I should also give credit to a book out at the time, "Arthur Frommer's New World of Travel" in which he says that travel as marketed is way more expensive than it should be, and that there are lots of alternatives for lodgings, transportation, destinations, etc., that can be managed for a lot less money. He then had sections about favorites with that, including mentioning flying as an air courier and favorite countries with lots to see but low land costs. The common thread with the many alternatives is that there was little or no marketing or advertising of them.

At that time there weren't many books like that, travel agents still existed, most tickets were on paper and and if you weren't like the 20-something couple going to (Las Vegas, Orlando, some all-inclusive) you could feel left out based on how travel was structured. EAASY SABRE was just getting started then, accessible via proprietary CompuServe.