From First Hello to Welcome Home: What It's Really Like to Plan a Trip With iTravel
Booking a big trip can feel overwhelming — so many decisions, so many moving parts, and so much pressure to get it right. That's exactly why I do what I do. I want you to actually enjoy the planning process, not just the trip itself. So I thought it would help to pull back the curtain and walk you through exactly what happens from the moment you reach out to me, all the way to the moment you're back home with your suitcase still by the door.
Step 1: Say Hello
It all starts with a simple hello. You can reach me however is easiest for you — email, Messenger, through the website, or even a text. There's no formal process to "get started." Just tell me you're dreaming about a trip, and we'll go from there.
Step 2: Let's Get on a Call
Once you reach out, I'll send you a calendar link so we can set up a phone call — and I always encourage everyone who is investing in the trip to be part of that first conversation. This isn't just a formality. It's genuinely one of the most important parts of the whole process.
On this call, we'll talk about:
The kinds of experiences you're dreaming about
When you're hoping to travel
Who's coming along
What your budget expectations look like
This conversation does double duty: it helps me start shaping a trip that actually fits you, and it helps us both figure out if we're a good match to work together. Not every travel agent is the right fit for every traveler, and that's okay — this call is where we find that out, together, before any money changes hands.
Step 3: The Retainer Fee
If we both feel good about moving forward, I'll send over an invoice for a retainer fee. Depending on how complex your trip is, this typically runs $250–$500. Think of this less as an extra cost and more as a commitment — it tells me you're serious and ready to have your trip planned, and it goes toward the total cost of your trip. It's not money spent on top of your trip; it's simply the first piece of it.
Step 4: Building Your Proposal
Once your retainer is paid, the real magic starts happening behind the scenes. I reach out to my trusted partners in whatever part of the world you're dreaming of, and together we build a draft itinerary just for you — complete with pricing.
One thing I want to be upfront about: I don't itemize pricing, because my partners don't itemize for me either. We work in packages, much like booking an all-inclusive resort or a cruise — you get one total price for the experience, not a line-by-line breakdown of every cost. If having an itemized invoice for every component is a must-have for you, we probably aren't the right fit, and that's genuinely okay to know upfront.
Step 5: Accepting Your Proposal & Making It Official
Once you've reviewed the proposal — and it's completely normal if this takes a few rounds of revisions to get just right — we'll move forward with your deposit. This is typically about 30% of your total trip cost. Once that's paid, we start actually reserving your trip: hotels, transfers, tours, all of it.
From there, you have options. You can pay the remaining balance whenever works for you leading up to the trip, or set up a payment plan with autopay so it's one less thing to think about. Either way, final payment is typically due about 75 days before departure.
Step 6: The Countdown Begins
While you wait for your trip, I'm not just sitting quietly. You'll receive a trip insurance quote and helpful informational emails along the way to help you prepare. I can also help you book your flights, or you're welcome to handle those on your own — whatever you prefer.
About a month before you depart, you'll receive your final itinerary and travel documents, which you can upload right into the Axus app. This is one of my favorite parts of the process, because it means everything — your itinerary, your documents, even your trip insurance information (because let's be honest, nobody wants to think about that until they actually need it) — lives in one convenient place on your phone.
I also record a personal video overview of your itinerary. Clients consistently tell me they love this, because you can watch it on your own time, pause it, rewind it, and jot down any questions as they come up — no pressure to absorb everything in one live phone call. That said, we can absolutely still hop on a final call together if you'd like one.
Before you head out the door, we'll make sure you know exactly what to do if anything comes up while you're traveling. You'll always have our suppliers' direct phone numbers, and you'll have access to our emergency concierge service for extra peace of mind.
And Then... You Go!
That's it — from that very first hello to the moment you land back home, I'm with you every step of the way. This is the kind of hands-on, personal service that I believe makes all the difference between booking a trip and truly being taken care of while planning one.
If this sounds like the kind of experience you're looking for, I'd love to hear from you. Reach out anytime — email, Messenger, text, or through the website — and let's start dreaming up your next trip together.
While You're Traveling
Here's the thing a lot of people don't realize: my job doesn't stop the moment you walk through airport security. It just looks a little different.
If a true emergency comes up while you're traveling, you'll have access to our emergency concierge number, day or night. But it's not just for emergencies — that same number is there if you simply want to adjust plans on the fly, like getting to the airport a little earlier than scheduled, or if you run into a flight delay or a luggage issue along the way. Knowing you're taken care of, especially across time zones, gives me just as much peace of mind as it gives you.
And you won't be left guessing about the day-to-day details, either. Everything you need — meeting spots, meeting times, directions, what time to arrive, what to bring — is already laid out for you in your travel documents. No digging, no wondering, no last-minute scrambling. It's all right there.
Welcome Home
Once you're back and settled in, I'll check in with you to hear all about it — the highlights, the surprises, and any feedback you have. This part matters to me more than people often expect. Your experience doesn't just tell me how the trip went; it helps me keep getting better at what I do, and it often shapes how I plan for the next client headed to the same part of the world.
That's it — from that very first hello to the moment you land back home and we catch up about how it all went, I'm with you every step of the way. This is the kind of hands-on, personal service that I believe makes all the difference between booking a trip and truly being taken care of, from start to finish.
If this sounds like the kind of experience you're looking for, I'd love to hear from you. Reach out anytime — email, Messenger, text, or through the website — and let's start dreaming up your next trip together.
816 377 4921
