Before dealing with the Benefits of Travel Agency Tour Packages and how they make us stress free Vacation, you must first understand who these travel agencies are and what their Travel Services are in detail.

Who is a Travel Agency?

A Travel Agency is a company that retails travel packages, offers, and deals to customers looking to travel or plan their trip. Most unorganized travel agents, in general, help with generic tours and packages, i.e., a holiday trip or vacation travel. However, an established and professional travel agent will cater to all types and specialties of tourism, including holiday tourism, eco-tourism, medical tourism, education tourism, wildlife tourism, heritage tourism, etc. 

Is it better to rely on a Travel Agent? Or do it yourself?

When all of us are mechanized with our jobs and household chores, we don’t find time and energy to plan our vacations. Moreover, personally scouting for vacation destinations, shortlisting various travel agency packages, and then finalizing one among them is a laborious process and makes us stressed amid other deeds. Thus, it is always better to rely on a travel agent. Indeed, they take more effort than us to get the best itinerary for our vacation. Ultimately, you get stress free family vacation and can save time for the family or other priority tasks on the list.

What are the competitive Advantages when choosing Travel Agency Tour Packages?

In the last section, we briefly saw why choosing a travel agent for planning your vacation is better than doing it yourself. In this section, let’s see in detail the Benefits of a Travel Agency and its Travel Agency Packages and services.

• End-to-end Travel support

Gone are the days when the role of Travel Agents ended when they were done with their bookings and reservations. Today, their services have evolved by leaps and bounds. 

• Before Travel: Preparing personalized itinerary, giving advice on best tourist destinations, suggesting economical packages, booking tickets for commutation, making reservations at hotels or resorts, etc 
• During Travel: Assisting with airport transfers or car rentals, arranging guides or travel experts,  advising on the best places to visit based on current affairs, etc. 

With all these burdens off your head, you can even plan for hundreds of similar Stress free Vacations with the help of a Travel Agent.  

• Help in emergencies

You can 100% trust your Travel Agent when you go through an emergency during your vacation. They will assist you 24/7 and rescue you and your travel partners by reaching out to the respective tourism associations.

• Effortless travel processes
  • Foreign currency exchange: Money exchange could be daunting if you’re a full-time employee and want to do it personally. First, you have to calculate how much money you need for the trip. Second, find a trusted vendor. Third, exchange for a better price while waiting in the queue. Instead, count on travel agencies; they can save a lot of money for you despite saving your time.   
  • Visa requirements: When you apply for a tourist visa on your own, you may not know the nuances of getting your application through and also end up spending more on unwanted services. On the other hand, a travel agent knows how to get your visa approved and can offer this service as a compliment when choosing their tour packages.
  • Travel insurance: Travel or tour operators are experts in understanding your travel needs and recommending the right travel insurance. Get maximum insurance coverage at discounted prices with the help of travel agents! 

Customized packages 

Experienced Travel Agencies are well-versed in Domestic and International tourist places, the cost of travel, the things to do, etc. In addition, a full-service Travel Agency assigns a personal travel expert who is well-organized, well-aware of various travel packages, and able to suggest the right tour package for your customized needs.

So, be it a Business Trip, Honeymoon Trip, Biodiversity Trip, or, in the worst case, if you’re looking for a cruise-specific package, they can make it happen on your behalf.  Every part of your package is personalized and worthwhile when you choose the right travel agent with years of experience and a legacy in this field.  

Benefits of choosing Emperor Traveline, the Leading Tour Operator in India!

Since its inception in 1980 by the aspiring duo brothers, Mr. K. Chandran and Mr. K. Rajendran, Emperor Traveline has been flying high as one of the leading tour operators in India. It is a unique, self-styling travel organization with a huge set of advantages to benefit from:

An active member of almost all travel associations. Strong relationships with the finest star hotels and luxury vehicles for commutation.

An authorized agent for Southern Railways and all domestic and international airlines. Provide competitive ticket fares when compared to other tour operators or travel companies.

Help with skilled guides at Important Tourist Destinations. Moreover, the employees at Emperor Traveline are qualified, trained, and competent enough to provide travel guidelines and prepare the best itineraries for you.

It includes hill stations other than Kodaikanal; tea estates other than Ootacamund; heritage sites other than Isha; forests other than Anaimalai; lakes other than Avalanche; spiritual centers other than Madurai Meenakshi Amman temple; and beaches other than Marina. 

Did you know? The state is also famous for some of the best road trips. 

Tamilnadu Hidden Tourist Places: Top 10 Picks

• Pichavaram Mangrove Forest
• Poompuhar
• Dhanushkodi
• Berijam Lake
• Airavatesvara Temple
• Sri Ramana Ashram
• Kolukkumalai Tea Estate
• Kalrayan Hills
• Auroville
• Ariyaman Beach

Pichavaram Mangrove Forest

This destination is located in Chidambaram, Cuddalore district, Tamil Nadu. It has the largest mangrove forests in India, along with backwaters. This makes it unique and owing to its unpopularity among people, it attracts fewer visitors when compared to other places in the state. So, if you’re tired of visiting places with higher footfalls, you can try this one and enjoy the serenity. 

Poompuhar

Earlier called ‘Kaveri Pompattinam’, it was once a prosperous port and served as the capital of the Chola kingdom. Now, it serves as an important and unexplored cultural and heritage center. When visiting this tourist place, do not miss the Silappathikara art gallery and Masilamani Nathar Koil (a temple built in the early 1300s).

Dhanushkodi

It is an alluring 15-kilometer beach town that separates the Indian Ocean from the Bay of Bengal. Located at the end of the Pamdab island, this town borders India from Sri Lanka and is called the last road of South India. Dhanushkodi means ‘tip of the bow,’ derived from an important scene in the ‘Ramayana’ when Lord Rama pointed his arrow toward Sri Lanka. Hence, it is one of the best secret places to visit in Tamil Nadu.

Berijam Lake

The forest department in Kodaikanal has set up South India’s first field-oriented eco-education center at Berijam, owing to its rich flora and fauna. It is located in the Dindigul district and sits in the upper Palani hills, southwest of Kodaikanal. A hundred years ago, Britishers visited this place and used it for transit camps.  

Airavatesvara Temple

An archaic temple that was constructed in the 12th century by Raja Raja Chola II. Located in Kumbakonam, it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site along with the world-famous Brihadeeswara Temple in Thanjavur. This temple is also known for its magnificent art and architecture. Visit this destination if you want to worship Lord Shiva (Airavatesvara) with the beautiful carvings of the stories of his Nayanars.

Sri Ramana Ashram

If you’re looking for a unique, divine type of tourism in Tamilnadu, this is the best choice! Situated at the Arunachala foothills in Tiruvannamalai, people visit this hidden gem to experience the most powerful spiritual vibrations of Ramana Maharishi. Once the home of the great Ramana Maharshi is now turned out to be his ashram called ‘Sri Ramanasramam’. 

Kolukkumalai Tea Estate

Kolukkumalai is a small town in Bodinayakanur, Theni. The tea estate of this town is known for having the world’s highest elevation in tea plantations. In addition, unlike other estates, they process the tea leaves using the most traditional, orthodox methods. You can visit this place to explore slow tea growth (due to the high altitude) and the vintage tea leaf manufacturing process. 

Kalrayan Hills

This hilly region of the eastern ghats extends between two districts of Tamil Nadu, namely Salem and Kallakurichi. It has more than ten waterfalls and, indeed, tops the list of hidden tourist places in Tamilnadu. Taking your children here enables you to cherish the best moments. It has evergreen forests and vegetable plantations throughout the man-occupied areas. 

Auroville

Having its origins in French, the word ‘Aurore’ means dawn, and ‘Ville’ means village, it is a man-made experimental township built in the Villupuram district of the state. The purpose is to unite humans across borders and ensure sustainable living through the transformation of consciousness. It’s still an unexplored destination. And you must visit here to embrace the best tourism in Tamilnadu. 

Ariyaman Beach

Being twenty to thirty kilometers away from Rameshwaram, this is a small, tranquil beach that you can enjoy with your friends and family. Unlike other beaches in the state, this does not experience huge tourist footfalls. This is located exactly in Sattakkonvalasai. Notably, the waters are pristine and crystal clear without pollution.

From tour packages to exotic touring destinations local, domestic and abroad in different segments including corporate, education, family, honeymoon, pilgrimage, and adventure to flight and train ticket reservation to Passport & Visa services, Money transfer, Overseas Insurance, and Overseas SIM card services, our range of service is diverse as much as challenging. At a time when technology was sparse, Emperor Traveline romped up its infrastructure to deliver the best travel booking and related services to our esteemed customers.

When we started off there were not many computer applications, let alone software, tools, and modern-day apps. We carved a route for ourselves in the area of travel services and soon other agencies followed suit. The fact that we were able to expand to Chennai and Hyderabad from Coimbatore early on speaks volumes of our growth.

Emperor Traveline has partnered with other travel service providers and organizations including SIGTOA, TAFI, SKAL, Western Union Money Transfer, Ministry of Tourism (GOI), ATTOI, OTOAI, IATA, ATO, ADTOI, TAAC, Tamilnadu Travel Mart Society, TAAI, Incredible India and many others.

A hallmark of our service is the timely execution of travel bookings and seamless processing of customer orders. We have also gone the extra mile in almost every occasion to bring a smile to our customers. Our customer’s satisfaction is the foundation upon which we have built our business. And as we continue to deliver extraordinary service to our customers, we once again express our sincere gratitude to all our customers. Also, kindly let us know how we can improve our existing customer service further as this will enable us to better our offerings.

But it still remains to be seen how the country’s far from ‘pucca’ transport and tourism infrastructure can cope even if a meager percentage of its 1.25 billion people take the ‘Modi’ challenge seriously!

If everyone does manage to walk ‘Modi’s talk, there in effect would be 18.75 billion trips, or 6.25 billion a year. A report by Google and consultancy firm Bain has it that 1.8 billion trips were made by Indians in 2018. According to the same report, the local trips made by Indians have surged at a CAGR of about 8% in the last 4 years alone.

However, many travel agents feel that the issue is not just confined to that of infrastructure at airports and trains stations. The crux of the problem actually lies in poor connectivity or remote tourist places.

In spite of the many efforts undertaken by the Government in improving road and rail connectivity linking towns and villages, as well as expanding the existing airports and building newer ones, it is still a long road ahead. The increasing travel costs to access remote local areas with insufficient infrastructure can make even travelling to foreign destinations sound cheaper.

Modi though did not assure people that making trips would be easy and wanted them to tour to these destinations even if they lack good hotels, accommodations and other basic facilities. One spinoff for sure would be job opportunities for the local youth and improvement of the local economy.

• When actors turn demi-gods!
  Sudhir Dalvi, a less popular actor, donned the role of Sai Baba in the 1977 movie “Shirdi Ke Sai Baba”. The movie was a huge success in that Dalvi fast became a household name. Interestingly, whenever he was spotted in the streets, Sai Baba devotees would immediately fall at his feet to seek his blessings. Ironically, if industry gossip is to be believed, filmmakers denied him of further opportunities in the cinema world as they didn’t like the idea of an almost god-like figure playing any other roles on the silver screen.
• Jackie Shroff abandoned smoking and drinking while shooting for a film on the great Saint in Shirdi.
  Popular actor of the 1980’s, Jackie Shroff, also played the role of Saibaba in a film made in 2010 – “Malik Ek”. He is reportedly known to have said that he totally abandoned smoking and drinking while the film’s shooting was on. Though the movie didn’t go as Jackie and the film crew expected, it even failed to revive the hopes of an already struggling actor looking to make a decent comeback.
• The Malaysian government wants to invest in Shirdi’s airport.
  In 2016, the Malaysian Government, surprisingly, expressed interest in manning the Shirdi’s airport, in a joint operation with the Government of Maharashtra, for a cost of Rs 1500 crore.
• One can travel all the way from Puri in Odisha to Shirdi
  Shirdi’s railway station, Sainagar Shirdi, is well inter-connected by several trains operating from major cities and towns around India. The railway station, which has been around since March 2009, is a key terminus on the Central Railway line with trains linking to places as distant as Puri and Kokata. The Sainagar Shirdi – Puri Express leaves from Sainagar Shirdi every Sunday, covering a total distance of 1619km with a travel time of about 29 hours, to reach Puri. The Sainagar Shirdi – Kolkata Howrah Junction Superfast Express that starts from Sainagar Shirdi covers a distance of 1790 km with a travel time of about 26 hours to reach Kolkata’s Howrah Junction.
• Shirdi’s literacy rate is higher than the national average.
  The 2011 census reported the average literacy rate of Shirdi town as 70 percent with male and female literacy at 76 percent and 62 percent respectively, as opposed to the national average literacy rate of 59.5 percent.

There is more to it than meets your eye when it comes to visiting Shirdhi. If you are one among the crores of devotees who believe in the miracles of Shirdi Sai Baba, visiting the shrine can make you feel one with the divine spirit and light.

You needn’t be a Saibaba bhakt or even a believer of sort, but you cannot brush aside the contribution of the mystic saint toward the livelihood and economy of Shirdi as a town.  Here are eight mindboggling facts about Shirdi you never know:

• A whopping 60,000 visitors every day!
  As many as 1,00,000 people visit Shirdi over the weekend, with a reported attendance figure of 60,000 visitors every day. The numbers are expected to go as high as 5,00,000 during auspicious days like Ramnavami, Dussehra and Gurupoornima.
• The temple was once privately owned!
  The magnificent temple that forms the basis of Shirdi’s economy was raised in 1922, some four years after the demise of Sai Baba. Shrimant Gopalroa, a Nagpur-based millionaire, commissioned the temple; it enjoyed private status until a certain point of time. Today the temple is owned and managed by the Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust.
• A stunning donation of 110 crore astounds everybody!
  The temple is never short of rich devotees. One KV Ramani, the co-founder of NASSCOM and a well-known philanthropist, has been donating 80 percent of his earnings to the Trust. He donated 110 crores to the trust for constructing an ashram that can easily put up 14,000 devotees! Well, the numbers just keep growing!

We will follow this post up with some more astonishing facts on Shridhi — facts that are stranger than fiction— in the concluding part of the blog.

The temple has been in news recently for the wrong reasons, largely due to the riches and wealth preserved within the temple chambers, and the mystery lurking behind the hidden treasures. Let’s take a quick look at some of the facts that make this temple an intriguing eerie one.

The temple architecture is a classic blend of typical Kerala architecture and Dravidian style particular to TamilNadu. Sri Padmanabha Swami Temple is often referred to as the world’s richest temple with huge reserves of assets and wealth well preserved inside the different chambers of the temple. It’s for this reason that the temple is dubbed as the ‘Golden Temple’.

The main presiding deity of the temple is Lord Vishnu in his characteristic reclining pose on serpent Adisheshan. This posture of the Lord is called by the Hindus as ‘Anantha Shayanam.’  There have been mentions of the shrine in several places in popular Hindu sculptures such as Varaha Purana, Skanda Purana, Brahman Purana and Mahabharata.

Once you’re inside the temple, you can find six chambers in the temple. This is the point beyond where things tend to get murky. The Chamber B, as it is known here, has never been opened hitherto by anyone, inspite of the growing voices within to open the same and make matters open to public view. It is widely believed that this chamber is the home to the idol of Sri Padmanabha Swamy, Srichakram (a.k.a mother of all yantras), and that it is laden with incalculable quantities of wealth and other valuables. People dread the idea of opening the chamber as they believe it can put them to gravest dangers.

Though the temple holds several festivals, the Laksha Deepam festival, is the most followed one, where the temple premises and structure dazzle brightly with one lakh lamps lit to grace the festival that is celebrated once in 6 years. If you are in Thiruvananthapuram next time, make sure you visit the temple just to explore its profound mysteries, if anything.

10. Travel Freedom

The podcast aims to help travellers travel more and unearth travel freedom with interviews of digital nomads, plus money-making ways of online entrepreneurs and travel hacking methods for travelling the globe, full time.

9. Keep Your Day Dream

The podcast, started by Marc & Tricia, and with over 100 episodes (during the time of writing), the travel podcast is a compendium of inspiring tales from fellow travellers, who with their unconventional thinking, left their comfort zone to explore the unexplored.

8. Living Unconventionally

Started by Britany Felix, and with 150+ episodes, the podcast is a collection of life stories of fellow travellers, travel safety tips, creating online business, and freelancing on the road, articles for the ‘she’ travellers and how to travel with kids, and, of course, replies to her listener’s questions.

7.The Expat Chat

Started by Tony Argyle, this podcast, with 100+ episodes, has some remarkable stories of people who have ‘travel’ in their blood. They discover life overseas and live a life of their own. Tony also discusses where to live, how to travel, how to afford it and other questions that travellers usually have in their minds.

6. The Suitcase Entrepreneur

Started by Natalie Sisson, a New Zealand entrepreneur and adventurer, she helps entrepreneurs develop life-changing habits, routines, tools and mindset to feel the pulse of personal and professional freedom day after day so that they can lead a life they truly deserve, while also running a profitable business they’d wish for.

5. The Dirtbag Diaries

Hosted by Fitz Cahall, this podcast has been bringing tales of outdoor adventurers since 2007. With intriguing stories from roads, trail, rivers and other notoriously wild places, the Dirtbag Diaries is everything what an outdoor enthusiast crave for in terms of diverse travel experience.

4. Airplane Mode

Started by two former Warby Parker execs, Away started things out as a luggage company but fast turned out to become much more. This podcast, hosted by Will Warren, features themes including business travel, wellness, in addition to interviews with people that belong to diverse industries who are pretty much passionate about travel.

3. On She Goes

This podcast is the perfect companion for women who wish to travel more adventurously and more confidently featuring stories shared by their community.

2. Travelogue

This podcast by Condé Nast Traveler is a kind of interesting roundtable-style discussion on a plethora of travel themes and tags such as sustainable travel, impact that home sharing would have on the hotel industry,  the best places to travel during a particular season, and whether it’s ethical to travel to certain countries. The theme music is a plus.

1.The Switchback Kids

Planning a trip to a national park, here is a podcast for you started by Elizabeth and Cole Donelson, who have visited all 59 national parks. It is worthwhile to listen to their experiences of travelling to country’s public lands such as deep dives into some parks, budgeting hacks, top rated parks and much more.

Our list would seem desperately short if we stop with this. There are many podcasts online which we haven’t covered at all. Why don’t you review them, mail us your thoughts on how they have actually influenced your travel decisions. We would simply love to hear back from you.

20. Tips For Travellers

This popular audio travel podcast started by Gary Bembridge, a seasoned traveller for 25 years, in 2005 and throws light on travel destinations around the globe, sprinkled with tips and advice based on his visits.

19.The Travellers

Whether you’re heading out to explore new frontiers or struggling to find your place in the world, this podcast, started by Nathaniel Boyle, is a weekly show on the ins and outs of travel.

18.Amateur Traveller

Looking to decide where to travel next? The podcast lists interview with a traveller who has travelled to the place recently or destination expert.

17. Travel with Rick Steves

If you are an American looking to experience affordable, fun and culturally broadening trips anywhere in Europe, then this podcast for you.

16. Travel Tales

Started by Comedian and TV host Mike Siegel, the podcast brings you some of the best and worst travel experiences in the form of a different guest sharing travel tales from lands far away.

15.Indie Travel Podcast

A fortnightly audio show that offers travel tips for independent travellers plus a global community of indie travellers all contributing amazing stories to the podcast.

14.Travels in Music

Travels in Music that dabbles with travel musicians telling stories on music from around the world; the podcast does its bit to turn the planet into a beautifully musical one.

13.This Week In Travel Podcast

A Semi-Weekly Podcast joined by traveloggers Gary Arndt, Jen Leo and Chris Christensen

12. Budget-Minded Traveller

Started in 2014, this podcast was the finalist for “Best Travel Podcast” in 2015 and “People’s Choice Podcast Awards 2016”. The podcast provides practical tips and hacks that make international travel accessible to every traveller.

11. Travel Writers Radio

An up and coming media outlet with global reach, imparting a unique local flavour. You need to become a member of the website to contribute reviews, news, culinary interview, travel experiences and tips for travellers.

The above podcasts are unique in one way or the other. They are almost guaranteed to make one an agile and intelligent traveller. We will follow the list up with the concluding post of the blog series.

30. Alone: A Love Story

‘

A Love Story’ is scripted and narrated by Michelle Parise, a CBC producer since two decades. The podcast comes as a solace for people trying to cope with loneliness, despair, heartbreak, lust to eventually finding the courage to face the adversities of life.

29. The Bill Simmons Podcast

Started by Bill Simmons, the podcast features unbroken, long-form interview of celebrities and athletes that scarcely find place in the mainstream media.

28.Every Little Thing

Every Little Thing is a podcast created by Gimlet Media, an award-winning narrative podcasting company that helps people understand each other well.

27. This Is Actually Happening

A bi-weekly podcast that helps one discover the inner chaotic experience of the human mind and find out what actually happens when things change.

26.IVFML

Here is an interesting podcast that takes a frank and humorous route to discussing parenthood and the hilarity and humiliations of miscarriage, infertility and IVF, as comedy writer Simon Ganz and health reporter Anna Almendrala share their experiences.

25.DTR

This podcast is a collection of shows from profile pictures, dating someone out of your network, to opening lines. Every episode accounts for a hilariously weird aspect of dating in an Internet fad world.

24.Dirty John

A unique podcast comprising a network of storytellers that brings you wholesome entertainment and knowledge.

23. Pod Save America

A no-nonsense podcast on politics, hosted by Jon Favreau, Dan Pfeiffer, Jon Lovett and Tommy Vietor, that breaks down the week’s news and helps people dope out what matters and how to fix things.

22. Science Vs

The podcast is a musing on trends, fads and the blinkered mob to ascertain what the fact is and what isn’t and what’s somewhere lurking in between.

21.Maed in India

India’s first indie music podcast. Get the hottest and latest music from India and abroad, plus exclusive interviews and acoustic sessions of some of the best independent musicians in the country.

We won’t stop with this. We have more podcast collection for you. But that’s for another day. Until then, why don’t you take some time to download and listen to the podcasts on your next trip?