Woes of an INDEPENDENT/ Single Traveller

When will travel agents wake up to the fact that a person do want to travel alone sometimes?

I was at the Natas Travel Fair 2006 held in Singapore's Suntec City, hoping to capitalize on the abundance of good offers that were reportedly floating around. Bah, humbug!!

It made me wonder: the deals that were reported in the press so hot that they SOLD OUT by the 2nd day? I could not go on the 1st day of the fair, which happened on a working day for me, Friday 24 March 2006.

I felt sad at not being able to grab a deal there. How was it my fault that I waited until the NATAS fair, hoping to grab a fair deal? Notice that I said "fair deal", NOT "bargain".

This is WHAT had happened on the 2nd day of the NATAS Travel Fair on 25 March 2006:

1. I woke at about 11am
2. Read the papers, especially the TRAVEL sections for that day (Sat) & the NATAS supplement
3. By 1pm, I had set out to go to Suntec
4. There, at the overhead bridge leading to Suntec, I was "bombarded" with travel flyers being handed out.
   Nice but since I've already made up my mind in going to a particular place, most of the flyers were useless to me. Sorry, folks!!
5. On the 6th floor (nearly went to the wrong floor), I went in after paying my entrance fee of S$3, per adult.
6. Many of the tours were advertised as "minium 2 to go", "prices based on 2A & 2C - 2 adults & 2 children"
7. 3 words that any traveller don't want to hear: Don't have already - sold out!!
8. Another 2 words that any traveller dislike, on learning that there is seats on the dates that we would like to go but not on the package on offer at the travel fair: Pay More.

As someone who is going to travel solo, I don't mind paying more to travel but question is: is there a conspiracy between airlines & agents to exclude the independent traveller?

All the agents that I went to say that there are no seats left (mind you, this was only the 2nd day of the fair) for that promotion.

Meaning: that if I still so dearly wish to travel on that date, I can still go but please top up air fare by uptil $300 more!! ... not yet counting the hotel accomodation, airport tax ...

Still, I did not want to give up, although by this time (about 3.30pm) I was feeling peckish & tired. The signs were not good & I had no holiday to look forward to.

At this time of "despair", I noticed a queue forming. As it was not too long, I went over there to take a look. Upon hearing from other Q-ers that FREE POPCORN was being handed out, I had to queue up of course, for the "free food". Munching the stuff as I continued on my quest to find the elusive offer.

Although I do understand that:

1. holidays are no charity events
2. it is a commercial entity, therefore "work for profit"
3. more is more - the more people go tour, the more $$$ they spend

I still want to grumble. There is NO tours catering specifically to this niche group. We are an "invisible group".

I had thought that I did my homework on how much more expensive it would be for the solo traveller but alas, I was outwitted by the whole saga! I miscalculated by about S$400 at least. Boo hoo!!

This is what "homework" I did, in trying to calculate for my Melbourne holiday:

1. flying during off-peak season
   (that is, avoid the SG school holidays like a plague!!!)
2. go to the airlines (Qantas, SQ, BA ...) homepage to look at the full fare & calculate from there, how much/ how little I can pay
3. scan the travel sections of the newspapers
4. read magazines & books
5. ask people that I know for any possible tips

Seems like my world came crashing down on me, like finding a needle in a haystack. I had worked so hard & "smart" towards this short short holiday. Was it never going to happen???

Let you hang in the balance. Tell you all in my next post.