Who What Where When Why?
Did you know I was a journalism major back in the dark ages? Back when everyone began their day with the local paper and a cup of coffee, or came home from work, sat down and read the daily news?
The cardinal rule of a news story is to answer the 5 W’s. Who What Where When and Why.
Who is The Joy of Travel? It all began with me (January 2005), on my dining room table in my hometown of Eufaula Oklahoma, a lovely little town with only two traffic lights. By May of that same year the business had grown to the point I needed a storefront. By July 2008 it had grown to the point there were 97 unanswered phone messages. Enter Kassey Weaver, a great customer who came onboard as the first outside agent. By 2009 I had moved the agency into an office space in my new home. As demand continued to grow, I was able to add other customers as outside agents: Lori Curtis, Erica Shaw, Brent and Shawnda McAlester, Heather Butler, Meredith Carrell, Joslyn White, and Megan O’Neal. In 2015 I added Leigh Ann Mobley (my wonderful daughter) as the business manager and head cheerleader. FYI All of these agents began as my satisfied travel customers.
Somewhere during that time I was on a trip in Mexico and met a wonderful woman in the pool, Doreen Kyle. Immediately striking a bond, and as the days of fun and sun progressed, we realized we would work well together. Doreen came onboard as the only outside agent who didn’t begin as a customer, covering her home state of Missouri.
What sets us apart from the rest? We customize every vacation to give our clients the most perfect experience humanly possible. We do not have, nor will we ever offer, cookie cutter vacations. We insist on speaking with every customer personally when they request our services. We have a precise list of questions we ask, so we are fully informed about exactly what they looking for in their vacation experience. Then we go to work using our vast experience to put together suitable recommendations and packages for them.
Where do we offer vacations? Literally across the globe. I have been traveling the world for almost 40 years, and as agents we all travel several times a year checking the status of new resorts, new destinations, new products, and new brands, as well as old favorites.
When do we offer our personally escorted tours? We try to offer, as an agency, 5 personally escorted tours every year. For a complete list check our website www.thejoyoftravel.net and click the “travel with us” tab. For 2022 we offered our first ever “Signature Event” which is an exclusive (we bought out the entire ship) Tulip Time river cruise. We offered it to our customers on Oct 1, 2020 and filled all but three entry level cabins within three weeks. Our 2023 Signature Event will be “Paris to Normandy”, another private ship event, onboard an Avalon Waterways vessel.
Why do we run our company the way we do? Because we are totally addicted to “experiential” travel. We love to see new places and experience new cultures, and we wanted you to experience travel the way we do. We saw an enormous need for personalized services, for specialization, for the human touch, the care, the concern. We saw the need for everything an online agency can’t offer.
At The Joy of Travel we take pride in the services we render and the products we offer. We want every single customer to come back home from a trip we planned saying “Wow, that was a better experience than I ever imagined it could be” and “the personalized service was amazing”.
Isn’t it time for you to join The Joy of Travel as another highly satisfied customer?
Your Globetrotting Friend,
Joy