Brides & Weddings Magazine
By Rachel Nohe
Picking a honeymoon destination can be both exhilarating and exhausting, and finding a hotel or resort that fulfills the expectations of both you and your future spouse can feel impossible. Not to mention the anxiety that comes from knowing that there may be certain amenities you are missing out on just because you didn’t even know to ask about them. Andrea Savitch, owner and president of Unique Travel Events is here to help and can assist in building just the right honeymoon experience for you by making the planning process less daunting and much more enjoyable.
How Unique Travel Events Can Help You
For over a decade, Unique Travel Events has been helping couples plan dream vacations, whether for a honeymoon or a silver anniversary getaway. Having personally traveled to 11 different countries just last year, Savitch knows that the whole world is an option when it comes to vacations; one of the ways she assists couples is to help them narrow down where they want to go. The agent finds that many people know they want to travel but have a difficult time finding a place that meets their unique requests, be it adventure, relaxation, or cultural exploration. To provide clients with a bevy of options, Savitch partners with a variety of major cruise lines and tour companies. By building relationships with these high-quality companies, Savitch can personalize her clients’ vacations by matching them with the destination and amenities they most desire.
“I help them determine, ‘Do they want to do a tour?’, ‘Do they want to do a cruise?’ and I find them the best match. Not every cruise line is meant for every person. If a couple really does not want to be around children, I might recommend Virgin Voyages.” If adventure is the goal of the trip, she may suggest skydiving, but if it’s solitude that you need, then The Habitas in AIUIa may be just what you are looking for. Additionally, if her clients are seeking a tour-based vacation but are following a strict budget, Savitch may direct them to the Cosmos tour company. No matter the request, her experience takes the guesswork out of vacation planning, so instead of stressing about their trip, her clients can simply enjoy it.
Managing Expectations
Not only does Savitch help her clients find compatible vacation destinations, she also steers them clear of common booking mistakes and helps them avoid trying to do too much in too short an amount of time. “A lot of times I see people booking flights without having a place to stay when they get there,” she says. “For me, I want to have at least one hotel lined up before I book your flight because I want to know that you have some place to go.” Additionally, the travel agent notices that people want to experience every locale that is available. She said, “I try to get people to understand that if you try and get in too much, you are going to be exhausted and you are not going to remember enough of what you did.” In order to avoid this mistake, Savitch advises her clients to prioritize what they want to see.
Savitch warns that highly edited pictures on social media can create unrealistic expectations. After arriving, travelers discover that the destination is nothing like the photo and they spend a good part of their trip being disappointed. Part of the reason why this happens so often, Savitch explains, is that many people do not go into vacation planning with realistic expectations. Online reviews can compound this issue because what constitutes a fantastic adventure for one traveler could be a disaster for another based on what they are hoping to get out of the experience. She says, “Everybody has a different perspective.” Savitch emphasizes that travel agents help bridge that uncertainty because they research destinations from a personalized standpoint and give advice based on the clients’ requests.
Follow her on Facebook and Instagram @unique_travel_events to keep up with her travels, including an upcoming trip to Antarctica. If you are interested in planning a vacation with Andrea Savitch, visit UniqueTravelEvents.com for more information. She can be reached via phone: 703-986-0934 or via email: asavitch@uniquetravelevents.com.
Photos from a recent trip:
Rachel is a senior Media Arts and Design major, concentrating in Creative Advertising, at James Madison University. In her free time, she enjoys game nights, spontaneous jam sessions and restaurant hopping with her friends.
