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How Travel Advisors Get Paid
We’re a membership-based travel agency. Join ActiveTravels and pay the $60 yearly fee and you’ll receive our monthly newsletters, be enrolled for hotel giveaways, and most importantly, have someone to help with planning and be of service if something should go wrong during travels. Once you join, you fill out a travel questionnaire that helps us custom-design your trip based on your likes and dislikes about traveling. We receive our commissions directly from the tour operators, hotels, cruise lines, etc. that we work with around the globe. You don’t pay extra. We simply receive our 10 to 15% cut by sending them business. There are exceptions to this rule. First, airlines only pay commissions on business class seats. So we need to charge you $50 for flight for ticketing. Second, we design a slew of independent itineraries all over America, Europe, and beyond. I just finished designing a 4-month trip to South America for a couple who took a year sabbatical. This includes all logistics-planes, trains, buses, hotels, guides, even a cruise to the Galapagos Islands. This takes a lot of time and often includes small inns or boutique hotels that don’t pay commission. So we have to charge the client directly depending on the number of days. But a typical weeklong independent itinerary fee costs $500-$700.
Taking the Golden Pass from Montreux
After a necessary stop on the French side of Switzerland to dine on patisserie in Montreux at Confiserie Zurcher, visit that glorious castle on the waters of Lake Geneva, Chateau de Chillon, and peer out at the awe-inspiring Mont Blanc from the balcony of my hotel, Eurotel Montreux, we took one of the classic Switzerland train rides on the Golden Pass. Throughout our entire trip, the Swiss Rail system was a breeze to use. All trains were on time (of course, this is the home of Rolex), comfortable, and easy to use thanks to an 8-day Swiss Travel Pass that allows you to jump on and off the rail system at your leisure. Complimentary admission to museums and sights like the Chillon Castle was an added perk for getting the pass. Along with the Chocolate Train and the Glacier Express, the Golden Pass is one of the signature train rides in Switzerland. We boarded the classic train in Montreux in the morning and soon were riding far above the shores of Lake Geneva, making stops in small mountain villages as hikers and bikers wandered off into the hillside. We stopped in the glamorous skiing resort town of Gstaad, before switching trains in Zweisimmen and taking the far more modern train to Bern. Trying one of these historic trains is a must when visiting the country.
Adventure Travel Trends in 2018
St. Lucia Week: Walking the Tet Paul Nature Trail
What’s New in the New England Après-Ski Scene
There’s very little “new” in New England and that’s just the way we like it. We’re proud of our history in this little corner of the country, including home to some of the oldest ski resorts in the nation. After all, we’re the hearty bunch who still cherishes the single chair at Vermont’s Mad River Glen. Yes, we’ll happily embrace the new heated bubble chair at Okemo this winter, but we like our predictability. This is especially true of the après-ski scene, where we’ve been going to the same bars and restaurants for years, if not decades. That’s why it’s always a surprise when a new restaurant comes on the scene and creates a buzz in town. This is exactly what happened in Stowe this past March when the small eatery Plate made its debut. Los Angeles natives Jamie Persky and Mark Rosman create a Californian mix of salads made from local produce and meat dishes like a pork belly and egg appetizer. Local microbrews like Lost Nation Brewery from Morrisville are on tap and their signature dessert, the banana pudding, is already receiving rave reviews.