What happens once you hand the trip over

By phone or over Google Meet. You tell me where you’re thinking of going, roughly when, and who’s coming. I tell you what fits, what I’d rule out, and whether I’m the right person for it. Sometimes I’m not, and I’d rather say so on that call than three weeks in. If I am, I’ll tell you what the planning fee would be on that same call, so you know the cost before you decide.

If you’d rather write first, send me the trip and I’ll reply within one business day.

Once your answers are back, I start the research. I find the options that match your interests and how you like to travel, and then check what each one is actually like. What comes back is a proposal that lays the trip out day by day: every flight, transfer, hotel and activity, what’s worth knowing about each one, and what each costs, with the total up front. Where there’s a real choice to make, like two different tours on the same evening, I lay out the options and you pick. I also tell you plainly what isn’t in it yet. If a rate is nonrefundable, I say so right next to the price, so you never meet it for the first time at checkout.

If something isn’t right, tell me and we’ll change it together until it fits.

The proposal comes from my planning software, TravelJoy, so it’s worth adding jessica@amaya-travel.com to your contacts before it arrives. It has an app too, where you can download your itinerary and read it offline during the trip.

Before you leave, you get your final itinerary in the TravelJoy app and a Know Before You Go with the practical details for where you’re going. And a text from me at (206) 590-0399 as you head off.

You’ll hear from me by email when you get home, and once more after that to follow up.

How fast do you reply?

Within one business day, Monday to Friday. While you’re traveling, the same day.

Who can you work with?

I can work with residents of the US and Canada, except Hawaii and Quebec. Both come down to licensing.

Does using a travel advisor cost more?

For most of what I arrange, no. Hotels and cruise lines pay a commission on what they sell, whether it’s sold by me, by an online travel site, or by their own reservations line. That money is in the rate either way. What changes is whether somebody is spending it on your behalf, and whether the hotel program extras land on your reservation, which they don’t if you arrange it yourself.

What if I want to go somewhere you haven’t been?

I’ll tell you up front. I have a network of contacts and suppliers around the world who help me plan the places I haven’t been myself, and every place still gets checked the same way.

Do you only do cruises?

No. I plan and book cruises, trips entirely on land, and trips that are both, anywhere in the world.

Is there anything I shouldn’t use you for?

A single flight. Something you’ve already chosen at a property I can add nothing to, that just needs holding. Reserve those yourself and keep the money. The exception is a hotel I can place into one of the programs I book through, because the rate is the same either way and booking direct is what costs you the extras.

Can we meet in person?

If you’re around Seattle and Snohomish County, yes. There’s more on the Seattle and Everett page.