Thanks for all the comments. Like most of you, up until now I have booked all my travel myself and have never used a travel agent. This particular fare I am looking at can be priced out online for certain routes, but I can't find a way to price out the route I want or include stopovers in the fare (my little knowledge in fare rules has lead me to believe that any route is allowed provided there are no more than 3 transfers and 3 airlines and unlimited stopovers are allowed with no HIP requirements). This is where I think an experienced TA will be able to help and I imagine if I find the availability and send them the exact flights that need to be booked, they will be able to book it quite easily (Atleast I am hoping this is the case ).