Travel agents are an own breed. There is a very specific person that ends up being a travel agent. And especially the ones who work in the student/backpacker types of agencies. And here in Australia they seem to be even stranger…

Firstly, they seem to be very superior to any other wanna-be travelers. And I guess for a good reason. They do tend to have traveled a fair bit more than the average Australian student that might patronize such a place, as well as sitting with lots of inside knowledge of different destinations and customs (since they do work where they work, and knowing these things is the essence of their job). However, somehow a lot of them miss a simple first-hand knowledge of how things work overseas for the simple reason that they have never been overseas. Seeing that Australia is a very lonely country in the middle of a very big sea, it is quite understandable that most Australians have never left the country. Most of the citizens will of course know what an airport is, seeing that most do tend to travel quite extensively within the country, but it is when you add the word ‘international’ to airport that they tend to become a bit more confused.

 And, getting back to my travel agents, although they have traveled maybe a fair bit inside Australia, they do lack first hand knowledge of anywhere overseas. And working where they are working, and having the information they are having tend to give them a somewhat superior air to all us other sub-travelers, which is on the wrong side of the mysterious computer screen. If you ever have been in a travel agency you will know who jealousy any agent will protect their computer screen. Sometimes they act as there were super-secret state secrets of alien invasions and worse. I have no count of how many times I have slowly leaned over the counter in a vain try to see what is on the screen, and the agent has as slowly and never missing a beat turning the screen away from my prying, uninitiated, and unworthy eyes. But, I am digressing. Where was I, oh yeah, their superior air…

Most of the time that is a good thing. You don’t want to shed out A$2000 for a ticket to someone you suspect have never been outside the suburb the shop is located in. And, of course, neither would you want to ask advice of whether to cross the Chinese northern border on foot or on a donkey of someone who seem like they can’t even place China on a map. So, at most times the superior know-it-all air is a good thing. However, when they try to shovel information down your throat, which you know for sure, is incorrect for the simple reason that you have been there yourself, the superior air gets really annoying. In the past two weeks I have been involved in a few heated conversations with several travel agents about whether a country will let you in if you do not have an outbound ticket located somewhere on your person or not. My stand that yes, countries do let you in, simply because there are other ways to leave a country than by plane, and most countries are aware of that, their stand is that no sir, no country will let you in without a outbound ticket. I even had one agent being so frustrated with my claims that most countries are quite happy letting you in, with an outbound ticket or without an outbound ticket, that in the end she refused to sell me a ticket to anywhere. Another travel agent went through great pains to explain to me that no country would let me in without me having a return ticket back to my HOME country. When I asked her how people get to do a around-the-world-trip if they have to fly back to their home country between each destination, she just sighed over my uninformed question and turned to talk to the next customer in line.