Hidden Gems: Meet Megan Phillips of Megan Phillips, Travel Advisor with Travelmation LLC

Today we’d like to introduce you to Megan Phillips.

Hi Megan, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hi, I’m Meg! I’m a licensed Travel Advisor with Travelmation LLC. My craving for adventure took me from a former digital marketer to a passionate Travel Advisor in 2023 and I haven’t looked back.

My own obsessive planning of my family’s vacations sparked a desire to help lessen that burden for others. I love the research, the details, the mixing & matching to find the best value, and most of all I love saving my clients both time and money. I know that planning travel and dealing with in-destination hiccups can be incredibly overwhelming to families, to the extent that they don’t bother to plan anything at all. I alleviate that burden for them, assisting every step of the way.

Over the past two years, I have built my business from the ground up, growing my client base and spreading the word about my services. One of the most rewarding feelings is not only the repeat trips that I book for clients, but when they refer me to others.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Being a Travel Advisor is not all airplanes and vino; I have to HUSTLE to try to make it in this business. It’s competitive, stressful, and heartbreaking at times when you’ve done so much work just to have a client walk away. There are factors outside of my control like the weather, changing political climates, life situations, and countless others that can affect travel and I have to be able to take those changes in stride.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Most people don’t know that utilizing the services of a Travel Advisor generally costs them nothing. While some agencies charge a planning fee, the old model of working with Travel Agents is not the way we roll anymore.

My services are no cost to my clients. I work entirely off of commission so that my services are free to my clients (and yes, I often work to re-price packages, price compare when quoting and try to save my clients money knowing that it’s bringing my own bottom line down because it’s the right thing to do!)

What can we plan together? Business Travel: Send me your speaking or conference schedule and I’ll tie all up your travel details; Groups & Retreats: From group blocks to unique retreat locations, I can help you find the perfect place to land with your team or attendees; Your Next Adventure: From family trips across the pond to an off-the-grid glamp & hike in a National Park, I love working to find the best fit for your next adventure (or even providing ideas as a starting place to dream!)

My clients love my unique finds, my trip ideas when they have no idea where they want to go, and my explorer-nature.

How do you think about happiness?
Helping other people to travel ignites my soul. It puts a pep in my step at 5am, and keeps me going at 10pm when I just need to wrap up one more thing. There are endless places to explore in our world. I love helping others to Get Out There just as much as if I were going on the trip myself.

I recently visited Alaska where I hiked in a rainforest next to a glacier; In another Alaskan city I got to hold sled dog puppies. I also just returned from Budapest, Vienna & a few other European cities. Walking through a nearly 1000 year old monastery and meandering through the sprawling grounds of a palace from the 1600s is a humbling experience that I want to make happen for others!

Bucket lists shouldn’t be written down for years, shoved in a drawer, and then maybe one day slowly checked off. Take the trip now; Make the memories and dream more.

Pricing:

• My services are no cost to my clients

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thousandballoons.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/athousandballoons/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/travelmationmeg/
• Other: Email: [email protected]