Selling Travel April 2015

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The DESIRE to travel starts early
and continues throughout one’s
life – are you marketing to
Generation Z?
Share your money making ideas
in SELLING TRAVEL.
CONTACT
Steve Crowhurst
steve@sellingtravel.net
250-738-0064
www.sellingtravel.net
Publisher:
SMP Training Co.
Contributors
Steve Crowhurst
SELLING TRAVEL is owned and published
by Steve Crowhurst, SMP Training Co. All
Rights Reserved. Protected by
International Copyright Law. SELLING
TRAVEL can be shared, forwarded, cut and
pasted but not sold, resold or in any way
monetized. Using any images or content
from SELLING TRAVEL must be sourced as
follows: “Copyright SMP Training Co.
www.sellingtravel.net” SMP Training Co.
568 Country Club Drive, Qualicum Beach,
BC, Canada, V9K-1G1 Note: Steve
Crowhurst is not responsible for outcomes
based on how you interpret or use the
ideas in SELLING TRAVEL.
T: 250-738-0064.
4 EDITORIAL
5 ARE YOU ON THE LIST?
6 YES, NO, MAYBE
8 TIME, MONEY, VALUE
10 HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?
12 WANT TO SELL MORE HOTELS?
13 STAMPS AS A NICHE MARKET
16 SERVICE IS A PRODUCT TOO
19 THE SHAMWOW TRAVEL SERVICE
22 AMERICAN TRAVEL AGENTS – SHOP HERE
23 THE TRAVEL AGENCY – A HISTORICAL NOVELLA
44 RAMBLING WITH DALTON: CANOEING CANADA’S HAYES RIVER
48 THE TRAVEL INSTITUTE
49 TRAVEL DÉJÀ VU-ING – Steve Gillick
53 DIGITAL PHOTOS ARE NOT FOREVER! – Drew Hendrix
56 COMING SOON! SELLLING TRAVEL WITH HUMOUR
57 ON THE STORE SHELVES NOW – WOMEN ONLY TRAVEL
58 CLASSIFIEDS
59 I DO WEDDING PRINT
60 READ MORE ME HERE!
THE HOW-TO MAGAZINE FOR TRAVEL TRADE PROFESSIONALS
Please note that Selling Travel, owned and published by SMP Training Co, is not
connected in any way to Selling Travel magazine published by BMI Publishing Ltd., and
based in the UK. The latter publication focuses entirely on destination and travel/tourism
product training and is circulated solely to the UK and Ireland travel industries. To benefit
from this resource visit www.sellingtravel.co.uk and be sure to subscribe.
Attention Suppliers: Advertising in SELLING TRAVEL reaches the serious business-minded
travel agent. Promote your products and services using Selling Travel’s unique promotional
formula – you write the articles on how to sell your own products offering step-by-step selling
tips, tools and techniques that you know have worked for your agency accounts. Full page
rates range from $300 to $425 based on number of insertions. Remember, if you can’t sell it
to them, they can’t sell it for you!

The
WILL
to
The Travel Agency… sample chapter starts in this issue
Something new. Something different. In this month’s issue of Selling Travel you’ll find a review
chapter from my eBook called… wait for it, The Travel Agency. When I mentioned it on the Selling
Travel Facebook page it received over 200 clicks and that was very encouraging.
The Travel Agency tells the story of a family owned agency. Each chapter
covers off a decade starting in 1975 and follows a profitable family owned
travel agency as it transfers from father to son and then shortly after, the
world changes, then changes again and our new owner must start to plan
the future of the business amidst good times and bad times. Follow the
humourous events as The Travel Agency, despite all the odds, survives
through to current times and from there on faces daily challenges as you
know them to be. Hope you enjoy the trip down memory lane to present
day. I’ll stop here and let you click to the cover page herein and start
reading, reminiscing and hopefully making notes. Thanks in advance for
your candid comments and please keep in mind that the review chapter has
been reduced in content to fit the magazine.
Look for Chapter two covering the 1980s in the May issue. Eventually, all chapters will be released
in one eBook and based on the interest received that may be sooner rather than later.
In addition we have articles on YES, NO & MAYBE, to help you sort through all the possible
opportunities this month, plus Rambling With Dalton returns as does Steve Gillick with his
always entertaining articles and this month he’s writing about Travel Deja Vu.
Here’s to your continued success in SELLING TRAVEL.
Best regards.
Steve Crowhurst, CTC, CTM Hon.
steve@sellingtravel.net
SALES & MARKETING TIPS, TOOLS & TECHNIQUES FOR ALL TRAVEL TRADE PROFESSIONALS
Click on the store icon to opt-in.
Steve Crowhurst, Publisher

Click the store image to join.

First things first and that’s the only way to
keep on top of your selling, is to be fully
informed about what is making money for
the travel agency you are working for. If you
are independent then you might want to ask
HQ about what your home-based colleagues
are selling and profiting from. Once you
know what the top three of anything are
(tours etc.) then you know what to focus on.
Once you know what you should be selling,
then it’s all down to studying the details, the
features and benefits, pricing and categories
etc. This is no easy task as it means spending
time with brochures and looking at the
computer screen for a few hours on end.
Unfortunately this time investment is the
one thing that separates those who know
and those who don’t.
You know it is how it is. This is the travel industry as it has always been. It’s busy, it’s bustling,
it’s going places and there’s so much to tell and sell that at times selling travel can become
overwhelming. In order to stay on point and generate the sales you need and want it’s always
best to analyse what it is you are selling, could be selling and should be selling. Here’s how:

The next thing to do is prioritize your selling,
and focus on what you can sell with
confidence and this usually results in the
places & destinations you have travelled to
personally, followed by the suppliers you
have also experienced personally.
The next best thing is to attend webinars and
local presentations arranged by your
preferred suppliers and after that, it’s the
knowledge your colleagues and clients can
offer you.
The worst case scenario is that you bungle
through your selling time, wasting energy
and turning a client away from you and your
agency. Being well informed is the key to
success. Or one of them.
1. What destination is selling NOW?
____________________________________
____________________________________
2. Which preferred supplier is being
requested NOW?
____________________________________
____________________________________
3. What type of vacation is being
requested more and more?
____________________________________
____________________________________
It would also be a good idea to know when
HQ is releasing its advertising and the type of
promotions planned. Then you can be ready
for the phone calls AND also send out your
own eBlast to coincide with the product. 

With all the present day activities that go
into selling travel it’s a wonder that there is
enough time to do it all. But do it all you
must. Time is money as you well know and
that means you need to spend it wisely.
One thing to keep in mind and especially if
you are new to selling travel. Time is what
we call a raw product. Translated into travel
selling concepts this means that you only
have a certain amount of time in which to
sell certain products as they too are
influenced by time.
Here’s how it works: a flight from A to B is
leaving on Friday at 10am; a tour of Europe
is departing London, England on Saturday
morning. That’s it. Once that flight has taken
off and that tour coach has left the pick-up
point, there is no additional selling time.
Both opportunities have closed.
It’s very important when you plan your plan
to factor in the selling time that is available
prior to the product you intend to sell.
There is marketing time to factor in, the
consumer’s buying and decision making time
and then if you are selling groups, there will
be the cut-off date imposed by the supplier
you are dealing with.
Planning your time on a grid allows you to
see how far in advance you should be
promoting that flight, that tour, that cruise
and that package to wherever.
Ah ha! The Yes, No, Maybe has morphed into something a little more dicey! The truth has come
about. What you do each and every day must conform to a roll of this dice. Yes, it is all about
Time, Value and Money. So let’s explore how you can make better use of your TIME, so that
you deliver the best VALUE to your clients, and that should turn into more MONEY for you.
Bonus!

Based on the amount of time you spend
marketing your products and services you
should also have a plan that indicates the
return on your time investment. There has to
be a value assigned to the time.
For you this means jotting down how much
you would like to make this year, personally.
When you plot this figure make sure it’s
worth your while and so anything under
$50,000 in your jeans would essentially
mean you are ‘playing’ at being a travel
agent. Note to you: this usually comes across
to suppliers and senior management that
you are basically not in the business to sell.
Newcomers would need time to build a book
of business and this too is understood. By
year two however you too should be focused
on generating $50,000 and up for yourself.
The way to generate that figure is to offer
the best possible value to your existing and
would be clients. As you have already read in
this issue of Selling Travel, you should be
promoting your customer service as a
product. Selling service and servicing the
sale is a slogan you can repeat to yourself. It
will keep you focused.
Plan your work week into days of action. On
Sunday you should complete a quick review
of your week ahead. That quick check will
allow you to go to work Monday with a clear
mind and you’ll be ready for anything that
clicks, calls or walks in.
Each day of the ensuing week, send out at
least ten prospecting emails and make sure
you are compliant with the anti-spam laws of
your country, regions, state, province etc.
You’ll want to be sure you have your client’s
okay to send them emails and similar.
Each day you’ll want to follow up on previous
prospecting activities.
If you work this pattern in the morning of
each day, that leaves you the afternoon to
complete more marketing, service clients
who have responded to your marketing or
just happen to be calling to book a trip.
You’ll have time to arrange their travels,
explore new information online, have coffee
and read a trade magazine and then be back
to your desk cool, calm and collected.
If you work from home, there is no
difference in how you should plan your day /
week. As every home based travel agent
knows there are some things that can
interfere with your productivity such as
spouses, kids, pets, garden chores and the
like.
As the saying goes, sleep eight hours, work
eight hours and make sure it’s not the same
eight hours! That leaves you another eight
hours in the bank. Bonus once more.
Decide how much you wish to make in
commissions this year.
Divide that amount by the number of actual
days you intend to invest in generating that
income. This will give you the amount of
income you need to drive each day you
work.
Divide how much you wish to make by the
average commission you generate per
booking and then you will know the number
of bookings you need to generate too. Divide
this number by the time you intend to work
to get the per day booking goal.
With this information in front of you, every
day you work, should generate the return
you need, allowing you time to deliver the
value your clients demand from you.
Remember time is a raw product. You
cannot get it back if you waste it. 

When you think about all the “stuff” that’s out there on the
Internet and coming in your direction, as well as to your
clients, it is mind boggling to say the least, let alone deciding
which and what to sell and how to market it.
The concept of YES, NO, MAYBE is that stage when we tend
to seize up, stop, and in an undecided state of mind, miss an
opportunity. A YES mode keeps us opportunity-minded and
prepped for a sale. So here’s the mission: work on it yourself
and with your agency team if you have one and decipher
who suffers from the YES, NO, MAYBE condition and coach
them out of it into YES mode.
Being opportunity-minded and sales
focused is a habit you need to slip into.
It’s simply a matter of sifting through
all that ‘stuff’ to find the opportunity.
If you follow my articles in CT
magazine, and read my Friday Five at
TTI you’ll know that I focus on how to
turn what you see & sense into new
found selling opportunities. So just to
look at this graphic on the left, take a
look now and make a mental note of
what you see that could jog an idea.
Here’s my list:
Air travel
LGBT groups
School groups
Sports tourism
Musical tours
Medical conferences
And there’s a few more too, but you
can see how quickly new ideas can be
formed by what you are looking at.
Deciphering written words means
you’ll be creating an image in your
mind unless you are good at turning
data into instant imagery.
So, images, words, text, video and a
combination of all… usually,
somewhere in ‘there’ is at least one
opportunity waiting to be discovered.
So to answer the question How Much Is
Too Much? – well, in my book and I
hope yours, there’s never enough stuff.
As long as you can sift through it as
mentioned to find the nugget then you
can dive right in to the everyday flow of
information and pull out a few winners.
Go for it is what I say! 

Well yes, it sounds like too much information, but it really isn’t. It’s information you need to
know and then you can sell your clients those gorgeous rooms with a view and generate
superior commissions too. Let’s explore how:
Do you know your client’s hotel
preferences? If not, now’s the time to ask.
You may wish to check the travel history of
your best clients followed by the next level
of client and ascertain the class of hotel they
requested.
It’s a quick trip from where they stayed
before to the new, upgraded version, you
are going of offer them.
We Only Sleep There…
How many times have you heard this
comment when clients are asking you to
book a hotel that’s “not expensive”? What
they are referring to of course is that during
the day they’ll be out and about, returning to
their hotel room to shower and sleep.
That may be how it seems, but in real life
when travelling, that room should be an
oasis away from the noise, the hustle and
bustle, the scams, the traffic, the shops, the
fumes… and without mold or bugs. You can’t
get all that for twenty bucks.
Sell That Feature First
Many sales courses tell you to sell the
benefits and that’s okay however well-
travelled people already know the benefits
of the hotel features.
What they want to know is what’s the latest
feature, how big is the swimming pool, how
does this spa differ from that one… in other
words they want the low down on the
feature itself. They are well aware of the
benefits of a larger pool for instance.
Tell It Like It Is…
If you are new to selling travel then you may
be a little leery of telling a client that the
room you are planning to book for them will
cost $300 a night. On the other hand you
could go up a notch and book the $700 a
night room.
Naturally, where your clients will be sleeping
tonight and who with, depends on how well
you have qualified them. If you have
misjudged them and offered a lower class
room to a high end client then they will walk.
So it’s very important to know about their
sleeping habits and you can use the slogan
above if you wish to conduct a survey. It is
tongue in cheek of course and you would
phrase it as: Who are YOU sleeping with
tonight? Take the survey:
So many rooms, so many nights. So much to
offer when you know your clients sleeping
arrangements. 

Stamps? Postage stamps? Are they still used? Does anyone care? Well I do for one and I’ve
cared about stamps since my time in the post department at Horizon Holidays, Hanover Street,
London, UK where I started my travel trade career. Back then I would collect the stamps from
overseas mail, then go to an atlas on my break and check where that stamp came from. It’s
how I learned geographic locations.
Our friend Ed, was staying with us and we had a ton of fun and on the last day we found out
we both enjoyed stamp collecting. I’ve known Ed for 38 years – and never knew. Amazing eh?
Well, our Ed and his partner Nora were planning to downsize all their stuff and on their last
day with us he said his stamp collection was mine when he died. Ten days after that Ed died
suddenly. My wife and I flew to Edmonton to attend Ed’s funeral and his partner Nora gave me
the collection that Ed started in 1938. I haven’t put it down since.
In 2014, good pal Anthony Dalton, author of 14 books and the man behind the Rambles with
Dalton column found in this magazine, gave me his father’s stamp collection – so now I’m fully
stamped! So let me tell you why I’m so interested in stamps, why you should be and how you
can profit from it.
The World of the Stamp Could Be Yours
As I sit with my collection of stamps I have a
magnifying glass over each stamp as I look at
the detail, research it and look for a date it
was issued or cancelled. When I do this I
enter an entirely different world. It’s the
world when 19th century travellers would
write home. Send a postcard. Show off their
skill with a quill and pen. I thought I should
take a closer look at this bygone world of
stamps and find out if there is a current niche
market a travel agent could consider. Bingo!
Philatelists Are Everywhere
If you choose to get into this niche market
you’ll do it for a couple of reasons. One you
have a passion for collecting or two, you see
the link to a new source of travel revenue, or
both. Every country has a collective along
the lines of The Royal Philatelic Society of
Canada (RPSC). Every country seems to hold
stamp collecting related events and that
means people travel to attend these shows
to buy and sell and learn – here’s a couple:
Stamp Fair and Philatelists Festival: Aix-en-
Provence, France. Held each February in the
heart of Aix-en-Provence, the annual Stamp
Fair and Philatelists Festival is a must for all
collectors. Attracting stamp collectors and
vendors from all over the world. Click to:
http://www.stampdir.com/
Marketing Your Tours for Stamp Collectors
I suppose if you intend to chase this market
you should first design and print your own
postage stamp. Imagine that. Your own
agency postage stamp. Easy done thanks to
Canada Post. They have a link, right here -
https://www.picturepostage.ca/ for you to
click to, upload your image and then click
print. The post office will print and mail back
your stamps.
Group Tour Ideas:
Building a group of stamp collectors means
you will probably have to work directly with
the various associations and local chapters.
You can also go to a magazine rack and look
for a stamp collecting magazine, then turn to
the classifieds to research any existing tours.
Next visit the magazine’s website and look
for their media kit.

Now here’s a few group tour ideas for you to
think about: Stamp Museums; Stamp
Collections;
Themed Stamps; Stamp Imagery Locations;
Post Offices of the World. Interestingly
enough, many of today’s post offices are
housed in ancient buildings that would be
part of the touring agenda.
Working The Numbers
If you belong to a group, franchise,
consortium or home-based organization 100
agencies or more… you are guaranteed that
any one of those agencies has at least one
customer who collects stamps. So this is a
group effort by you and your supporting
members. Create your tour flyer and pitch to
all your fellow agency owners and managers.
If 50% respond positively you have your first
coach sold. Perhaps this type of tour should
remain high in cost and low in head count to
say 15 passengers only. It should have an
element of quality about it shouldn’t it. Your
call.
Website & Window Stamp
Okay… let’s use your agency window and
website. Find an image of a stamp that is
colourful or, go for the first stamp issued in
the UK and the world - the one penny black.
Here’s the link. See image below too.
Use this image and large lettering in your
agency window to attract attention. Use the
same image on flyers and be sure your
website shows the same promotion as your
agency window.
Insert the image into your emails. Create the
buzz you need. Before we close out, your
philately education is waiting for you here.

There’s always a moment in my customer
service workshops that I ask the question
“What sets you apart from other travel
agents?” - and quite naturally the response
is based on the level of customer service
they deliver.
Some attendees will focus on their pricing,
and others their knowledge of travel and
travelling and then there is the “Well I’ve
been in the industry for thirty years!”
So if it is the level of customer service that
sets you apart from the rest then my next
question is this: “How many of you consider
your customer service a product and market
it as such?” And that’s when no hands go up.
Let’s move on. As I go about my business I
am always pulled into customer service
situations that we can all learn from. Here’s
a recent batch and all from this week if you
can believe it.
The In-Flight Non Announcement
There seems to be a ‘speak as fast as you
can’ theme amongst airlines that has the
flight attendant delivering the safety
announcement at break neck speed. I’ve
deduced that they feel it makes them appear
to be very professional, however the
opposite is true. For sure, in an emergency,
80% of the passengers would not know what
to do. If I’m having trouble understanding
what is being said, what is happening in the
mind of anyone who’s first language is not
English? Simple. They tune out. They miss
out on the very important safety
information.
It was the same at the gate too. The gate
agent, probably a cousin of the flight
attendant, zipped zapped through her
announcement so fast that passengers (you
know, customers), where looking at each
other wondering what she said. Some
people with children in wheelchairs missed
the call and had hassles working through the
general boarding line that jumped into place.
Not good. Not good at all. In fact airlines in
general need a complete overhaul in this
department.
On the return flight a flight attendant who
called himself “Uncle Steve” led us through a
cool, calm explanation that had me looking
at the chart in the seat pocket. Honest. I gave
him the response he desired because he was
well spoken and easy to understand.
Where’s the service in the speed-chat?
Where’s the safety in the 1,000 words a
minute delivery?
Customer Disturbing The Staff Chit Chat
So I’m standing at the car rental counter in
YEG. Going to a funeral of a long term friend.
Nice young man serves me. The others were
sort of slouched on their arms on the
counter… they eyed me but that was about
all they could muster. So Josh was up. He was
doing quite well. Clear eye contact,
explaining things… as I started to sign the
rental agreement he turned to his fellow
employee who was loitering with nothing to
do and started to talk about WWA! In the
middle of my customer service he’s left me
in the dust to talk about wrestling. So I put
my hands up as if waving in an aircraft and
said, “Focus! Here… focus right here and
finish with me – he’s not paying you, I am!”
Well e-x-c-u-s-e me! Josh managed to stay
up beat. I kidded him and we got through it.
He upgraded me. I thanked him. I was very
polite and when we finished I said, “Okay, so
now what happened at WWA, your buddy
(still lingering) wants to know.” Without a
word, Josh is back into his WWA
conversation and I’m a dismissed customer.
We attended our friend’s funeral and
dropped the car off. Went to the counter
where I was asked: “Didn’t YOU see our kiosk
in the parking area?” I suppose it could have
been stated in this way: “Mr. Crowhurst, so
that you know for next time you can save
your self a trip here by completing your

rental return with our agent in the parking
lot… it’s located close by our parking area…
now, let me help you here, how was your
trip…?” Sounds too much like customer
service to me so perhaps we don’t warrant
it.
How’s YOUR Service?
So what can we learn from all of this? I guess
the main thing is that every area of service
needs to be managed and checked and
upgraded often. I mean service is a product
and you wouldn’t want to sell an inferior
product would you? Well out ‘there’ as I’ve
related there seems to be a complete lack of
service from the overall tourism
infrastructure and even the very suppliers
you sell. Let’s not join ‘em! Be and stay the
agents of service that travel agents are
known for.
Product Knowledge Training
To make sure you match the level of service
you promote you need to practice and
practice again and again. Believe me, a well-
chosen word or phrase will cement a client
to your agency and keep them there. By
phone, or email or face to face, being able to
write or speak the words of service like they
mean something is a major plus. Synch your
words and phrases with service-oriented
body language and genuine interest and
you’ll have your client’s word-of-mouth
marketing sending you more business. When
a customer complains about the service they
received enroute, take an interest. Dig for
details. If you can correct something go for it
even if it means advising the suppliers you
booked they need to do better.
Do you have a Customer Service slogan?
Here’s a few customer service slogans you can use or work on to create your own. Remember
that today you have so many tech-tools that your customer should be able to contact you
anytime and from almost anywhere. You may wish to create an APP and start pushing that to
your clients with the ‘tap the app’ slogan to help increase downloads. You also have Skype and
FaceTime that’s just waiting to be built into your service program.
The Extra Mile is ALWAYS Factored into our Service
Tap The App. Our Service Travels With You
Click or Tap for our Service Concierge
Always at your Service. Skype Anytime.
When customer service is working to capacity that means it has reached 100%. There is no 110%
although the meaning of 110% means you have gone above and beyond, however that extra mile
should be part of the job. It is built into the 100%. It’s what you do regardless. To claim 110%
means you were only operating at 90%! Send me your customer service slogan for review. 

Sometimes it pays to watch and listen to the TV ads versus muting the sound and here’s why:
some company execs have spent thousands of dollars having that TV ad created. Now certain
ads may drive you nuts, but then sometimes there are nuggets that you can use. So go with the
flow here has I turn that old SHAMWOW script into a script for a travel agency. Here goes:
“Hi it's Steve from SHAMWOW TRAVEL!
You'll be saying WOW every time you book!
It's like a shawl, it's like a towel, it’s like a
Snuggie. We wrap it around every client.
Regular service doesn't work that well,
SHAMWOW SERVICE works day and night.
This is for you and all your travels. The
Cruise. The Tour. The Adventure.
SHAMWOW SERVICE holds 20 times MORE
attraction than the standard service.
When you think about it, who wants
standard service. Vince doesn’t want it. You
wouldn’t want it.
Why do you want to work twice as hard at
being a good customer just to get standard
service? That just doesn’t wash anymore
does it? Nada!
SHAMWOW SERVICE – originated from
Japan. Made in Japan!

You know the Japanese, they’re the best at
understanding service and delivering service
too. They can even wrap SHAMWOW
SERVICE in SHAM WOW SERVICE whilst
doing Origami at the same time!
Now we're gonna do this in real time, look at
this, customer walks in to a SHAMWOW
travel agency. A SHAMWOW smile right
away... right there, you following me camera
guy? That’s 50% of the greeting. The smile.
The greeting. The words. The knowledge.
See what I'm telling ya? SHAMWOW
SERVICE works. You’ll be saying WOW! every
time.
You’ll be saying I can't live without it, I just
love it! Oh my gosh I don't even buy from any
travel agency without it. If you're gonna
travel, you'll be out of your mind not to
travel with a SHAMWOW agency. All I can
say is SHAMWOW SERVICE rocks! It cleans
up!
You're gonna spend hundreds of dollars
worth of your own time every time you try
to book you’re travel online. You're throwin’
away your money! Sure you can dabble for
everyday use but for those hard to get to
places, choice and insider information – you
gotta go with the SHAMWOW SERVICE.
These last ten years, this last a week, I don't
know it sells itself.
SHAMWOW SERVICE starts at around fifty-
bucks and that’s all in, job done. You want
SHAMWOW WOW then you could be paying
a hundred bucks, but hey… you’ll get there,
to the right country that is, have a great time
and get back home as planned.
Go with a SHAM WOW SERVICE travel
agency today. It’s comes with a life time
warranty that the SHAM WOW agency will
always be there for you!
SHAM WOW SERVICE is not available from
any other travel agency than a SHAM WOW
agency. Made in Japan. Now produced right
here. Beware of SHAM WOW imitators, call
1-800 SHAMWOWTRAVEL NOW!”
Your Personal SHAMWOW Service Plan
Check it out and see if you could deliver
SHAMWOW SERVICE. It’s got energy. It’s got
a buzz. How can you polish up your service
to a SHAMWOW standard?
Is there any part of your meet and greet that
could use an update? Anything on the
product knowledge front you could
upgrade?
Overall, how’s the team service level? Can
you hand off a file? Will it be returned in
good time and completed as it should be?
What about the entrance way – is it easy to
get into your agency? Check the window – is
the promotion current? Website – how is
that looking? All of these things are part of
your personal, team and agency wide SHAM
WOW and SHAM WOW WOW service. It’s
always worth polishing up your service isn’t
it? 

Download the ISSUU app and read
Selling Travel on your tablet.

When you need cutting edge, no fluff, how-to-do-it information,
ideas, tips, tools & techniques… you can shop directly at
The Travel Institute store

elcome to the first chapter of The Travel Agency a new book being written by one of our
industry’s most-respected business minds, Steve Crowhurst. Steve also has a terrific sense
of humour and as an industry veteran at the centre of so much of the industry’s history; I trust
that you will find his book to be a combination of history and humour.
As someone who has lived through the period that Steve is covering in his book, I look forward
to reliving some of the highlights of the past 30 years in the industry, and perhaps even remember
some of the suppressed lowlights!
No matter what your travel industry experiences may have been so far, one thing that I believe
all readers may agree on is that it has been quite a ride, so do take the time each month to join
Steve as he takes us back in time. For those readers who are newer in the industry, hopefully
Steve will help you to understand how us veterans have turned out the way we have!
The Travel Agency will also help us all to reflect on the past with some perspective and I look
forward to reading of the past to see how much it matches my own experiences. I am also curious
to see how much Steve remembers!
Best of success to you Steve! I am so proud for Nexion Canada to have the opportunity to sponsor
The Travel Agency. Enjoy this first chapter, and do be sure to return each month for the next
installment as Steve brings us to the present day.
Mike Foster
President
Nexion Canada
mfoster@nexioncanada.ca
W
Mike Foster, President, Nexion Canada

THE TRAVEL AGENCY
As Witnessed & Told By
The End Wall
Steve Crowhurst

Names and places are fictitious however the events are real, the dates are real, the decades are
real, outcomes, the activities, the customers, the challenges all happened. Some embellishments
have been made to make a point and some licence has been taken to rearrange certain events
to maintain the flow of a moment in the life of The Travel Agency.
The Travel Agency © 2015 Steve Crowhurst, SMP Training Co.
All rights reserved. Printed in Canada. No part of this book may be used or reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise
whatsoever without written permission or authorization through payment of a Permission to Copy fee (except in the
case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews) . For information please contact SMP Training Co.
T: 1-250-738-0064. Protected by the Canadian Copyright Act.
The Travel Agency is a tongue-in-cheek look at how one travel agency
has survived over the years, from the mid-1970s to the present. It
discusses daily situations that include external events such as bad
weather, wars, or religious upheaval, plus internal events that include
hiring & firing, instilling team work, sales and marketing, management,
decisions: and it looks at client and supplier interactions. There's
something for everyone in this novella. The newcomer will learn what
makes a travel agency and travel agent successful; the veteran will
chuckle at some of the "that's how we did it..." reminders, and everyone
will get a boost from how the agency team participate in growing the
agency through each decade.
The content, incidents and anecdotes are based on actual industry and
world events and the fictitious characters, agents, suppliers and clients
are pulled from the author’s and travel colleagues’ own careers. Enjoy
what should be a humorous read as you journey with John Junior who
takes over the family travel agency in 1975. John Junior enjoys the
business his father built until every so often things start to go downhill;
then John Junior must look to his own talents as the decades, clients,
staff, suppliers, wars, storms and business come and go.
The story of The Travel Agency is told by The End Wall. The end wall
has been with the agency since it was built and John Senior moved in to
start the business. Walls do have ears and the end wall has heard it all.

Introduction
I am The End Wall and over the years, I've witnessed it all!
John Junior was born in the back office of his dad's travel agency, as his mom, the
bookkeeper, was about to reconcile Paper Towels, under Office Expenses. John
Junior wanted out… he had things to learn, a travel career waiting for him and he
was due to take over the business too. There was no time to waste!
Let me give you a heads-up. In May 1914 the world of travel was doing just fine thank you very
much with the wealthy coming and going, cruising the world, taking off on safaris to shoot and
stuff another trophy for their home, staying at world renowned hotels and spas and golfing on
the best courses. There were bus tours, coach tours, rail journeys and people enjoying the
outdoors hiking into the mountains to watch others fall off them and life was good. The working
class were staying put mind you. Perhaps they were visiting local parks and the seaside or
immigrating by ship to a better life. Then on June 28th 1914 the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and
his wife Sophie were assassinated in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia & Herzegovina and that was
that. WW1 was on. Travel was off.
The vacation business returned soon after the end of WW1 on November 11th 1918 and the
industry enjoyed close to twenty years of bookings before someone who shall not be mentioned
by the name of Hitler, decided on Round 2. This time the war, WW2, was on for six years and
travelling for pleasure was something you didn’t do in Europe, but in and around North America
the coast was clear.
After World War 2 the world had changed once more and it took some years for it to right itself.
On 24 September 1946 two ex-air force pilots, started the beginnings of a major airline called
Cathay Pacific. Many ex-air force pilots joined existing airlines that were planning for great times
ahead. People in general rebuilt their lives, money was more available and the “vacation” became
common place. Millions had died for freedom and freedom included going on vacation when and
how you liked. But even then not everyone was free to do what they wanted. The Jews were
looking for a place to live, black Americans still had a fight on their hands at home and many
POWs returned to no home and no family. If you had the grit to overcome these huge obstacles
and luck, chance and life favoured you, then you could make a go of it. Those who entered the
travel industry generally never looked back.
For the working class who fought in WW2 a vacation would still be a drive to the park, a camping
holiday or a visit to the beach. Then there were those who emigrated: travelling one way for a
better life. Those with more money (or those who still had money) they were attracted to
international destinations and they, once again, needed someone to talk to - someone to take
care of their travel needs. That’s when travel agencies came back into their own.

Travel agencies had existed before. In fact, even in Roman times there were agents who procured
accommodation and transportation through such entrepreneurial firms as Palanquins 4YOU,
Coliseum Suites & Gladiator Adventures.
In the UK and since 1845, when Thomas Cook ran his first group excursion, Cook’s as it became
known, was the main agency to deal with. From humble beginnings, Thomas Cook & Son grew
into an empire. Across the Atlantic in North America the travel agency came to life through Ask
Mr. Foster. Started by Ward G. Foster in St. Augustine, Florida in 1888, AMF eventually morphed
into Carlson Wagonlit Travel. The partnering of Wells & Fargo in 1873 eventually changed its
name and became American Express.
During the sixties and into the seventies there was money to be made. Naturally service was the
highpoint. The ‘yes’ attitude took top billing. There was nothing that could not be arranged. You
wanted your cabin on the SS France repainted, no problem. You’d like a pet rhino in your safari
tent, no problem – (thinking: no problem for us, but for you? Good luck.) A sheik visiting New
York wants the top three hotel floors to himself and entourage, no problem.
It was, as you’ll read, a time when business usually just walked in the door. It was a time when
wealthy clients would almost, but not quite walk in the door, preferring to pop their head around
the door and shout to the manager and no one else, “Henry! South Pacific, a month or so, you
know what we like, November’s good.”
And with that simply wait for Henry to deliver and explain the tickets; then pay the invoice and
tip him twenty-bucks for a job well done.
IATA, the International Air Transport Association and ATC, Airline Traffic Conference and a few
other government bodies and groups soon ruled the world of air travel and whether or not a
travel agency would be appointed. John Senior, owner of The Travel Agency had paid his dues.
For a couple of years he was buying his client’s tickets direct from the airlines by going to the
airport until a local airline office was opened downtown. There he would, at times, notice people
becoming agitated while waiting in line to be served. John Senior would introduce himself to
them; hand over his business card, and tell them he’d take care of them. And so it was, whenever
he went to purchase a ticket for a client, he returned with at least one new client.
During those years no commission was earned. Once he had produced $250,000 in airline sales
in one year he could apply for his IATA license and retain commission. He survived on selling
vacation packages to sun destinations that paid 10% to 15% and escorted tours that paid 10%
and up, and customized arrangements then known as FITs: Foreign Independent Travel. It was
the FIT that made him a lot of money. He would add $300 per head versus adding a ten percent
markup. He was worth it.
FITs, in John Senior’s mind, were always the best way to sell travel, so he followed in the footsteps
of his idols, Thomas and Mason Cook. But he, and others like him, had to know what they were
doing. They had to know where to buy travel arrangements, how to deal directly with hotel
managers, how to negotiate the best view, the best cabin, the best service and then piece the
arrangements together so that everything ran like clockwork. John Senior taught his son that
custom groups will never go out of style. It was the key to riches as long as you knew what you
were doing and had developed the right contacts. And so let’s join the agency team…

Chapter One: From Start Up to 1979
Hi! I’m a wall. Yes that’s right, a wall. Bet you’ve never read a book by a wall before, but I’m not
just any old wall, I’m the end wall of a travel agency and you know that old saying about “walls
having ears” – all true. From where I stand I get to hear everything that goes on in this place. I
even hear what goes on in the staff room behind me.
I’ve been here since the place was built and I was here to welcome John Powell when he moved
in and put his sign up in 1946. It read very simply The Travel Agency. Old John wasn’t into fancy
names as some of his competition were – calling their agencies Satin Sheet Travel and Your Happy
Booker. He just wanted a potential customer to look at his sign and understand what he did for
a living, what he sold and what they could purchase from him. His tag line however told the rest
of the story: Bespoke Travel for the Discerning Traveller. Now you have to know that this tag line
was created when most people with the money to travel knew what bespoke and discerning
meant. His competitors were stating they were experts and specialists in worldwide travel and
he often wondered how they knew so much.
I call our agency owner John Senior, or old John, to differentiate between him and his son, also
named John. John Senior was born in 1907 served in WW2 handling logistics or something like
that and in 1946 started The Travel Agency with his wife Margaret and they were in good
company as travel industry titans to be were also finding their way.
Aldo Papone had joined Macy's in 1956, becoming president of American Express travel in 1975.
Edward J. Hennessy joined Cartan Travel Bureau in 1946 becoming president in 1974. The travel
division of Performance Incentives Company was sending 50,000 people around the world each
year. Ralph Bahna at age 30 became president of Cunard Line in 1973. Colin Marshall of British
Airways fame started his career in 1951 as a cadet purser with Orient Steam Navigation Company
rising to CEO of Avis in 1974 and CEO of British Airways in 1983. Ex RCAF and bush pilot Maxwell
(Max) Ward started Wardair in 1950. Willis Balfor joined Capitol Airlines in 1950 as a reservations
agent becoming VP in 1974 of Western Airlines. Freddie Laker started Laker Airways “no frills”
Skytrain in 1977. Hundreds of men and women, now long forgotten had built the travel industry
to this moment in time when John Junior was to take over from his father.
The Boeing engineer who, after the first flight of the 247, a twin engine plane that held ten
people, confidently predicted “There will never be a bigger plane built!” on February 8, 1933,
has never been heard of since.
In 1973 the era of seminars & trade shows was started by TravelAge publications and included
sales training by John Dalton, cruise line and tour company executives who told you how to sell
their products and the evenings ended with entertainment flown in from sun destinations and
even cruise line entertainers were shipped in to entertain. A sit down multi-course meal with
wine (both colours I might add) were always waiting for you and FAM trip giveaways ended the
night.
This was a time when travel agents dressed their best to attend. Men actually wore suits and ties
and women were looking fine! Dressed to kill and dressed to sell. Perfumed and quaffed to
perfection – and that was just the guys! These were classy events, no doubt about it, and I heard
all the stories and rumours – well, it was fun as well as business.

This was also a time when travel agents with empty fridges at home could eat like kings and
queens. At certain months of the year, travel agents could save hundreds of dollars on groceries
by attending product launches. What a life. Free food. Free drinks. Free entertainment. Free
travel. Free brochures. Free loading. The only thing you had to do for your supper was sell
something.
In the mid-70s travel agents were committed to gaining their Certified Travel Counsellor status
and were proudly displaying their trade backed CTC certification on or above their desk and
making sure their clients knew who they were dealing with. Travel agencies in the 1970s
numbered around 16,000 in North America boasting a workforce of 70,000.
All those glorious, past and present come-fly-with-us airline commercials on TV and in print
media, showing off their best looking Stewardesses prompted many young women to enter the
travel industry and soon there was a proliferation of travel schools throughout the country. Some
travel agencies offered travel industry training in a spare room at the back of their agency. There
were so many ways to make a dollar in the travel trade. We didn’t jump on that band wagon
because John Senior was focused and not wanting to divert his attention.
John Senior had passed on one specific adage to his son, one that he himself liked to live by and
wanted to make sure son John Junior followed suit. The quote, which was framed and hanging
on John Senior’s office wall, read: The Reader is the Leader.
John Senior told his son that to be well informed was one key to being and staying successful. He
knew that very few travel agency managers, let alone their sales people, ever read more than the
trade newspapers that came to their agency each week. They should have also been reading the
New York Times each every morning, tapping into the news of the day and listening to world
news on the radio. John Junior learned how to do all this in twenty minutes following opening
the agency, pouring a cup of coffee and then reading between the lines of local and world news.
This reading-between-the-lines technique that John Senior was such a master at, was simply a
matter of training the eye to pick out keywords related to travel and destinations. If a country
was mentioned in headline, or the text; if a city, a hotel, a disaster, etc., was noted, John Senior
could pick it out, eyeball it, judge its importance and either jot it down or forget it. He would also
tune into weather stations and know what was happening, and where. “The weather,” he had
told his son, “can be your friend or your enemy. You just have to know what it is doing each day;
everyday around the world.”
John Junior was reminded of his father’s words twenty years on in 1992 when an agency
owner/manager colleague woke up the morning before his group of forty were to leave for Kauai
only to find out that Category 4 hurricane Iniki had caused $2 billion in damage – including
removing the lobby of the hotel where his group were to stay. He had just not paid attention to
the weather.
Being well read and well informed also meant reading trade magazines to know what was being
promoted and who had merged. He read consumer travel magazines to know what the consumer
was being fed, and he subscribed to every travel agency owner’s dream magazine, National
Geographic - publishing since 1888. At home and in the agency John Senior’s “collection” of
National Geographics were a pain in the asphalt! They were everywhere. There were boxes of
maps too. Piled up close together they made excellent side tables.

I can remember John Junior asking his father why he actually subscribed to NG. The answer was
simple enough: “Millions of people, and that means thousands of people living around our
agency, read National Geographic. So I read it to know what they have read and that gives me
something to open up a conversation with and also to use in our marketing.” This was true, by
the way, as many times John Senior would sketch an ad layout with the words: As seen in the
latest issue of National Geographic. It was a clever tactic to indirectly associate the agency’s ad
with the NG magazine.
John Junior followed his father’s The Reader is the Leader advice and made sure he purchased
books like Travel Free and Travel’s Creative Future and Empires of the Sky when they were
released. Eventually however his father’s NG collection had to go. Nobody wanted them as they
too had just as many and also in very nice boxed sets arranged in year order. So to the trash they
went. From that point on John Junior read his own NG magazine but trashed it when the next
issue arrived. The maps he kept though and filed them away.
Old John was a stickler for detail and came from the school of dress smart, work smart, sell smart.
He always wore a suit, dark blue of course, and tie, usually red. Sometimes had a buttonhole
flower and most definitely a pocket square. Not a floppy silky thing but a proper white
handkerchief slipped in the top breast pocket with just one half inch showing. White shirt, French
cuffs and cuff links, well-polished black brogues and a pure gold plated fountain pen and biro set.
He was always early. In at six o’clock every morning to do some filing, not really his job, but he
wanted things to go where they should go and not filed away and lost forever. He knew that in
this business product knowledge was another key to success and if you didn’t know it you had to
know where to find it. Hence the importance he placed on filing away brochures, maps, schedules
and general tourist propaganda. He also came in early as a benchmark for his staff.
John Senior did well. He opened and ran the business at a time when the business was very, very
good. Industry veterans and present day travel agency owners remember those days as the time
when business, as mentioned, just walked in the door - and it was true. The thing was, of course,
old John also knew how to sell himself and convince the customer he was the best in town. He
could close a sale too. I heard every word and it would start like this: a phone call, some small
talk, a date and time was set because John was jammed with business, his calendar was full, but
he could move Mrs. J… and the caller had an appointment (as I said, he could sell)…
“… African safari you say, how nice… well, let’s see, it’s a very busy week… but I think I can move
an appointment here and there, yes, actually I can see you tomorrow at 2pm in the afternoon…
how’s that?”
…and then come the day, old John would walk to the front door to greet his customer, small talk
them on the way to his office and within thirty minutes or so he had a booking under deposit.
There was something else he did too - he always requested an extra one-hundred dollars should
he need to communicate long distance on his client’s behalf. That hundred bucks times fifty
clients padded the way each month.
Over the years, John Senior sold everything, but year by year - as his reputation grew - he started
to focus only on long haul, deluxe and the very tricky complex bookings. His staff handled the
generic day-to-day, run of the mill vacations and package holidays to Hawaii, Mexico, the
Caribbean and other sun destinations. His clients grew and aged along with him and in the final
years of his career it was fun to listen in on their conversations:

John: “Hi Harry… where are you going this time?”
Harry: “Time? Half-past three… am I too early?”
John: “What, to Early? Where’s that?”
And on it would go until finally one of them managed to break through to the other, stop the
conversation and reboot as they now say.
The day finally arrived and John, old John handed the business over to his son, John Junior. Old
John and his wife Margaret who had run the back end all those years and did the books, had also
had enough and wanted to enjoy the business they had built. So that was that. They made good
use of their travel trade connections and travelled for free most of the time, managed to get
agent rates or free accommodation and sometimes even cruised and toured with their age old
customers. They had a grand time and what a glorious way to leave the planet. Well-travelled,
financially well off having earned ten percent or more on everything they sold (up to 25% on the
custom groups he arranged), well connected and now with a son ready to take on the family
business they were set. The eldest son George and their only daughter Tonya were not interested
in running the agency. Twenty-nine years of selling travel had served John and Margaret well.
Now it was their son’s time to take it to the next level and they didn’t mean the next level down.
But times were changing.
It was 1975. John Junior was 28 years old and in his element. Recently single after an amicable
divorce and no children. His ex-wife married an acquaintance of theirs, a local doctor and it did
cross John Junior’s mind about the number of times his wife needed her prescription filled - but
then it was best forgotten and there was travel to be sold.
Travel was John Junior’s life. He was literally born into the business. On that day, Margaret, his
mother, had just one more line to total and then… well she never managed to total up because
her son John was suddenly wanting out. He was born right there in the accounting office between
Line Item 37, Office Expenses and Line Item 38, Paper Towels. Margaret had shrieked out. Old
John came rushing in and rushed back out just as quick. He held onto the door frame, called for
the eldest of this staff, Barbara, to come and help whilst he phoned for the ambulance. Everything
worked out as it should and later in life young John forever more kept a large supply of paper
towels close by. No one knew why but then owners can be strange birds from an employee’s
point of view.
John Junior would see more changes in the travel trade than his father could ever have imagined,
and I, the end wall, would be privy to so many uplifting and heart rendering discussions and
decisions. By the mid-1970s, deregulation was beginning and the major air carriers flew 130
billion Revenue Passenger Miles (RPMs). After a decade of deregulation, in 1988 the number of
domestic RPMs had reached 330 billion. Selling airline seats was the thing to do. It was the era of
disco, new technology was on its way.
By 1975, John Junior had worked in his parent’s travel agency throughout his entire life. Starting
off as VP Gurgling at Customers, he moved all the way up to VP F&B serving them a cup of coffee
with cookies when he was a teenager and as the VP Logistics, from running errands, to handling

point-to-point bookings, to Chief Librarian - studying every single brochure from cover to cover
as dictated by his father.
Reading the fine print was a must, and the reason John Senior insisted on it was that very few, if
any, of the travel agents he knew, ever read or understood the fine print of the products they
sold. That lack always caused them problems. Knowing the rules allowed you to say “No” with
confidence when it was required.
After graduating high school, John Junior was given a gift of travel. That’s right. His parents
arranged for him to fly to London, England and then hoped he would venture on to Europe and
be back in three weeks. Well that didn’t happen. He was 18, it was 1965 and at that time there
were young men and women driving old black London taxis, Morris Minors, Bedford vans and
even London double-decker buses along the Hippie Trail, as it was known, to Kathmandu. About
fourteen months later he returned with amazing stories to tell. Once he was back behind the
desk selling, he could hold a client’s attention and talk them into almost any trip. They loved the
fact that he had been “there” fulfilling one of his father’s beliefs: You had to go to know.
John Junior had no need of a brochure in his hand. At 28, John Junior could recite hotels,
locations, climatic conditions, categories and price levels for most of what the agency sold. In
addition fourteen months away, he had also been taken on many low-to-no cost trips with his
parents. And then, in his adult years, he was always on a FAM - as the staff read it. That wasn’t
quite true, but then, well it just looked like it. Funny thing was, I often heard John Junior asking
where his staff were and he thought they too were always away on a FAM. Hey, you had to go to
know!
It was 1975 and although John Junior was now the boss and in his element the world didn’t
recognise that at all. The world went on its merry way as countries, leaders and events took on a
life of their own, not actually bothering to include John Junior. But then John Junior was charged
with taking the family business to the next level and wasn’t aware of what would happen in 1975,
let alone the ensuing years, or how events of the early seventies would affect him now and into
the 1980s. The world could have sent a note once in a while, but didn’t. It was all up to him. Had
he stared into a crystal ball, or spent a little more time reading business-like newspapers, or
listened to or watched a little more news he would have known that the 1970’s would offer him
and the world he sells, a few more challenges than expected. His father had always been well-
informed and able to turn a challenge into an opportunity, well most of the time, but John Junior
had not quite learned that skill as well as he thought he had.
One thing he did learn, however, was humbling. No matter what you know in this business, there
is always more to know and after that, even more. To be an expert takes a lifetime his father
famously said and so he learned a lesson when a dark-skinned man walked in and in perfect
English (well he was an Englishman so that could be why) asked about “Taking a ferry from Arij
A’bor…” Young John, with all his travels around the Indian continent, had not heard of Arij A’bor
and so excused himself for a moment and went to the back room to check the atlas. Checked the
index, nothing! Ran his finger around the coast line. Wracked his brains, nothing! Finally claiming
defeat, John Junior came out to say, “Sorry about that sir, where in India exactly is Arij A’bor?”
Well, what happened next was something John Junior would never forget and whenever he
thought he knew a place, he would recall this moment and he would always check with the client
first. So the Englishman fell off his chair laughing and couldn’t stop. Finally he righted himself and
with tears in his eyes, speaking with clarity which, for a Brit, meant including the first letter and

the last letter of each word, said, “No, son. It’s not in India, it’s in Essex, Harwich Harbour I want
to take the ferry to Holland from Harwich Harbour – maybe my Cockney accent put you off!”
The 1970s was alive and well also with a death or two here and there: Franco the Spanish dictator
died, the price of crude oil increased by 10%, Margaret Thatcher was chosen to run the British
Conservative Party, King Faisal of Saudi Arabia was assassinated, the Vietnam War ended, the IRA
bombed the London Hilton Hotel in Park Lane, Angola gained independence from Portugal,
doctors in the US strike, causing hospitals to reduce services, the Suez Canal reopened for the
first time since the Six-Day War. Unemployment in the US reaches 9.2% and the country went to
a recession; then, civil war between Maronite Christians and Muslim militias in Lebanon began
15 years of strife, and Indira Gandhi, India’s Prime Minister, is found guilty of electoral corruption.
In South America, Suriname gained independence from the Netherlands. Further north, Patti
Hearst was arrested for armed robbery and Jimmy Hoffa, ex Teamster’s Union boss, disappeared
- never to be seen again.
Someone suggested the Mafia owned a travel agency and sent Jimmy on a one way ticket to
Cuba. Others said it was an open jaw and others said they thought he was away looking into the
concrete industry. None of those suggestions where true, but what was true was that the world
had changed yet again, as it would change almost every year and most certainly each decade just
as it had done for centuries past.
It didn’t escape him that when death and destruction occurred
travel insurance sales increased…
John Senior knew that being well-informed in this industry was tantamount to holding gold dust.
That knowledge was a currency, it was money in the bank. He knew, by studying world history
and being on top of current events and climatic conditions, you had a better idea of how travel
related opportunities might work out. It didn’t escape him that when death and destruction
occurred travel insurance sales increased and made sure John Junior understood this.

I can see someone at the front door. Key in the door, turning… ah, John Junior is here. What time
is it? There you go, 8:30 a.m. In early just like his dad, John Senior, well, almost. He’s walking past
six desks up front and heading to his office at the back. He’s made a few changes since he took
over and has more changes to make. First things first – coffee.
As the coffee maker percolates he glanced up and saw the mess of brochures on the back table
half stamped, boxes of brochures piled up some from last year, many out of date and a cork
board that must have a thousand flyers pinned to it, or so it seems and what’s this, oh yeah, a
whole bunch of new pages to be inserted in the APTCO Tariff and that’s a pain. But it had to be
done or someone would be quoting the wrong airfare and then that would be a loss of
commission. Can’t afford to have that happen. John Senior used to whip those pages into place
before opening time, but that was then and this is now. “Someone will do it…” John Junior
muttered to himself and reached for a Solo Cozy Cup holder, popped in a plastic cone cup, added
a scoop of powdered milk, poured in coffee stirred it with dark brown plastic stir stick, took a sip,
shuddered and headed for his office to start the day.

The door swings open and in comes Colleen. She’s an international travel agent, a senior travel
agent. She’s 34 years old, a CTC, and very precise. Hasn’t actually travelled too much, other than
cruising, and she’s up to eleven cruises now - just likes the thought of it, you know, being at sea.
Handling detail is what she likes at the office. Usually works all day without too much chitchat.
Gets the job done and goes home. Very efficient.
Following in Colleen’s footsteps through the front door is Barbara, 55 years old and trained by
John’s father in his later years and still with the agency. She serves many of the agency’s older
clients and delivers that personal touch that is still valued by the more senior clientele. This
means her conversations go on for two-hours or more and there’s always a sharing of
photographs from the most recent trip and the grandkids too. The sharing of trip photos is one
way she stays on top of the latest developments around the world. She could read brochures but
she prefers her client’s first hand recollections and then she has third party validations to relate.
As old John trained her, this makes for an excellent closing technique.
Hugh trundles in somewhere between 7am and just past opening time, 9am. The timing depends
on how often he had to go to the bathroom during the night and if it’s an early morning call to
the can, what the hell, he’s up anyway and might as well head to the office. He’s been with the
agency so long he gets dusted every morning! Just kidding. He sits very close to me and so I can
hear all the mutterings, poor ole fella. He’s 75 and still selling travel. Grumpy now. Some body
parts not working as they use to and the occasional fart will be heard at the same time he coughs.
John Junior is not sure what to do with him. He’s not selling as much as he used to, he cannot
send him on errands and for sure, when John brings in the new computers all hell will break loose
at the back here. Then there’s the sleeping at the desk. It can happen. It does happen. That’s why
he sits at the back where John Junior can pop a question to him to kindly wake him up. Dear old
Hugh is a mine of information and often used as a walking filing cabinet.
Evelynn pushes open the door with a “Good morning everyone!” Always bright and cheerful no
matter what. Hugh as expected responds with “What’s good about it?” and Evelynn just takes it
in stride and pats him on the back as she walks past him to the staff room to hang up her coat.
Evelynn is Chinese, age 27 and joined the agency to help sell tours to China and the Far East in
general based on the surge of interest the trade has experienced. No one asks what’s in her
lunch today as they’ve had too many surprises in the past.
What time is it? Must be 9:05 a.m. or later and the reason I know that is very simple – young Ellie
is bounding in late as usual. Ellie doesn’t quite get it that late is late. Start time is 9 a.m. anything
after that is late. Actually, the handbook written by John Senior stated everyone in by 8:45 a.m.
and ready to go by 8:59 a.m. It’s somewhere in the back room gathering dust but John Junior will
be rewriting that handbook soon. Have no fear Ellie will have an excuse and they range from a
standard excuse to a very intricate excuse, an “are you kidding me?” excuse and a lame excuse.
Let’s listen in and see why she’s late today: “Sorry guys, just couldn’t get up this morning, (WOW!
An honest excuse!) - late night you know… had a great time though. Drank a ton of beer and wine
and must have downed three plates of nachos! Everyone okay?”
Ellie is 19 and eager to travel the world and also very excited about the new computers that are
arriving sometime this year. Disco is still pounding away at the night clubs and that’s where Ellie
can be found Friday and Saturday night.

Ellie is pretty sharp. Good memory and keeps excellent time when the clock strikes 5 p.m. she’s
up and out like a hound after a rabbit. “Home time!” is her usual battle cry as she runs out the
door not bothering to ask anyone if they need help, something delivered, posted or what.
In addition to his five fulltime staff, John Junior also had nine other people working for him. Each
of them classed as an OSR or Outside Sales Rep. One or two of the OSRs can find people to talk
to, then tell them about the services of the travel agency they work for, and in some cases actually
close the sale and bring a deposit cheque in to the office with the booking information. Then
there’s the OSR who just loves to travel on the cheap. He makes the right motions so that it looks
like he’s prospecting for business, but in actual fact he just attends trade show functions where
he sells himself to the suppliers to get his name on their list for FAM trips.
That’s the team that I listened to each and every day, day in day out, except for Sundays.
Saturdays is not that busy but John Junior figures like his dad that “You never know son… a world
cruise client could walk through the front door at any time on a Saturday. We have to be open.”
The fact of the matter was, no one ever walked in on a Saturday to book a world cruise. Ever. It
wasn’t truly understood that world cruise clients didn’t really walk anywhere… you generally
went to them.
John Junior, of course, has been in the travel industry for many years now, and he understands
it. Beyond that, what he needed was management training. Not only how to manage others but
also himself. He needed to learn how to hire the right team, fire those who were not producing
and develop a sales and marketing plan that would establish The Travel Agency on a success
strategy to carry the agency through and into the next decade and beyond. He did find one old
training manual from his father’s era called, Assertive Training for New Managers and it offered
this advice:
WHEN MANAGERS THEY ARE YOUR STAFF ARE
Take a long time Thorough Slow
Want time off Overworked Going for an interview
Need a sick day Very ill Always off sick
Are out of the office On business Wandering around
Make a mistake Only human An idiot!

Last year in 1974, aside from the resignation of US President Nixon, a few things happened that
would set the future for travel to China. One such event was the discovery of the Terracotta Army
near modern-day Xi'an in Shaanxi province. John Junior didn’t really take too much notice of the
discovery although some of his staff talked about it as something to see “when the time comes.”
China was always in the news it seemed and some travel agents started to focus on it.
In this same year, 1975, a sporting first happened when Arthur Ashe created a sensation by
becoming the first black man to win Wimbledon. For travel agencies dealing in sports tourism,
this outcome was a marketing gift. Here was an opportunity to attract more black North
Americans to travel to similar events when black athletes were participating. John Junior wasn’t

looking for this type of opportunity in 1975. His father had often warned him against stretching
too far. There were some opportunities best left alone or you could wind up destitute, in debt
and with five hundred tickets to the worst events.
The rest of the seventies would prove to be both exciting and a challenge – and like so many
other people in small business John Junior didn’t notice the founding of a new company called
Microsoft.
The 8 am staff meeting happens every Monday - it’s supposed to anyway. It did when old John
ran the agency. I’m looking at the clock that hangs across from me and well wouldn’t ya know –
9:10am! This meeting is off to its usual dynamic self. Ellie hasn’t turned up yet, but that’s alright,
nothing lost, nothing gained. John Junior just postponed the meeting on the grounds that there
was nothing to discuss anyway. So it’s back to business for everyone. But John Junior is making
some notes and mumbling to himself. He looks up and well, look at that, 9:15 am and everyone
is in, even Ellie, head down, tail up and the phones are ringing already and Colleen has a client at
her desk too. Probably a good idea to cancel the staff meeting. Good management decision for
sure.
Colleen welcomed her client, “Hi Mrs. Tailor, where to this time?” Yes, Mrs. Tailor was a long
term client of the agency and Colleen had dealt with her for more than 6 years now. Mrs. Tailor
is 61 and lost her husband, Ned, a year back. “Well Colleen, you know I’m not getting any younger
and dear Ned always wanted us to go on a world cruise… so that’s it this time. Book me on a
world cruise and find one with lots of young men!” She laughs at her own joke and causes
everyone else in the agency to smile too. Colleen’s back straightened and she goes to work… a
world cruise. Not many of those come along in any travel agent’s career, so this is one for the
books. “Right you are Mrs. Tailor – here’s what I need to know from you and then I can make a
couple of recommendations in terms of which ship, the itinerary and pricing…” and with that
Colleen was on her way to selling her first ever fifteen-thousand dollar world cruise. It was an
inside cabin and a few decks down but that was fine with Mrs. T. It’s what she could afford and
besides, it was the journey she was after and she would make sure she was topside most of the
time. As she told Colleen she will look out to sea as if sharing the experience with her late
husband.
Colleen always referred back to that comment in her own mind and sold a lot of travel not so
much trying to sell the highest category but selling a well-priced vacation that a client could afford
and then share with others upon return. Her referrals increased tremendously.
Ellie came into John Junior’s office and said, “There’s a call on line one for you…” John Junior
looked up and said, “Who is it?” Ellie shrugged and walked back to her desk. She does this all the
time and John Junior does nothing about it, just asks who it is. As always, he picked up the phone
and said, “John speaking, how may I help you?”
The photocopier salesman was good. Kept John Junior on the phone for thirty minutes and in the
meantime, an old client had walked in, looked to the back office and then walked out. He had
seen John on what must be a very important call as John had his head in hand and shaking it at
the same time. John’s client mentioned to Colleen he’d come back later. The photocopier was
delivered as promised two days later for a test drive, as the salesman suggested. Well at least
John could get free photocopying for the one week the machine would be in his agency. The
trouble was, the machine was huge. It did everything but make coffee. Where to put it? Well they

decided to put it in John Junior’s office where everyone went to photocopy. The noise drove John
Junior nuts but he kept quiet and on day seven advised the salesman he didn’t want it.
The mailman come in as usual, walked all the way to the back and placed the mail on top of John’s
desk. “Thanks postie!” John said and picked it up to sort through it. Bills to the left, brochures
and flyers in the middle, trade magazines and newspapers to the right. The trade magazines and
newspapers went to the staff room just behind me and were placed on top of the others that no
one had had time to read yet. The brochures were quickly browsed to see if there was anything
new and exciting… nope, same old stuff. So to the bills then. Another quick look and then into
the tray marked accounting for Mrs. H to pick up and do the books. John Junior was a travel agent
not an accountant or bookkeeper and so he only bothered about the profit or loss statement
each month end. In between, his job was to sell travel and if possible manage the agency too.
He noticed a flyer promoting a free FAM and thought it would suit Hugh so he called him in, “Hey
Hugh… got a minute?” Hugh was between mid-nodding off and planning to get a coffee, so the
reply came out as a fuzzy “Huh?” followed by, “Sure…” and he walked into John’s office and sat
down. “What’s up boss?”
John was very pleased to show Hugh the free FAM flyer and suggested it would be good for him
to reconnect with Hawaii once more. Hugh hadn’t been there for a few years and the agency sold
a lot Hawaiian packages and FITs. Hugh was always happy with anything that got him out of the
agency and away from his desk, so he agreed to go.
You should have heard him when he came back. He more or less staggered into John’s office and
said, “No more FAMS for me boss. We did 30 hotels in the four days, every evening taken up with
a promotional event. The agents I was with went drinking and dancing late into the morning and
I’m so tired I could sleep for a week!” And that was the end of Hugh’s FAM trips. Well not entirely.
When a decent FAM (which meant no work involved) came around and perhaps cost a few dollars
to attend, Hugh paid for it himself and took off. Hugh staggered back to his own desk and lit up
a cigarette to have with his coffee. He leaned back in his creaky chair with the scuffed arms and
blew a long stream of smoke into the air. This trip confirmed he didn’t like working FAM trips nor
the new breed of travel agents for that matter.
Mrs. H came to the agency one week after month end as usual to review the books with John
Junior. She didn’t look happy. It was the first week of July, 1976 and the agency was losing money.
I can remember it now, “Losing money?” John Junior said, “How can we be losing money?” The
reply was short and sweet, “You’re spending more than you’re making I’d say! ‘Bout time you got
busy training up your team or replacing them as I see it. You’re losing ground, losing market share,
clients are migrating to other agencies and only old Hugh sells travel insurance and he’s hardly
closing any sales now.”
Dear John Junior’s mouth hung open. Not sure what to say. He was scared to tell the staff they
needed to do better, he wasn’t sure how to train them, and where would he find a new team
even if he did fire one or two of his present team? Besides they would walk to other agencies in
town and he’d lose more business. “I don’t know Mrs. H… not sure what to do really…” is all John
Junior could manage. I have to say he did look somewhat crestfallen. He liked things better when
he didn’t have to confront anything or anyone. Conflict wasn’t a place he liked to visit.

Mrs. H wasn’t done and didn’t suffer ‘poor me’ situations. She was old school like John Senior
and if it wasn’t working you took a breath and fixed it, taking your lumps either way. From her
reading of the travel trade papers which she liked to do, she mentioned the ABC organization
that was coming to town to promote a franchise system and attract franchisees. They offered a
terrific hotel program she had read not really knowing what that meant. She mentioned this to
John Junior who had also caught the heading whilst reading between the lines. “What, pay fees
to a group of people who know nothing about travel!” And that was that. Mrs. H hadn’t the heart
to inform John Junior about the 15% the ABC agencies made on many of their sales, or the
overrides on air sales, too. She had figured that even with paying the fees they would make a
healthy profit on the overrides alone. But it wasn’t her company and felt that John Junior had to
make his own way in the world, just like his father.
As it turned out, it was a good decision not to join the franchise at that time. There were all sorts
of travel trade regulations about not being able to share or split commissions, and agency owners
did not want to lose their agency name to a brand name – indeed after years of hard work - they
wanted their own name above the agency door. In the next decade however the franchise system
for travel agencies would be one of the best decisions for both newcomers and veteran agencies
for those who could follow a system. That was the key to franchise success. You had to use the
system you paid for. Of course neither Mrs. H nor John Junior could foretell the future and the
last half of the 70’s where going to cause the world in general and the world of travel a few
additional headaches.
To survive as John Senior had instructed, a travel agency owner would need to be very astute and
be able to grasp at those brief opportunities when they came past. For many, survival meant
having lived through similar events and situations and from experience knowing what to do and
more importantly how to do it. This was an edge that veteran travel agents had over competitors
new to the industry and it still holds true today.

And so it was that in 1976 the Ebola virus hit the Sudan and Zaire causing panic and cancellations
to most parts of Africa. The Tangshan earthquake in China killed 240,000 people and travel to
some areas of that country were cancelled or stalled. In amongst these horrific events there was
always a ray of sunshine and that’s what travel professionals like John’s father always looked for.
The Montreal Olympics where doing well and the agency team, along with the rest of the world,
where talking about young Nadia Elena Comaneci from Romania who had a perfect score in
gymnastics. Some travel agencies quickly took advantage of the media coverage and started to
arrange tours to Romania and others focused on Eastern European tours.
Even more events were to challenge the world and offer opportunities, too. When Elvis died in
1977, well the entire world seemed to stop. Some agencies were shedding tears whilst others
were planning their tours to pay respects to their idol. If they could have looked to the future
they would have seen that the idea of selling tours to visit Elvis’s grave was a guaranteed money
maker – with eventual numbers reaching 600,000 people a year. Later on in October 1987 a
company called Grave Line Tours opened the doors to its hearse, known as The Tomb Buggy, and
took tourists on a $25 ride around town pointing out where stars and celeb’s were buried. And
there it was. Tomb Tourism was taking off and only offered when a client wanted something
cheap and tacky. Although John Junior was not into dead celebs he did make a note that tombs

of prominent people, authors, politicians, poets, artists, theatrical stars etc., whose graves were
literally spread around the world were interesting to many people. He guessed that a custom FIT
tour to the graves of well-known artists would probably attract a wealthy clientele. He was right.
In 1978, events triggered stay-at-home tourism, a sense of sci-fi joy, jobs in the oil patch and a
boost to faith-based travel. The absurdity of events is never lost on the travel trade as the
miniseries Roots stirred up emotions across America and around the world; Star Wars the movie
is released and it’s a money maker; anti-apartheid is happening in South Africa and the leader of
the movement Steve Biko is murdered; money flows when the Trans-Alaska Pipeline is finished
and a new religious icon in the form of Pope John Paul II grows to idol status for many.
Looking back, I have to say that John Junior, although not a religious man, did see the opportunity
that was ignited by the new Pope and worked with his suppliers to build a religious tour program
that still runs today. One opportunity he quickly latched onto was the Passion Play, at
Oberammergau. As it was held every ten years and 1980 was looming fast he decided to seize
the day and booked in advance - securing 100 seats holding them under a $50 deposit he paid in
advance. His $5,000 investment paid off handsomely less than two years down the road.
I saw how he marketed this program. He delicately focused on the ‘every ten years’ statement,
meaning you should see it now, because you may not be alive for the next date in 1990. It was
low key, it was sensitive and it created urgency amongst the faithful.
Mrs. H congratulated John Junior on his foresight and hoped the boost would help generate more
creativity in her boss. He had by now put old Hugh out to pasture as a part time, outside referral
agent. It was a kind way to say goodbye and Hugh had saved enough over the years plus he had
a small pension coming in. There was nothing, of course, from the agency as that wasn’t the way
it worked for a small business like ours. No pension, no dental, no medical.
In 1979 another event would rock the world and that was when Ayatollah Khomeini returned as
leader of Iran and then Iran took American hostages in Tehran. The entire Middle East became
suspect to North American tourists who stayed home and the world waited to see how this would
play out. It took a long time to reach the climax that it did. Margaret Thatcher became the first
woman Prime Minister of Great Britain and that was a coup for all women. For the travel agencies
selling corporate travel, many started to focus on a more feminine approach to their marketing
and travel products.
The daughter of former Hollywood star Danny Kaye, Dena Kaye wrote the book The Traveling
Woman and published it in 1980. It was a hit. The actual title was: The Traveling Woman – An
Indispensable Guide to the Pleasures and Perils of Traveling Alone, With Husbands, Friends,
Lovers, Kids, for Business, Enlightenment, Sheer Joy, Etc. The word “Lovers” helped the sales!
More women made the news when Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and so it
was that some agencies got involved with Voluntourism and establishing groups to help out
where Mother Teresa needed support.
John Junior talked to his staff and they thought women-only travel would take off so he created
a “division” called Woman’s World Travel and tested it with ads in the local paper. It was a good
try but ahead it’s time. He’d have to wait another 15 years before women-only travel became a
prominent niche and it wasn’t until the early 2000s that major hotels created women only floors.

The 1970s more or less ended with a bang and that was caused by the nuclear accident at Three
Mile Island and then on one final note, a musical one, Sony introduced the Walkman. John Junior
who was of the age and liked technology. He recognised the Sony Walkman as a great invention.
He even managed to do a deal with Sony to sell the Sony Walkman from his agency.
John Junior saw that anything small and portable was what a traveller wanted, whether they
knew it or not. He came up with Walking With Walkman tours of the UK… where a guided tour
was recorded on a cassette tape and formed part of the package. He’d done his research and
found out that Acoustiguide has started such a business in 1957 and recently adapted their
cassettes to fit the Sony Walkman. He offered a free cassette tape when a client booked on this
walking tours.
By the end of 1979 John Junior and his team were ready to take on the 1980’s. He had made a
bit of money and decided to overhaul the inside of the agency. Painting it a nice off white and
instead of framing posters he used real photographs that he and the staff had taken themselves.
The photographs were enlarged to 16” x 20” then laminated on card which was glued on to
hardwood. The edges of the wooden plaques where painted black and the finished “works of art”
hung on the agency walls, including me! I had a nice picture of a Mexican sunset hanging on me
and the majority of clients who visited the agency looked at the setting sun, then sighed. You
could watch them and listen to them dreaming.
This was a great idea, for when a potential customer, new to the agency, walked in they were
always amazed by the images displayed on our walls and often asked where the images were
taken and who took it. From there on, the ice was broken and the selling started. John Senior
who was always looking for conversation starters would have been proud of his son. From that
moment on, our walls always featured photographs taken by the agency team. Posters were used
only for client events and giveaways.
When John was asked about the sunset image he happily told them it was shot in Acapulco and
that he took it. He also learned that a sunset is one image that always seemed to put people in
the mood to get away from work and home and go travelling.
The year clicked on to 1980. Old Hugh had died. John Junior hired Shelly a bright 23 year old who
had taken off on her own to travel South East Asia, Kathmandu and similar places. She had so
many stories to tell, and John Junior loved them all. To end 1979 and the decade the agency team
had a great office party and went disco dancing after. By the end of the evening John had danced
so much his shoes turned white. One man amongst five women. He swore to hire more men. Not
to dance with you understand but to share the dancing. Everyone was looking forward to the
New Year and what the next decade, the 1980s would bring.
NEXT ISSUE – THE TRAVEL AGENCY ENTERS THE 1980S…
Read Selling Travel in May for another sample chapter and find out how John Junior overcomes the loss of
industry friends to AIDS and how it spurs him on to achieve more in his own life, how he learned to sell
corporate travel, streamlined his outside sales force, investigated the franchise opportunity, made money
when Charles & Diana married, hitchhiked on the hit 1985 hit single “We Are The World”, booked clients to
witness the falling of the Berlin Wall and lost sales to China after Tiananmen Square. He also learned to Get
Down, Shake His Booty and Feel Like Dancing – the 80’s arrived and he was ready to rock’n’roll!

The author in 1973 working for Thomas Cook. Piles of tariffs behind him. Selectric
typewriters. Dial phones. Telex machines. Validation machines. Airlines plates.
Wooden desks and wooden chairs.
The only mobile phone available was the dial phone you unplugged
and moved to another desk!

The story of The Travel Agency continues
as a column in Selling Travel e-Magazine so
come back each month to catch up.

Anthony Dalton, FRGS, FRCGS
Rapid Descent: Canoeing
Canada's Hayes River

y ears are tuned to the sounds of
the river: the dull roar of white
water cascading over rocks. Our
three canoes huddle together in an eddy, out
of the main stream. It's raining lightly. Mark
stands in the stern of our canoe, supporting
himself by moving his paddle lazily in the
slowly moving pool.
"We could do it," he says.
Rob, standing in an adjacent canoe looks
doubtful. "I think we'll take the left channel,"
he says, resuming his position.
"What do you think, Tony?" The expression
on Mark's face tells it all. He wants to run this
rapid and, as I'm his partner in the bow, I get
to vote too. It's hard to ignore the wistful
boyish grin.
"Okay, Mark," I'm sure there's a note of
resignation in my voice, "if you want to try it
- let's go."
I know this will be a rough ride - a wet ride. I
tighten the chinstrap on my crash helmet
and dip my blade in the water. "Alright. Let's
do it."
This is the fifth day of a two-week wilderness
canoe journey on Canada's historic Hayes
River. Once the main thoroughfare for
canoes and York boats carrying bales of furs
from the interior to York Factory, on Hudson
Bay, for the Hudson's Bay Company, the
Hayes River today is rarely travelled. Back in
the 19th century, each summer this river
echoed with the shouts of tripmen racing
down rapids; hand-lining up the rapids. The
shouts on this day will come from me, and
from Mark.
We dig our paddles deep, urging the long red
canoe upstream about fifty metres, so we
can set the line we want to follow for our
planned route over the rapids. At Mark's
command we ferry left and turn through 180
degrees. We are now one with the current,
yet we must go faster.
From shore a canoe racing over rapids gives
the impression of immense speed. On board,
moving marginally faster than the current,
our descent begins as if we are in slow
motion. The lip of the drop, where snarling
water washes smooth boulders clean, is
shrouded in mist. I disappear into the
miasma, leaving Mark no choice but to
follow. The current changes our pattern of
travel: it's no longer in slow motion. At full
speed the canoe leaps over the rocks, nose
first into a standing wave of icy history.
Instinctively I shout, "Oh, ---!" The expletive
out before my lips are sealed by an
avalanche of river pouring over my head,
into face, flooding the canoe. We break
through, skidding right then left, searching
for calmer water. Without floatation bags
fore and aft, we'd be sinking by now. Loaded
to the gunwales with our equipment and a
full cargo of river, we ferry right, across the
current, to the safety of an eddy and a
convenient rock. Mark is jubilant, so am I.
We're also soaked right through.
The Hayes River stretches 610 kilometres
across the Province of Manitoba. It is one of
the few untouched major rivers in Canada.
There are no hydroelectric dams, only two
settlements along its route. A few years ago
I journeyed along the first part of the river,
from Norway House to Oxford House, with
twelve strong Cree tripmen in a traditional-
style York boat. We dragged it over beaver
dams, manhandled it a couple of kilometers
through a burned out forest, sailed across
lakes, some peaceful - some windy, and
raced her down rocky defiles. That
experience convinced me to see the rest of
the river.
Rob Currie and Mark Loewen, both
biologists, are licensed canoe/river guides.
They are partners with their mentor, Bruno
Rosenberg, in Wilderness Spirit Adventures,
based in Winnipeg. In company with three
M

others: two more biologists, Val and Herbert,
and Barbara - another writer, we will run the
380 kilometres from Oxford House to York
Factory, come rain or shine, fair winds or
foul.
We've already had our share of rain and high
winds. Crossing Knee Lake we fought an
unpleasant chop of over half a metre, for a
few hours, while being blinded by rain.
Fortunately, when the rain stops, the huge
Manitoban skies welcome us and saturate
our tired muscles with life-giving heat from a
benevolent summer sun.
There are 45 sets of rapids from start to
finish on the Hayes. Most of these are on the
second half, where we are. The longest
section, where we are now, is a non-stop
watery stairway past Brassey Hill. Rapid
follows rapid in quick succession. Their
names evoke the strong ties this river has
with the Cree nation - unpronounceable
name such as: Neesootakuskaywin and
Apetowikossan. I can't help but wonder how
heavy freight canoes and York boats were
manouevred back up this determined river.
Overhead we are entertained by bald eagles
performing aerial ballets, and ospreys
screaming out of the sky to snatch unwary
fish from the middle channel. On the banks
Rob's sharp eyes picked out a small black
bear on day one or two. Taking a break from
torrential rain on a narrow strip of beach we
find fresh wolf tracks. Later, once we are
beyond reach of the rapids, Rob will find us
another bear, a cub this time, running away
from the approaching canoes in panic.
Descending the rapids we camp each night
on smooth rocks with the roar of tomorrow's
adrenaline rush in our ears. Each night I
attempt to supplement our larder with fresh
Northern pike. Voracious eaters, prepared to
take anything remotely edible, they are not
hard to catch. Most nights, for those who
enjoy it, we have pike, occasionally a choice
of pike or walleye.
When the rapids are too rough even for
Mark's enthusiasm, we carefully lower our
fragile craft down the safest route by the use
of hand-lines. We follow, scrambling over
rocks to keep the canoes from getting away
from us. Inevitably one does and the two
guides race in pursuit in another canoe.
After Whitemud Falls, known as 'the rock' to
the tripmen of old, the river takes a break
from its mad rush down off the Canadian
Shield. This is the last of the rapids, although
there will be a few swifts ahead. From here
we could let the current do all the work. It's
fast enough, about 9 or 10 kph, to carry us
long distances each day. We have a deadline
to meet however. A chartered plane is due
to pick us up at York Factory in one week.
That fact doesn't stop us from being lazy
occasionally. Holding the three canoes
together we lay back and float for a few
hours under a scorching sun, only bothering
to paddle when a bend in the river threatens
to put us ashore. The steep clay banks trap
the sun and attempt to control the river's
current. The river, imperturbable, carves its
own passage as it follows its destiny.
At the confluence of the Hayes River and Fox
River we camp on hard earth opposite
Wachichakapasew, the Crane's Breast Cliff -
a sheer climb of about thirty metres. Once
again wolf tracks cross the site.
Just before noon on our eleventh day on the
Hayes, we join God's River. Now, with two
busy flows combined, the Hayes widens.
Islands appear in mid-stream. The main
banks drift far apart. With our paddles
flashing in the sunlight we are joined by the
Pennycutaway River and know that York
Factory is only a day away - the end of our
journey though history.
York Factory, once a small settlement with
many wooden houses, is now administered
by Parks Canada. The main building is a
museum of Hudson's Bay Company activities
on the Hayes and on Hudson Bay which can

be clearly seen from upstairs windows. Close
by a cemetery containing 161 identifiable
graves, the latest of which - the final resting
place of Albert Arthur Saunders - has a
marker engraved in the Cree language.
Our final night on the river is spent on the
north shore of Four Mile Island. We strip off
and take a swim in the cold clear water,
cleansing our bodies of two weeks of hard
effort and revelling in our successful
expedition. Tonight the heavens stage a
spectacular display of thunder and lightning
to celebrate our arrival.
An hour after leaving the island we tie up to
the jetty at York Factory. One by one we
climb the rickety wooden staircase up the
cliff. At the top, on a field of green grass with
the stark white façade of York Factory in the
background, we shake blistered hands and
congratulate each other on our
achievement.
© Anthony Dalton 2015. All Rights Reserved.

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After ascending Mt. Alishan on
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