Travel: The perfect gift for the holidays, or year-round

LACONIA — You may think back upon holidays past and remember specific traditions — gathering with family in somebody’s home, singing Christmas carols by the fire, feasting on festive dinner table spreads or watching your favorite movies. 

What may not immediately occur to you, however, is that the holiday season could be the perfect opportunity for a Caribbean getaway, or a cruise up the Danube of central Europe with a spouse or a group of close friends.

For Michelle Whitney, who started Simply Epic Travel in November, the former is nice but the latter is ideal. She’s spent years traveling the globe, picking up tricks of the trade and making detailed notes on what works and what doesn’t — now, she’s ventured out to share that information with her customers.

Through her company, Whitney offers detailed, customizable and personalized vacation packages. In the short time she’s been in operation, she’s already secured trips for more than 10 people — the first left for their respective destinations last week

“My No. 1 hobby for as long as I can remember is to travel,” Whitney said last week in an interview.

It wasn’t always that way, though. She grew up in New Hampshire and rarely, if ever, went on exotic family vacations.

“I never traveled as a kid, I was an only child,” she said. “We were not a jetsetting family by any means.”

As an adult, that's changed. She’s been around the world and back again and says she’s always looking forward to exploring new places and, now, sharing the knowledge she picks up along the way.

Over the years, Whitney told friends and family about her various trips to interesting places, sharing photos of her vacations online. As time went on, people started asking her for help planning their own trips. At some point, she started thinking, in the back of her mind, about starting a travel agency. She realized in November of this year the timing was right.

“It’s always kind of been in the back of my mind,” she said. “It’s been going very well, I’ve booked seven cruises,” among other trips already.

Some of her customers come to her with a destination in mind, or a specific cruise line that they may prefer. A recent client, a local gentleman, told her he wanted to surprise his wife with a fun trip as a Christmas gift. They’re booked for a trip to the Turks and Caicos Islands, a British Overseas territory southeast of the Bahamas in the Caribbean Sea.

Over time and travel, she’s developed extensive notes on each location she’s visited, which she uses to inform her clients about what to do and, just as importantly, what not to do wherever they’ve gone.

She remembers fondly a trip she took around 12 years ago — 2.5 months in South Africa and the Seychelles, which further infected her with a serious travel bug. At the time, she was running a bed and breakfast called the Ballard House in Meredith, so she had winters off from work. She’s still traveling as much as she can, having returned from Portugal in September.

“I move,” she said. “I like to be on the go.”

In the short time she’s been operating her business, Whitney said customers have approached her, looking to travel somewhere to enjoy the holiday season in lieu of the traditional gift-giving sequence many people participate in on Christmas morning.

“There’s nothing better than making memories,” she said. 

She offered some wise words of advice for anyone interested in doing the same. Planning far in advance can make the process easier and cheaper at times.

“If you plan ahead, that’s key,” she said. “Plan as far ahead as you can.”

Other key points to keep in mind are that booking the earliest flight out can relive some of the aches and pains of air travel and may reduce the likelihood of a delay — airports usually aren’t as busy at the beginning of the day — or booking flights on Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays, off-days for air travel.

Airfare tickets may also be more affordable on those days as airlines adjust pricing based on basic supply and demand.

Whitney said she’s noticed a recent trend where more people are interested in going to lesser-known places than in years past. She’ll hear requests regarding trips to places like Croatia or Dubai, for example, along with more traditional destinations like London.

“The Caribbean always seems to be popular,” she said. 

More often than before, people seem to prioritize travel, she said. 

“Tomorrow’s not promised.”

All of her experience and expertise aside, Whitney said the real advantage of working with her to plan your trip is the level of stress you can forget about, the finer details that she can take charge over.

“If you choose to work with a travel agent, it’s going to allow the experience to be much more seamless,” she said, noting she’s able to plan trips that appeal to an individual, personally. She meets with clients in order to get to know them and their goals or desires and attempts to program an itinerary unique to them. She asks them about what sort of activities they enjoy, what sort of climate they’d like to experience and puts together a handful of options for a customer to look into.

Looking forward to the upcoming year, Whitney said she hopes to grow her business by adding another product: tours, led by her, to places like Quebec City. She’s also planning to host an informational session regarding river cruise trips, which offer smaller and more intimate experiences to people interested in stopping port-by-port and village-by-village throughout various locations in Europe, for example.

“It’s cruising on a much smaller scale,” she said. “Much more intimate.”

Her assistance doesn’t end when a customer takes off from an airport. Before the trip begins, she will remain in contact, sending reminders, helping guide customers through the intricacies of the passport process or the hyperlocal paperwork requirements wherever they’re headed. If a customer is stuck in an airport in Germany, their flight having been canceled or otherwise, she’ll be available to take their call and help them navigate through the situation to resolution. For her, it’s a 24/7 deal.

“Travel is never perfect,” she said. “It’s almost like a concierge service. It’s more than just booking the trip — it’s start-to-finish.”

Customers who want to ensure a seamless and customizable travel experience may consider contacting her.

“Anything within reason is customizable,” she said. “I try to learn as much as I can.”

Anyone interested in contacting Whitney can navigate to her website at simplyepictravel.com for contact information.