a great place to visit. The waterfalls are so pretty. I cannot wait until I can travel again and take my wife there for a couple of weeks.

Now to some of my favorite travel sites.

1. Grand Canyon (Arizona – South Rim): I had a chance to visit the Grand Canyon when my wife’s parents came to Arizona for a visit. They actually surprised us with the 1 night stay. It is such a masterpiece of scenery to look at, no matter where you are in that tour.
2. San Antonio, TX: When my wife and I got married in 2007, we spent a week in San Antonio for our honeymoon. We got to see a lot of great historical sites, like the Alamo. We also did an impromptu carriage ride, taking in the sites in a tour around the city. Was so amazing. We cannot wait to go re-create those memories someday.
3. When I was in college, I went on a Spring Break missions trip to Poland. I was there for a little over a week and it ended up being the longest winter in this history of the country of Poland. It snowed every day. I would not have traded that experience for the world! The people are amazing and nice. At that time, the exchange rate was amazing. I also got to see some amazing castles. I would love to go back to see the country without an agenda, as well as see the youth kids that I met that I still keep in touch with to this day. That trip was in 2006.

Now to finish with some of my favorite areas I would love to visit:

1. Italy: I would love to go see some of the amazing sites that Italy has to offer.
2. New Zealand: Even though I am afraid of heights, I would love to do some zip lining.
3. Alaska: My wife and I plan on doing an Alaskan Cruise at some point.
4. Australia: I would love to be on the beaches of Australia, as well as go see the Sydney Opera House.
5. Greece: I have always been intrigued with Greece and all it has to offer.

So many amazing places to visit, and too little time. But, as time goes on, I will start posting more blogs about different areas. It will include, where the best places to stay are, what the best things to experience are, whether it be food, entertainment, or anything else pertinent about the area.

If you have any travel needs, please visit https://www.evotravelagent.com/goldenopportunities.

I also have a Travel Inquiry Form that I am starting to use. Here is the link for that so you can fill it out and I will get back to you: *www.jotform.com gets credit for this form that was created.*

Until next time!

Good evening everyone!!

I know that this is uncertain times with lockdowns, border closures, etc. I know that travel has taken a hit. But the one thing about travel that I love is that even though we are travel agents, travel will not go away. When this pandemic is over, people will be wanting to travel again. Yes, money may still be tight, but a getaway will be in demand!

Another thing about travel is that vendors are trying to lighten people’s spirits by being able to focus on future travel with some great pricing. So, clients may not be able to travel at this time, this travel agent included, but travel agents can keep busy with not only helping customers with future travel plans, but we will also take this down time to do more travel training opportunities to find new and possibly better deals.

Right now, in this uncertain time also comes with anxiety. Questions keep whirling around our minds. When a client is thinking about their getaway vacation after being home for so long, their trustworthy travel agent will help take that stress away. Vacations are supposed to be stress-free. That’s why I love this profession. I love to help my clients have a great vacation!

I cannot wait to be able to service your travel needs!

If you wish to get your future travels planned, please email me at goldenopportunities@yahoo.com or call/text at (580) 819-3100.

If you wish to become a travel agent on my team, please email me at goldenopportunties@yahoo.com

If you wish to visit my website, go to evotravelagent.com/goldenopportunities

Until next time!!

Good evening everyone! Hope all of you are doing well! This blog post stemmed from a comment I saw on Facebook. I was tagged, with several other tagged people, and someone mentioned about not wasting time with using a travel agent because you can book it yourself for a fraction of the price a travel agent could charge.

This could be true, depending on the vacation….but travel agents do more than book travel for you and your family. We are here to support in any way we can. Yes, there are some agents that could charge an arm and a leg…..but there are people out there that do not do a astronomical fee, but they may charge due to the amount of research and time that goes into the trip planning. But if you do not give the travel agents a chance, you may miss out on a promotion that he or she is running.

For those of you that do not know what travel agents do, here is just some of the tid bits:

1. Trained to work with multiple vendors. When we build relationships with the vendors, it helps us help our clients better. Knowing the different vendors we work with, we can effectively and efficiently pick the best vendor for the client and their trip needs. Another reason we train with different vendors is because we could help get some extra perks to make your trip more memorable.
2. Problem Solvers: One thing that differentiates a travel agent versus someone booking their own is that when something goes wrong, the agent will take that stress and do what they can in order to rectify a situation. But know that not all situations can be rectified and the agent will give you all of that information (if there is a fee, if it is past the cancellation time frame, etc) and the client can take that information and make a decision. If a client decided to not go with a travel agent, the client will have to deal with all of that stress.
3. Be on the look out. Travel Agents will always be looking for different deals in different states, or even around the world. You never know where you will want to travel if your agent is not in the know.
4. Information givers: When a client comes to an agent looking to book a trip, the agent will take into consideration all of the trip information and put the price together, when payment is due, and let the client choose what they want.

I know for my clients, I try my best to go above and beyond just planning the trip. It may be something small, but it is a token of my appreciation.

There is so much more that travel agents do, but I do not want to have too long of blogs, as well as get you, the readers of the blog, engaged.

If you wish to book travel, please go fill out a Vacation Request form on evotravelagent.com/goldenopportunities and I will get an email.

If you wish to become an agent, please email goldenopportunities@yahoo.com

Until next time…

Good evening everyone! So much has happened lately that I had to take a step back! But I am back with more passion to help people with their travel needs.

When people enter business for themselves, they normally have a “why” to the reason to make their business work. Some reasons are money, time with family, more time to do what they want to do it, when, and how they want to do it.

My “why” for this business is simple. I love to travel. I love to make the plans. When my wife and I go on vacation, she will tell me what ideas she has, as well as what the travel plans have to include and then she let’s me go to work. Another “why” for me becoming a travel agent is to break the cycle of living paycheck to paycheck. When we live this way, it is hard to save money, which in turn, makes it difficult to make memories with your family and loved ones.

Yes, I have a 9-5 job and I love everyone I work with, but what I love is to make other people see that they can have a great time on vacation, being able to unwind and not think about the day-to-day. When you do what you love, you don’t mind the work. When you are pursuing your passion, everything changes. My passion for travel is limitless.

I started traveling at 2 weeks old, flying from California to Louisiana to meet my mom’s family for the first time. I have traveled and lived in 2 different countries in my life. At 5 years old, I lived in Japan. From ages 8-10, I lived in Iceland, all thanks to my dad’s military career. I have also had a chance to go on a Missions Trip while attending Bible College in 2006 to Poland.

As I have been in this industry for a full year (between both agencies I have had the privilege to be a part of, it has been almost 2 years), I have decided that not only will I book travel for not only myself and others, I am embarking on a new journey in the travel industry…..building a team. Yes, we are all Independent Contractors, but I know I can lead my team to victories.

Is this industry hard? What industry isn’t hard? It is a lot of work building your own business from the ground up, as I am still trying to do…but as it is always said in the 2 agencies I have been a part of….”You may be in business FOR yourself, but you are most definitely NOT doing this business BY yourself!!”

Thank you for reading this longer than most post, but sometimes, I have to remember the reasons why I am doing this business.

Who will join me, whether it be by letting me book your next vacation, or becoming your own agent and taking the enormous amount of benefits and running with it?

Until next time…

Hi everyone! I hope this last week has been a great one for all of you! In this blog post, I want to touch a little bit on this one aspect of travel….Family Travel.

Where did you go for family vacations, family reunions, etc? When I was a child, my dad was a part of the Marine Corps. So, each year, he got a full 30 day month off at one time, so we would drive from California to Louisiana, Arkansas, etc. Yes, they were long road trips, but it was the best time with my family. When I graduated high school in 2000, my aunt, who lived in Iceland at the time (I lived there for 2 years as a child), paid for my trip out there to see what has changed, as well as to see my family again. Now, I am married and when we take trips, we also include my wife’s passion, which is to go to the different Diners, Drive Ins and Dives restaurants.

There are different types of family travels that a travel agent can help you with.

If you are wanting to drive and do a road trip, a travel agent can help you with the best hotels in the area, as well as book those hotels for you. Travel agents can also help with different attractions, if you know where you want to stop.

If you are wanting to go on a cruise, a travel agent can help you with the different areas to explore, look for different excursions that you and your family can experience, most being once in a lifetime events. Travel agents are here to help take the stress away from planning and take your ideas, and bring them all (or most of them, depending on the budget and ambition) to life. There are different kinds of cruises you can go on….you can go on a family cruise, you can plan a family reunion cruise (I am starting to see more of those come into play nowadays), sister’s getaway, brother’s getaway, and so much more.

If you are planning a family reunion, a travel agent can help you with a venue location, whether it is a banquet hall, or even going to a historic location that has tremendous meaning to your family.

One last area of family travel is if you are an adventurous family and love amusement parks, a travel agent can help you get tickets lined up, as well as any other accommodations needed (hotel- whether on park site or in the immediate area, flights, as well as any other attractions that you think you want to do).

I will end with a couple of tips:

1. When planning, think about your vacation budget. In your budget, you should think about any fees that your travel agent may put into place for their time and services. Also, your budget should include the following: how many people are going on the trip, where you wish to go, where you wish to stay at your destination, any sites you want to see, just to name a few.
2. If you are traveling with children, look into different activities that can keep them at bay and will keep their attention. Always have a plan in place for any unforseen circumstances.
3. ALWAYS think about travel insurance. You never know what can happen in life where you may have to cancel a trip. This should always be in your budget as well. Golden Opportunities will always send you separate quotes for the different travel insurance packages once a final destination has been chosen. You, as the traveler, can always accept or deny the travel insurance.

Any kind of travel can be stressful in the planning stages. If you are wanting help with your travel needs, contact your local travel agent. If you do not have a local travel agent, Golden Opportunities Travel would love to help you plan your next family vacation!

You can contact Joshua Goldman at Golden Opportunities Travel by email at goldenopportunities@yahoo.com or you can go to evotravelagent.com/goldenopportunities and fill out a Travel Inquiry Form and Golden Opportunities Travel will get back to you within 24-48 hours.

Until next time!

Hey everyone! We are now into the heavy travel time for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. No matter if you are driving, flying, or riding a train or bus to your destination, here are some tips to get through the holiday travel times.

1. Give yourself extra time. For example, if you are flying, it is suggested you get to the airport 2 hours before departure for a domestic flight and 3 hours before departure for international flights. With the busy travel times for the holidays, it is suggested on adding at least 1 more hour to those timelines to make it through check in, TSA and get to your gate in time.
2. Relax and breathe. Heavy travel times can bring extra amounts of stress, especially when there are weather delays, or even just regular delays. Traffic during the holidays can be hectic as well. So, this is another reason to give yourself more than enough time to get to your destination.
3. Plan ahead. When traveling, you will want to have a plan in place, as well as different plans when it comes to delays or when something happens and plans have to change. When you travel, you will want to plan on who you want to know that you are traveling and give the person(s) involved the itinerary in case something were to happen and they can let family know if there are delays or if something tragic has happened. You should also plan your return travel as well in the same way you did with your departure travel.
4. Have fun! Along the traveling journey, it can be smooth, but can also be chaotic. When you put your plan into place, everything can go a lot smoother. When you arrive to your destination, have fun and enjoy your visit!!

Have a great Thanksgiving and Christmas!!!

If you wish to plan some holiday travel, there is still time! Email goldenopportunities@yahoo.com with the travel plan details and we can go from there.

Until next time!

Hi everyone! Hope you all have been great!

This edition covers my trip to the Grand Canyon back in September. I always knew it was a majestic place to visit, as well as the Grand Canyon was a destination that I never thought I could every have the chance to visit.

It was nice that it was cool this time of year, temperature-wise. There was a lot of walking along the bus ride we took to different spots and vantage points. I only toured the South Rim. With each vantage point, you can see down into the Canyon for miles and miles and from just about any direction.

For the faint heart, in regards to heights, you will have to see the Canyon from where you feel comfortable. I am one of those people who loves roller coasters, but I despise heights. But, I took the plunge and saw where my limits were…even though it is a gated area around the edge, at most spots, I still felt the urge like I was about to go over the edge. But, there were points where I sat or stood and am glad that I did. I conquered a small part of my fear for heights. There were so many breath-taking views.

It was definitely a once in a lifetime trip, and I cannot wait to go see what the North Rim of the Grand Canyon has to offer.

If you ever have a chance to take a trip to the Grand Canyon, please do so! You will not be disappointed. The Grand Canyon has many facets for any kind of traveler. You can take in the views as I did, as a tourist, looking at the Canyon and thinking about all that was created. You can take the views in with a group of travelers, as well as having a tour guide that is specific to your group. Lastly, if you are a hiker, the Grand Canyon has many different hiking trails, ranging from 1 day hikes to going from one rim to the other, that takes multiple days!

You can even take a helicopter ride to overlook the canyon and get it from the air.

If you wish to make a trip for the family or any kind of group, please go to evotravelagent.com/goldenopportunities or email Golden Opportunities Travel at goldenopportunities@yahoo.com with dates, how many people (adults, children, etc) and what accommodations you will need for your trip.

Until next time!

Hello my fellow travelers! I hope you all have been well. I was trying to wait until I got some pictures from my phone to my computer, but those will have to come later.

My wife and I just went on a weekend getaway for our anniversary. This was the very first time for living the resort lifestyle. I have always heard different pros and cons in regards to resorts versus regular hotels.

A pro in certain resorts can be that it is an all-inclusive resort, meaning there are more perks than you would get for a regular hotel. Some examples would be all food and drinks are included in the price you pay, spa credits (if the resort has a spa), and upgraded rooms can even be a perk.

A con in the resort life is that on top of what you pay for the booking of the resort, it will, most of the time, exclude the extra resort fees which is per night of the stay. So, if you are wanting to book a resort, make sure you have the funding for that as well, especially if it is not placed into the price you pay when you confirm the booking.

When I was deciding on where to stay for our weekend getaway, I looked at a lot of regular hotels, but then I came across today’s Resort Highlight, the 3 Palms Resort in Tucson, Arizona!

It not only had the best pricing, especially for a resort, but had the best room layouts. I decided to book a mini suite. It had the layout like an apartment. It had your sitting area with a TV, had a kitchenette, that was FULL size, and the bedroom/bathroom area in its own area of the suite. The nice thing about it being laid out separately is if you wanted to watch TV and someone else in your party wanted to have some quiet time, they could go into the bedroom area and shut the door to have their privacy.

The pool area was nice. Since it rained a decent bit, I couldn’t try it out. For the golfers, they had a small putting green to practice! The breakfast area had a great layout. You could sit inside or you could go outside to the atrium area and enjoy your breakfast. They had more than your normal continental breakfast of toast, cereal, and Belgian waffle maker. The resort also had eggs, sausage and potatoes.

The staff, from the front desk to the housekeeping staff, were amazing! Check in was a breeze. The front staff was friendly at all times. They were letting people know of any possible delays that could occur during check-in and getting to the rooms. They were professional in all aspects of their position.

As for a rating, from 0-5, I would rate the 3 Palms Resort a 4.5. Even though it was a smaller resort, but the professionalism that was presented, as well as it being pretty quiet, is what made me want to go back there again if I needed to get away. The only downside, there is only 1 elevator on the property. If the elevator does not take you to the part of the resort you are staying at, then you have to carry your luggage upstairs.

When I can get the pictures up, I would love to update this post and show you this awesome resort.

As I go more places, you will see more reviews like this.

If you wish to get some more information or a quote regarding an upcoming trip, please go to http://www.goldenopportunitiestravel.club and fill out a Travel Inquiry Form. It will then send me an email stating you are interested in booking travel and I will get back to you within 24-48 hours with a quote or an email answering any questions that you may have.

If you are interested in more information about becoming a Professional Travel Consultant, please email me at goldenopportunities@yahoo.com to set up a time to talk. I would love to have your join my team and open your own business!

Until next time!