Local agency’s podcasts keep travelers informed

The words “travel” and “pandemic” haven’t gone together very well for much of 2020, but as things begin to open up, a travel agency with local ties is providing advice and insights for those willing to take a trip in an interesting way.

Pineapple Escapes, which has agents and contacts in Oglesby, Ottawa and La Salle, has started creating podcasts that give details on what to expect and things they should do when traveling domestically or abroad in these times.

We’ve definitely had our hands full this year between canceling and rescheduling trips when the pandemic originally hit, to now getting people where they want to be and following all the protocols.

—  Jamie Weitl, owner of Pineapple Escapes

According to Jamie Weitl, owner of Pineapple Escapes and a six-year veteran in the travel business, one of the first episodes highlights what to expect when traveling during the pandemic, how COVID-19 has impacted the travel industry and how it’s changed the way clients travel.

Another gives details on “the gift of travel” and how it can help keep families connected during the holiday season. A third provides insights into the agents’ training that took place at Disney World and the Universal Orlando Resort.

All went live Dec. 14, and they will add new episodes each Monday. They are available to view on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or at the business’ website, pineappleescapes.com/traveltidbits.

“We’re pretty excited about this,” said Weitl, who left her career as an educator to open up her own agency early in 2020. “One of my agents came to me with the idea of starting the podcasts. I thought about it for a while and then with COVID-19 hitting, we took our time getting everything started for that. Three months ago, we started recording and our first three podcasts went live on Monday. We will have new episodes every Monday going forward. ... It’s exciting.”

The podcasts may be just the boost to help accelerate a return to normalcy for the travel industry that’s experienced some difficult times since the first three months of the year.

“We were hit really hard. The entire year has been a rough year for everyone in the travel industry, especially for travel agents,” she said. “I had just decided to open the agency and it was tough, going from what we thought would be a gang-buster year to a really hard year and a challenge. We’ve definitely had our hands full this year between canceling and rescheduling trips when the pandemic originally hit, to now getting people where they want to be and following all the protocols.

“However, I do think things are starting to come back, and we’re hopeful the vaccine will help them come back even more. We’re really looking forward to that in 2021, hoping that year will be a big turnaround and we’ll see some revenge travel in there, too, from people who were holed up for a year to be released and start traveling again.”

Right now, she and her agents, among them Karri Riva in Ottawa and Kate Riva-Foster in La Salle, are helping with more domestic more road trips than international travel. Places like Disney World and Universal Orlando Resort have such “good protocols in place,” she said, that she would feel safer there than any of the major department stores.

Also, more people are seeking out hiking destinations that they can drive to, like Yellowstone National Park in Montana, Grand Canyon in Colorado and Arizona.

But there are still some traveling out of the country. In making any of those arrangements, a travel agent is more important now than ever.

“The protocols are different in every country, just like here they’re different for every state,” Weitl said. “Every country is a little different with regulations that have to be followed, and while that’s true in normal times, too, with passport and visa requirements, but throw in the COVID testing on top of it and that fact that some countries are completely shut down to U.S. citizens and it’s made it much more of a challenge. For example, right now Mexico is open and you don’t need a test, but for some islands, you need a test 72 hours before, but it has to be a specific type of test, so there are all these different things to consider.

“Really, it’s a perfect example of why you need a travel agent in this day and age. There’s so much to keep track of, and it’s nice to have us keeping track of it so that clients don’t get lost in the shuffle.”