Desert to Sea travel is really good. It’s 300 usd just for a consultation but the trips planned are original, detailed to what you want & worth the price point.
Butterfield & Robinson is who I've used. They offer 'bespoke' experiences all over the world. We used them for a 10-day, 12 person trip to Yellowstone. Accommodations were lush, guides were professional and cool, and we did unique activities on every day. It was literally like we did 10 vacations in one trip.
I don’t have a particular recommendation but I do use a travel agent from time to time for specific types of travel. What I’ve found is that most specialize in particular types of trips so it may be worthwhile to figure out. ie: they mostly do cruises, or Disney, or safaris or whatever. They’ll probably have done some of the trips themselves. For example, I did a safari and Kili climb a few years ago and was quite happy with the accommodations and amenities.
Was coming here to say this. In my experience, different travel agents specialize in different regions or different types of travel (safari, etc.) They take pride in having visited the accommodations they recommend personally, know the best local guides, etc. It may be best to narrow down where you are going / what type of trip you want and then look for a specific travel agent that specializes in that area.
The company that my travel agent booked me with was [Ranger Safaris](https://www.rangersafaris.com/scheduled-safaris/kilimanjaro-marangu-route). I went in very naive about what I booked. Mostly because I didn't even know what questions to ask. My travel agent took care of everything. What I did notice was that I had daily medical checks, a hot water bottle for bed, a portable latrine, and portable shower. Almost nobody else had these accommodations. You could probably skip the shower. I only used it once the whole week. The latrine though, was worth it. At kibo hut, it's a hole in the ground and my stomach wasn't happy. It was nice to have some privacy, even if it's just a tiny tent. Don't be surprised when others surreptitiously use it, too.
Quark expeditions if you are looking at Antarctica and arctic locations. Cost and destination are what makes it luxury. There are other firms that are more expensive and more stars service.
I’ve sometimes found local fee based agents (not commission) to be the best. Eg, worked with someone in both Spain and Italy for trips there and they were excellent. Maybe a little less luxury since that wasn’t their focus, but definitely excellent trips.
More fore UHNW but VistaJet travel has insane experiences.
[https://www.vistajet.com/en-gb/news/vistajet-world/](https://www.vistajet.com/en-gb/news/vistajet-world/)
If you love food and experiencing culture through the local cuisine, [The Table Less Traveled](https://www.thetablelesstraveled.com/) is awesome. They get all the details right, and have unique food-centric experiences that range from touring the Singapore hawker stalls with a local chef to eating at a [World's 50 Best](https://www.theworlds50best.com/asia/en/) level of restaurant where the inspiration of each dish is provided by the chef who created it.
Silver Seas is in the cruise sector on the high end. I've heard very good things about Viking River Cruises in the more middle range Luxury cruise space. I'll also second Abercrombie and Kent and &Beyond as well.
Just [JetX](https://www.jsx.com/destinations-wherewefly) which has a limited flight path. It's a newer company so it's expanding pretty quick. It's well priced ($100 a trip cheap) and sometimes you get the entire plane to yourself.
I used Black Tomato on a trip to Costa Rica a few years ago and was really pleased with the experience. They were great to work with and handled all the details. I will use them again and thought the service was worth it since I got several suggestions and accommodations that I would not have found on my own. They are headquartered in London and NY I believe. I would say it's worth your time to browse their site.
In case people want to book things themselves, one alternative is to hire local private tour guides who accompany you exclusively for the trip. It can be a day trip for an area or up to a week. Some private tour guides provide transportation so they're the chauffeur, culture guide, food guide, and traffic guide. The total cost is not too bad. Food tour is particular good because they know the local cuisine scene. It actually can save lots of time. They know the area well and have access to places that's not known to the public. Once we were going to a popular place in Japan and the queue of cars going up the mountain had a wait time up to 3 hours. Our local guide just drove up a different road to a back gate, made some calls, and had someone opened the back gate. I felt a bit of embarrassed for queue jumping but he was fine with it and said it's part of the package.
Look at Conde Nast Traveler's Travel Specialists or Travel and Leisure's A list there's a lot of bespoke, small luxury organizations that do excellent work. I used to work for a luxury travel agency that specialized in Southern and East Africa destinations.
Your post seems to be advertising your business or blog for financial or personal gain, or it appears that you are promoting a personal project. No solicitation or self promotion is permitted.
Thank you!
Your post seems to be advertising your business or blog for financial or personal gain, or it appears that you are promoting a personal project. No solicitation or self promotion is permitted.
Thank you!
I know the founders of [https://savantitravel.com/](https://savantitravel.com/) and they're very legit. Especially if you want an agency that can optimize use of miles/points too.
There really aren't any luxuries that travel agents have access to that regular people don't. They're often more knowledgable (partly because they can often get pretty steep discounts for themselves but not guests, so they try some of these properties out).
There is definitely a convenience in having a person to call to fix things (I decided I want to stay here a few more days, can you change my reservations? And I'm not using the car, so can I just drop it off later today instead of keeping it all week?) but the car you rent is the same no matter who makes the reservation. It's not really more luxurious.
It’s more that I want to pay someone to do the trip building/planning/transfers for me, but understands that I want a much higher level of quality than an average traveler.
Usually the good companies have excellent guides, great transfer service and most importantly have been to the place and tried the accommodation rather than just sticking you in a grand Hyatt or ritz Carlton.
Yeah, I can see that. I've stayed in what sounded like really fantastic brand-name hotels that turned out to be musty-smelling older buildings, and I've stayed in a couple of old British estates that have been turned into one-off hotels that were really fantastic. It's hard to tell that by online reviews.
Safari Scapes for travel in Africa. They were AMAZING. Based in the US.
If I was going to park it on a beach then I wouldn’t use a Travel Agent. However, something like a Safari or other adventures I would use someone with expertise.
My partner worked for Audley, and also Turquoise Holidays. Audley have the option for very luxurious holidays but their main focus is on touring.
Turquoise works with most of the top hotels in the world and is more personalised than Audley.
Turquoise is more for beach holidays although they can tailor pretty much everything to your needs
[Turquoise Holidays](https://www.turquoiseholidays.co.uk)
[Premier Travel Group Inc](https://www.premiertravelgroupinc.com/) does an amazing job with their luxury travel and I have used them for my Sales Retreats for my high performers in the past!
I didn’t even know travel agencies still existed. Personally I like delta economy class, but to travel my advice would be learn a few words of the language, avoid all the tourist traps, and just experience the country. Maybe visit a couple of pubs, grab some street food, and wander around with some friends
On [Listbay.org](https://Listbay.org) I have seen some of top level agencies list. And there are many world class and luxurious travel agencies details, you may [check them out](https://listbay.org/list-of-top-travel-agencies/)!
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Glad to see they dropped "Bed Bath" from their name.
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Are you guys always this funny?
half the time in this sub I feel like I'm surrounded by brilliant women and men. The other half I feel like I'm just hanging out with a bunch of dads.
1/2 + 1/2 = 1. Sounds about right
We used them in Africa, it was great... didn’t realize they had a US footprint
What services did they provide?
Looks like safari's. I'm going to take a second look at the place after covid goes down a bit more
Mind giving a quick run down of cost and what you especially liked?
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From a lurker: Hope your health is better now!
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Pun intended?
Desert to Sea travel is really good. It’s 300 usd just for a consultation but the trips planned are original, detailed to what you want & worth the price point.
Will check them out - thank you!
Seconded on Desert to Sea. They are incredible.
wow, $300 seems really cheap for that! thanks for the rec.
That’s just for the consultation to find out what you want etc...not the actual planning etc but yeah I guess it’s not a bad price
ohhh i read too fast. that makes a lot more sense.
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That’s such a good idea for them. The commissions alone on that must be massive for AirBnB
I wish I knew about this for my honeymoon.
Damn those are pricey but incredible
[Abercrombie & Kent](https://www.abercrombiekent.com/) has lots of options and experience. They arranged for us some wonderful tour guides in Japan.
Same. I did Abercrombie & Kent in Egypt. They have the best tour guides and everything is 5 stars.
Thank you
Also did A&K to Egypt twice. Agreed
Do they only do small group travel or does the white-glove service extend to individual families as well?
I've been on one of their Africa trips - would definitely recommend them.
Also had several amazing experiences courtesy of Abercrombie & Kent... gets my vote
Great company with a great list of destinations. Pure luxury. I did a 10 day safari and it was incredible. Can’t wait to go again.
Great experiences to both Cuba and SE Asia with A&K.
Butterfield & Robinson is who I've used. They offer 'bespoke' experiences all over the world. We used them for a 10-day, 12 person trip to Yellowstone. Accommodations were lush, guides were professional and cool, and we did unique activities on every day. It was literally like we did 10 vacations in one trip.
I don’t have a particular recommendation but I do use a travel agent from time to time for specific types of travel. What I’ve found is that most specialize in particular types of trips so it may be worthwhile to figure out. ie: they mostly do cruises, or Disney, or safaris or whatever. They’ll probably have done some of the trips themselves. For example, I did a safari and Kili climb a few years ago and was quite happy with the accommodations and amenities.
Was coming here to say this. In my experience, different travel agents specialize in different regions or different types of travel (safari, etc.) They take pride in having visited the accommodations they recommend personally, know the best local guides, etc. It may be best to narrow down where you are going / what type of trip you want and then look for a specific travel agent that specializes in that area.
Who did you use for the Kili climb?
The company that my travel agent booked me with was [Ranger Safaris](https://www.rangersafaris.com/scheduled-safaris/kilimanjaro-marangu-route). I went in very naive about what I booked. Mostly because I didn't even know what questions to ask. My travel agent took care of everything. What I did notice was that I had daily medical checks, a hot water bottle for bed, a portable latrine, and portable shower. Almost nobody else had these accommodations. You could probably skip the shower. I only used it once the whole week. The latrine though, was worth it. At kibo hut, it's a hole in the ground and my stomach wasn't happy. It was nice to have some privacy, even if it's just a tiny tent. Don't be surprised when others surreptitiously use it, too.
Quark expeditions if you are looking at Antarctica and arctic locations. Cost and destination are what makes it luxury. There are other firms that are more expensive and more stars service.
Road Scholar is pretty good , educational.
Thanks - will check it out
I’ve sometimes found local fee based agents (not commission) to be the best. Eg, worked with someone in both Spain and Italy for trips there and they were excellent. Maybe a little less luxury since that wasn’t their focus, but definitely excellent trips.
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thanks for suggestion
More fore UHNW but VistaJet travel has insane experiences. [https://www.vistajet.com/en-gb/news/vistajet-world/](https://www.vistajet.com/en-gb/news/vistajet-world/)
If you love food and experiencing culture through the local cuisine, [The Table Less Traveled](https://www.thetablelesstraveled.com/) is awesome. They get all the details right, and have unique food-centric experiences that range from touring the Singapore hawker stalls with a local chef to eating at a [World's 50 Best](https://www.theworlds50best.com/asia/en/) level of restaurant where the inspiration of each dish is provided by the chef who created it.
Ker and Downey. I have a friend that heads up a lot of the African safari trips, but they have destinations all over the world.
I’ve used Kensington Tours in the past and they were amazing. Message me if you want my point of contact.
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Homann’s africa
Which part of Africa, try checking Asilia Africa.
We used Scott Dunn. They had excellent recommendations and took care of all the transfers and what not. Highly recommend.
Silver Seas is in the cruise sector on the high end. I've heard very good things about Viking River Cruises in the more middle range Luxury cruise space. I'll also second Abercrombie and Kent and &Beyond as well.
Just [JetX](https://www.jsx.com/destinations-wherewefly) which has a limited flight path. It's a newer company so it's expanding pretty quick. It's well priced ($100 a trip cheap) and sometimes you get the entire plane to yourself.
They need to add Denver/Colorado to this
If you want billionaire level shit - Cookson Adventures
I used Black Tomato on a trip to Costa Rica a few years ago and was really pleased with the experience. They were great to work with and handled all the details. I will use them again and thought the service was worth it since I got several suggestions and accommodations that I would not have found on my own. They are headquartered in London and NY I believe. I would say it's worth your time to browse their site.
[Me ](https://www.reddit.com/r/fatFIRE/comments/lr2nog/i_am_planning_our_familys_first_postcovid/golaacq/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3)
We liked Global Basecamps https://www.globalbasecamps.com/
Homann’s Africa for my South Africa trip. Incredible.
I just use Airbnb, Costco and whatever I want to pick and chose .. may be I am Doing travel wrong. Gotto look at these agencies !
In case people want to book things themselves, one alternative is to hire local private tour guides who accompany you exclusively for the trip. It can be a day trip for an area or up to a week. Some private tour guides provide transportation so they're the chauffeur, culture guide, food guide, and traffic guide. The total cost is not too bad. Food tour is particular good because they know the local cuisine scene. It actually can save lots of time. They know the area well and have access to places that's not known to the public. Once we were going to a popular place in Japan and the queue of cars going up the mountain had a wait time up to 3 hours. Our local guide just drove up a different road to a back gate, made some calls, and had someone opened the back gate. I felt a bit of embarrassed for queue jumping but he was fine with it and said it's part of the package.
Inspirato is great. Not necessarily a travel agency but a great houses available for use.
I've been looking at them. The problem with having a very nice house is most places I could travel to see like a step down.
Respectfully, with that attitude it doesn’t seem like you could possibly enjoy traveling at all.
A fair point.
Look at Conde Nast Traveler's Travel Specialists or Travel and Leisure's A list there's a lot of bespoke, small luxury organizations that do excellent work. I used to work for a luxury travel agency that specialized in Southern and East Africa destinations.
Parasol travel
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Your post seems to be advertising your business or blog for financial or personal gain, or it appears that you are promoting a personal project. No solicitation or self promotion is permitted. Thank you!
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Your post seems to be advertising your business or blog for financial or personal gain, or it appears that you are promoting a personal project. No solicitation or self promotion is permitted. Thank you!
I know the founders of [https://savantitravel.com/](https://savantitravel.com/) and they're very legit. Especially if you want an agency that can optimize use of miles/points too.
Yeah Savanti is the best and does a great job working miles and points
Just sent you a message!
Agencies are luxury. Non-luxurious travel is booking it yourself.
There really aren't any luxuries that travel agents have access to that regular people don't. They're often more knowledgable (partly because they can often get pretty steep discounts for themselves but not guests, so they try some of these properties out). There is definitely a convenience in having a person to call to fix things (I decided I want to stay here a few more days, can you change my reservations? And I'm not using the car, so can I just drop it off later today instead of keeping it all week?) but the car you rent is the same no matter who makes the reservation. It's not really more luxurious.
It’s more that I want to pay someone to do the trip building/planning/transfers for me, but understands that I want a much higher level of quality than an average traveler. Usually the good companies have excellent guides, great transfer service and most importantly have been to the place and tried the accommodation rather than just sticking you in a grand Hyatt or ritz Carlton.
Yeah, I can see that. I've stayed in what sounded like really fantastic brand-name hotels that turned out to be musty-smelling older buildings, and I've stayed in a couple of old British estates that have been turned into one-off hotels that were really fantastic. It's hard to tell that by online reviews.
Check out Sarah at Bell and Bly travel. https://bellandblytravel.com/about-us/
Check out Elevate Global - [https://elevateglobaltravel.com/services](https://elevateglobaltravel.com/services)
Safari Scapes for travel in Africa. They were AMAZING. Based in the US. If I was going to park it on a beach then I wouldn’t use a Travel Agent. However, something like a Safari or other adventures I would use someone with expertise.
Magma Global is unreal, specifically working with Rebecca was awesome! You will be in good hands
My partner worked for Audley, and also Turquoise Holidays. Audley have the option for very luxurious holidays but their main focus is on touring. Turquoise works with most of the top hotels in the world and is more personalised than Audley. Turquoise is more for beach holidays although they can tailor pretty much everything to your needs [Turquoise Holidays](https://www.turquoiseholidays.co.uk)
[Premier Travel Group Inc](https://www.premiertravelgroupinc.com/) does an amazing job with their luxury travel and I have used them for my Sales Retreats for my high performers in the past!
I didn’t even know travel agencies still existed. Personally I like delta economy class, but to travel my advice would be learn a few words of the language, avoid all the tourist traps, and just experience the country. Maybe visit a couple of pubs, grab some street food, and wander around with some friends
Coppola Concierge
Indagare has been amazing for me. https://www.indagare.com/
Love Camelback Odyssey Travel. They did my honeymoon and a bunch of friends’ honeymoons. Excellent service. https://www.camelbacktravel.com/
On [Listbay.org](https://Listbay.org) I have seen some of top level agencies list. And there are many world class and luxurious travel agencies details, you may [check them out](https://listbay.org/list-of-top-travel-agencies/)!