I would love to have a career as a Travel Agent and am planning on enrolling in an online program. As travel is my passion and hobby I would like to share it with other people. I am planning on specializing in Special Needs travel for individuals with disabilities, Specialty travel as well as cruising and luxury travel. Corporate travel and tour bookings for the music industry could also be other parts to look into as I love music and would love to work in the entertainment industry. Possibly later down the road I would look to work as a tour manager as I love working out the logistics. While the job is tiring I love being in Rome on Monday, Sydney Tuesday and seeing the various entertainment venues.

It sounds like I should join a host agency to get my commission and IATA/IATAN and CLIA cards as well as Fam trip benefits.

I know that a lot of travel booking is done online but there are still people who want the additional touch.

I will use FlyerTalk as my database to learn about various airline products, read trip reports and of course post reports from my FAM trips once I'm at that stage.

Now for some background on why I would like to have a career in the travel industry. Does this ring true for my fellow FTer's?

When I was young I loved reading all the airline schedule books(remember the OAG guide). SJC airport would send us in the mail the OAG guide and I enjoyed getting it every quarter. I loved the AAA TripTik CD before online mapping services were popular and would spend hours planning road trips.

When EasySabre came out I tried it out and had a lot of fun playing around with interesting itineraries. I remember having a game where I would find the longest nonstop flights from one city to the next. I was learning my airport codes, airline codes, fare codes at the age of 11.

Remember when Expedia would let you book online and would send the tickets in the mail? I remember trying out Expedia for a flight back in 1995 and enjoyed the novelity of booking online.

In 1996 I took my first international trip alone and remember flying on TWA from JFK. I remember actually going to the travel agent and getting physical paper tickets with the note"Coupon must be attached" on the boarding pass.

When I would come home from school(before the days of FlightAware) I would call up the TWA FLIFO system in the weeks before and made a chart of the ontime performance. What time the plane was taxing to the gate etc. I remember the friendly female voice saying "TWA Flight 884 has left the gate but is not yet off the ground please call back in 10 to 15 minutes for an update. This was before the crazy voice automated system. On this system you had to key in the airport code and select from it.

Back in the early days of online checkin I would use the AA website for the bonus 500 miles. I remember testing out the prototype Alaska WebCheckin in 1999 although I was not flying with them they selected a few to checkin for dummy flights. In return I got something which I forget but it was cool.

When SJC was going through the remodel process I gave long e-mail lists about what restaurants I would like to see such as Brioce Doree, Le Boulanger, Illys, Pizza My Heart etc and they used a lot of my ideas.

On the Grand Opening of Terminal B I signed up for both days and spent hours just enjoying the terminal. I did lots of planespotting too.

Back in 2001 when AA started their SJC-CDG service I went for the press party and had such a fun time meeting with the executives and fellow people.

In 2000 when SFO opened their International Terminal I signed up to be part of their trial to test out the departure and arrivals. We boarded a United 747 and went through the checkin process and spent time in the newly opened lounge and then went onboard. Then we arrived and tested out the new customs hall. We had our passports and they stamped a separate award with a US Customs Stamp. We were given the Customs Declaration Form on the plane which we filled out.

They wanted us to pack a suitcase with light clothes. We checked our bags in and then we got it on the carousel. They added an orange to my bag to test the agriculture check and dogs. We got to meet the dogs and their handlers.

I also remember in middle school our Social Studies teacher had us create a pretend trip to Australia. One of the students Mother was a travel agent. I was the creative one and typed out a real itinerary using EasySabre for the flight schedule. prices etc.

I called up the various hotels and added the history about the locations(I chose Sydney, Melbourne and Carins). Since my Cousin was from Sydney he sent me some promo from the Qantas IFE guide for my poster.

When I presented the itinerary to my teacher she was amazed at how I was able to get the entire logistics down to the schedule. It was so much fun. I spent hours and hours planning for my presentation as we had to present it as if we were selling the tour. At the end of the presentation I opened it up for questions. One question I got was how does the travel agent book the fight. So I spoke about fare codes that each class of service is divided up into various fare codes and the sooner you book the better flight schedule and pricing you would have.

As time went on and I traveled around the USA and abroad I found ways to get upgrades at hotels etc.

As a kid I remembered flying on Southwest from Terminal 1 Gate 1 by the US Airways Lounge wondering what is behind the door. I was tempted to ring the bell but didn't. In 2008 I learned about Priority Pass Lounge Access and started visiting the "closed door" private clubs.

I want to share my passion of the travel industry with the people that I plan to serve. I could spend hours looking up schedules, hotels and other logistics and would enjoy working with clients to get the best deal and most memorable vacation.

The travel industry I hope will expand and there will be more of a need for travel agents as the economy improves. Too many times people get impersonal service and I want to bring back the personal service to the industry with my passion and love. While this is not a million dollar job the incentives are cash too like FAM Trips etc.

Your opinions would be so valuable on a career in this field and I know there are lots of people who would love a career in this field but I have such a passion for seeing the world and helping others to explore the world.