Anywhere But Here Travel, Inc

Virginia is AMAZING! She helped us plan our honeymoon to Antigua and was so great to work with and the trip was beyond our expectations. We told her what we wanted and she made it happen. We opted to stay at two hotels and she set us up in great rooms and made sure to share we were on our honeymoon so we were given any extra perks. We had a blast and felt prepared with documents and travel itineraries given to us by Virginia before we left. She really seemed to care about our trip even though she was not going herself which really set her apart from past agents we have worked with. Highly recommend her for ANY trip you want to take! Especially honeymoons as she helps alleviate the added stress of planning it in addition to the wedding. She’s wonderful!

We had planned a trip to Puerto Vallarta months ago and then the largest hurricane on record formed in the Pacific and looked as though it was going to hit PV directly. While I was still watching the news I received and email from Pam Taylor asking if we wanted to change the location of our trip (Scheduled 3 weeks after it was to hit) Yay for buying the travel insurance. Well it didn’t end up damaging PV so crisis averted. The morning of our trip we headed down to where we were parking our car (this was not set up through them) and the people at the lot were in no hurry to do anything and ultimately made us miss our plane. Got rebooked on another flight and Pam had changed our ground transportation for when we got there so we were able to get right off the plane and to our hotel for a much needed drink without missing a beat. This kind of service will not be what you experience if you are going through expedia. I highly recommend talking to Pam when you book your next vacation. :-)

I reached out to Anywhere But Here for help planning a college reunion in California. We had people coming from all over the country, with different wants and budgets. Virginia jumped right on board and helped us research a few different cities, along with what kind of activities would be available in the area. Eventually we settled on Monterey, and she helped negotiate all the contracts, worked individually with the attendees to book all the activities for them (or flights if they wanted), and was incredibly helpful throughout. If you want to take the stress out of planning, and like to support small local businesses, Anywhere But Here is awesome!

Pam Taylor was my son’s destination wedding coordinator and speaking for myself, I do not recall having had such an incredible trip EVER and I am 65 and well traveled. From the moment we knew the dates, I had been contacting Pam for our needs, particularly a crib for my grandson. Pam was always prompt in responding. From the moment we arrived at Cabo San Lucas, our shuttle to the hotel was waiting for us. Thanks to Pam, the hotel anticipated our needs and accommodated us to full satisfaction. We were so enthused by this experience that the family has decided that we do a family vacation at least every two years. THANK YOU PAM!

Virginia Mackay was amazing! She booked every detail of our trip to Tahiti, a vacation that would have been a huge mess if we had attempted to plan it ourselves. Just trying to pick the best possible resort for our trip would have been a headache and then figuring out the 3 transports (each way) to get from the airport on the main island of Tahiti to our resort in Moorea would definitely have been a disaster. Anywhere But Here sent us every travel document we would need for our tours and transports along with truly helpful info on each activity. So we never had to feel unprepared or anxious about scheduling/​communication problems. This was especially important, since we only had 1 week to spend in Tahiti! Absolutely everything went right, which we’ve never been able to say about any other vacation. Virginia personally checked in with us at every single step and was extremely generous with her time, which we really appreciated. We look forward to booking all our future excursions with Virginia and ABHT!

We were trying to plan a destination wedding in Mexico and decided to try out a travel agency. I tried contacting a few and had horrible experiences or just no response at all. I contacted this travel agency and it was the best decision we could have possibly made. We worked mostly with Pam Taylor and she is amazing! We were contacted very promptly after requesting service through their website and Pam sounded just as excited as we were for our destination wedding. They set up a website for our guests to go to and gathered all of their information necessary for travel. They were able to get a block of rooms reserved for our guests and got us an amazing discount on our room and even set up transportation to and from the resort. Any time we or our guests had any questions, Pam was very quick to respond and even accommodated our work schedule by meeting with us on the weekend. All in all, it was a huge relief to have this company help us with our destination wedding and Pam did a wonderful job. The price for their service was more than reasonable as I feel they did so much more work than what we paid for. I highly recommend this company for any and all of your traveling needs!

I worked with Virginia and Kari to plan out my perfect honeymoon! They were super helpful and easy to work with. I gave them our budget and vaguely what I had in mind, and was given several suggestions to choose from. We wanted to go to somewhere in Caribbean, but since we got married in October, they advised us to go to the Pacific coast of Mexico instead to avoid hurricane season. We ended up selecting an all-​inclusive resort near Puerto Vallarta. The original quote was for a junior suite with partial ocean view… since we wanted our honeymoon to be special, we asked how much it would be to upgrade to a suite with full ocean view and private jacuzzi. Kari managed to work some magic and get us that for LESS than the original quote! The whole thing was actually under our budget, including air fare, hotel, travel insurance, and transport to and from the airport! Everything went so smoothly during our trip, the hotel was amazing (right on the ocean!), and the tour company they went through down in Mexico was also excellent so that everything was taken care of. It took all the headache and effort out of planning our trip, so we were able to focus on the wedding, and just relax on the honeymoon! I would definitely recommend these guys for a painless vacation!

I worked with ABH on an extended-​family trip of 5 individual families and won’t use them again — definitely not worth the trouble. Even though they say you get a live person, I have never gotten an answer when I called — always had to leave a message and wait for a return call. My agent was pleasant and often responsive by email. However, it took many weeks to get basic things done like get possible lodging options. The first set of options mostly ignored the guidelines I had put in writing. Options improved as I repeated myself several times about what we were looking for. She almost never kept her commitments, as in «I will send you flights Friday» meant I had to prompt her several days later to send them (this happened multiple times). Lodging quote was ~$ 500 more than I could get at the same hotel online (she fixed it). Flights were ~$ 600 more than I could get for the same flights online — I ended up booking all 11 flight myself to save the money. She had originally told me her fee included booking flights but then said the higher flight price was due to their booking fees. Altogether not worth the trouble– I would rather pay a little more and get someone to actually do what they say and add actual value. Update later: I ended up working with the president when my agent was out of town and she was very concerned about my experience and moved quickly to fix it. It was clear she really cared about quality.

At first we were a bit skeptical about using a travel agent, maybe we thought the modern world had moved past it.
we were dead wrong.
Monica Hubinette at Anywhere But Here Travel set us up with the perfect hawaiian honeymoon that was perfectly on budget in every single way. We arrived to the Kona Coast and seriously considered just staying

Monica helped us with our Honeymoon to the French Polynesia and she was amazing! Very helpful, always responsive to our email and helped us stay within our budget. We had an amazing time and no worries because of Monica. She was awesome, and we will definitely be going her again for our next big trip!

What a great experience working with Virginia on my vacation to Maui. I started out trying to plan a huge family trip with extended family coming along. Virginia found some great options that accommodated the needs of the young and the grandparents… and stayed within the budget.
After trying to find dates for everyone to be together it was clear the idea of a large family trip was not happening and we switched gears to a vacation for just my family… the wish list was shorter and Virginia switched gears and came up with some great options.
We ultimately settled on Honua Kai in Kaanapali. The condo was great and Virginia took care of all the details and set up a day of snorkeling (great boat trip to Molokini) and a luau at the Feast at Le Le… a must do! Virginia made great recommendations and followed my request to have a few things scheduled and most of the time left for us to just relax. She listened and did exactly what I asked.
I am a busy person and having someone take care of all the details before I left on our trip and sending me a full package of all the reservations and a list of other places to see and things to do while in Maui was perfect. I will definitely call on Virginia and Anywhere But Here Travel when I take another trip. It was not expensive and in hindsight I would have paid more for the assistance in making my trip a true stress free vacation full of all the stuff we wanted to do while in Maui.
Thanks again Virginia. My family and I will remember this vacation forever… and I will be forever grateful for your help with all the changes I made along the way that you adjusted to without skipping a beat.
Rob

We were very pleased with doing business with our travel agent, Shawn van der Putten who was recommended to me by my sister. She organized our trip to Peru this month. The trip was very well organized by her contacts (EcoAmerica Tours). We received messages the night before our tours, the tour guides were enthusiastic and knowledgeable in all cities we visited (Lima, Cuzco, Machu Picchu, Puno and Sillustani) and the pick-​up times were punctual. The hotels we stayed at in Lima (‘Allpa’) and Cuzco (‘Los Portales’) were clean. Laundry service at ‘Los Portales’ was prompt.
Shawn really did an amazing job giving us the Peru experience. Highly recommend her services.

Angie from ABH put together our honeymoon itinerary. We paid a VERY reasonable fee and she met with us to understand the types of activities we were interested in. Our road-​trip down the Eastern seaboard was PERFECT. Everything was booked well in advance and we were given maps and a thoughtfully planned schedule. We couldn’t be more pleased!
Thank you!!!

Definitely pleased with ABHT, and Pam Taylor! When attempting to plan my wedding and honeymoon, I knew I had to hand off the details to someone in the know. We knew we wanted to visit Bali and Thailand, but no idea where to begin. She had the perfect package set up for us within a day of me contacting her, with the hotel suggestion a friend had given to me. She made sure to set up ground transportation for us as well, which I completely would have forgotten!
Once we were on our journey, we did hit a snag when the ground transport forgot to pick us up from the airport. One quick email to Pam and she was resolving the situation immediately, and we were very relieved to have her on our side!
She booked amazing accommodations for us in Thailand, and our romantic honeymoon was a dream!!!

Shawn recently helped plan our trip to France and Switzerland. Neither my fiancé nor myself had ever been to Europe and we did not even know where to start. Shawn met with both of us and got an idea of what we wanted to see and do and planned an amazing itinerary for us where we were able to visit Paris, Lyon, Nice/​French Riviera, Zermatt and Geneva. Everything from the hotels to coordinating plane and train tickets was taken care to the last minute detail with clear instructions on how to navigate everything. Needless to say we had an incredible stress free trip and we look forward to having Shawn plan our trip to Italy next year!

Pam Taylor has been a GODSEND! I was trying to book flights for my daughter and I to visit colleges on the east coast, but because we are leaving on different dates, I was pulling my hair out trying to book online. A friend recommended Pam, and she has delivered! She has been incredibly responsive, keeping me informed every step of the way. As a result of her superior customer service, I am confident our trip will be smooth and unforgettable. I cannot being to thank her for taking all the stress out of my travel plans. Anyone who wants to be treated like royalty should give Pam a call. You will not be disappointed!

We have been so pleased using ABHT! I was actually kind of surprised that travel agents still existed, but when it came time to plan our month-​long honeymoon to Italy while both my fiancé and I ran our own businesses, I knew I needed help.
Andrea and Shawn were phenomenal — they helped us plan a perfect trip and were more than happy to work «our way.» That meant booking accommodations through AirBNB and VRBO because we really prefer to stay in apartments and funky places when we travel, and to have our own kitchen.
The Italy trip was amazing, and when we faced hiccups (as one will during a month-​long Euro vacation) they were always accessible by cell no matter the hour and took SUCH good care of us.
We followed that trip up with a week long trip to the Big Island in Hawaii — Virginia was fantastic and made it one of my Most Favorite Trips Ever. They are in the middle of planning a 2 week trip to Poland for my husband and his dad to see the land of his family, and just starting to plan our 2016 trip to Turkey. Is there better proof of how much we trust this crew than to use them over and over?
With my schedule and our desire for off-​the-​path adventures that are still safe and well-​priced, I can’t imagine planning a vacation without ABHT’s help. Every person we’ve worked with there has gone above and beyond, and I feel that I have MORE than gotten my money’s worth for every dollar spent!

Pamela Taylor rescued my honeymoon! I was dealing with a travel agent from another company who was taking weeks to complete my transaction that I practically begged for them to take, when they took it upon themselves to raise the price, violating their contract.
Pam got in contact with me after my wedding planner emailed her about the situation. She was on the phone with me within an hour that night helping me decipher the OTHER travel agent’s paperwork, which they never bothered to go over with me. After another few days of fighting, I finally called Pam (who by the way has been available every time I needed to get a hold of her) and she worked tirelessly on recreating my honeymoon. Every time there was a new step, she gave me a specific date she should have it done by, and she was always finished early. When there were little snags, she kept me in the loop. It took all of 3 days for her to have my honeymoon to Indonesia planned and ready to take payment. And while I believe the experience is more important than the money, she shaved $ 2000 off of the trip our first agent had planned, simply by looking around the area a bit!
I have felt so taken care of by Pam. She listened to what type of adventure I wanted and delivered it in a timely manner and WAY under my budget. I’m off to Bali, Pam! Thanks for everything.

Whenever I’m at a loss, I turn to Unilocal for help. With 5 stars, I thought for sure ABHT could help, but am left feeling sad and kind of insulted after my experience.
I tend to plan our trips myself because I enjoy it, but when we received vouchers from American Airlines that said you have 2 options: 1 — call the airline to book, or 2 — use a travel agent, after waiting on hold for 30+ minutes a few times I contacted ABHT hoping they could help. I sent an email over the weekend explaining the situation and budget and listed off a few places on our bucket list, saying that we’d be open to other suggestions within our budget given their experience with travel planning. Enter Angela…
I received an email on Monday (hey, at least they’re prompt), followed by a phone call on Tuesday, where she told me that I’d have to pay them out of pocket (duh — did you really think I thought you chose a career you wouldn’t get paid for??), but of course no explanation as to the cost, then she told me the places I listed were all outside my budget (fair enough, thanks so much for your suggestions!) and that I should just call the airline myself and that «sometimes you have to be patient.»
I would have loved to use ABHT (and paid them for their services, gasp!), but wasn’t given the opportunity. It felt a lot like them saying, you’re too poor/​cheap so we don’t want your business (ouch!) or to even pretend like you’re worth our time. I wish they would have taken more time helping figure out what we can do instead of the incredibly awkward and disheartening interaction I had.
All in all, they’re prompt, but if you’re not spending oodles and oodles of money and/​or planning a trip with 50 of your closest friends, you’re not worth their time.

I just got engaged and we decided to have a destination wedding in the Dominican Republic. I started my search for a travel agent on Unilocal because I knew that I would need assistance managing the large group of people that were going to join us. Anywhere But Here Travel had great reviews, so I decided to reach out.
Andrea was fantastic to work with! She assisted our 37 guests with their flight and resort bookings saving me from a HUGE amount of stress. While my guests were working with Andrea, I was able to plan the rest of my wedding knowing that everyone was taken care of.
Even after setting all of my guests up with their travel, she sent the entire group tips on travel, activities that were available at our resort, what types of vaccinations we should get, as well as an email getting everyone excited because our departure date was finally here. She was over the top helpful and made our destination wedding a huge success!!!
One of my guests were flying to meet up with us from another state. She had a flight cancel on her and Andrea was quick to get her on a new flight… she ended up in the seat right next to me for the last part of our flight! That was so awesome!
I can not say enough about Anywhere But Here Travel and working with Andrea. I highly recommend using her service!
Thank you so much Andrea!