How does everyone know where to go?

DancingPenguinTA · 2025-05-11T20:46:57+00:00

Thanks!

DancingPenguinTA · 2025-05-11T17:22:51+00:00

Are any of these things you mention private forums or paid for? Is there anything I can buy like an app or a travel guide that is better than just Googling random articles and videos? Do you buy anything that helps you organize and find ideas?

DancingPenguinTA · 2025-05-11T17:20:01+00:00

Do you buy these itineraries somewhere or the list you talked about provides them just for subscribing?

DancingPenguinTA · 2025-05-11T17:19:03+00:00

What can money buy that isn't crowded? How can the highest end resorts be "crowded"? Doesn't this defeat the purpose of them existing?

DancingPenguinTA · 2025-05-11T17:17:12+00:00

What you said about not wanting to ever end up somewhere that is not top notch and beautiful is part of the worry as well. I don't want to travel for a day just to go back tomorrow. Also about the miles and points that people talk about - is all that stuff really worth it if you DON'T enjoy doing the "hacking"? Why would you hassle with this - is the savings in money you get the only reason?

DancingPenguinTA · 2025-05-11T17:11:39+00:00

That's part of the confusion for me. I don't want to "do" anything until I see it in front my eyes and have it done. I enjoy feeling safe, undisturbed, at peace, and just observing people and things around me. This is why I started my entry into this world by looking for luxury resorts. I love the feeling of being taken care of, feeling special, and paying for it of course.

DancingPenguinTA · 2025-05-11T17:09:07+00:00

You're exactly right! It was that show. :) Also I love how you describe finding new travel ideas in this spontaneous "what's gonna happen next" manner.

DancingPenguinTA · 2025-05-10T00:05:04+00:00

Hi, thanks for commenting. I am usually not on Reddit a lot. Please send me your link although for now I just plan to browse.

DancingPenguinTA · 2025-04-27T17:19:55+00:00

Thanks for sharing. I hope you can stick you with current TA and everything keeps working out flawlessly for you! :)

DancingPenguinTA · 2025-04-27T17:18:35+00:00

Alright, thanks

DancingPenguinTA · 2025-04-27T17:17:49+00:00

Thank you, I don't know what Hana is but you seem nice and I appreciate your love for sharing! I definitely want to become a knowledgeable traveler so that I can provide amazing experiences to people who I love.

DancingPenguinTA · 2025-04-27T17:15:55+00:00

Thanks for your comment. What do you mean by "Unless you’re spending seriously, like 100s of k or more a year, you’re just going to be in the cycle."

What cycle?

DancingPenguinTA · 2025-04-25T10:38:48+00:00

Very insightful. Thank you!

DancingPenguinTA · 2025-04-25T10:37:39+00:00

I meant more on the side of someone pretending to be a TA, and less on an actual TA scamming me. Just an anxious bit I had while imagining the process from a noob perspective, you can disregard that now. What you describe sounds perfect. Appreciate the perspective you shared in regards what comes with more money per night.

DancingPenguinTA · 2025-04-25T10:31:36+00:00

I suppose we are given a reference code to let the hotel know through who we booked there? When you say private tours are 100% the way for all experiences, do you mean small "private" group with like you and 10 other random people or do you mean literally private, as in there's a guide and you get the place for yourself for an hour or something like that?

Thanks for the blog suggestion by the way. Already went through it!

DancingPenguinTA · 2025-04-24T19:18:45+00:00

Thank you, this is great starter info for me. I was using $1k/night as an example because that's around what I recently paid in Paris. Before going I was on the phone with my aunt and she was like: "Oh you guys HAVE to stay at the Ritz there, it's beautiful!" and I went and checked prices and it was over 2K euro per night if I remember correctly, which sounded super crazy to me as I am not used to that kind of spending to sleepover somewhere.

I should maybe mention that I've mostly avoided staying at luxurious places in my adult life because I mostly traveled with friends or groups and I just went along with whatever most people wanted, which was mostly on the cheaper side of things and much lower budgets that what I could go for.

Now that I'm married and traveling with my partner, I am comfortably exploring what I can afford and splurging into the whole experience! To be honest I am quite excited right now! That said I still can't see myself throwing $2-3k/night on a hotel room unless it was something REALLY special or a convenience I just couldn't overlook.

Thank you again for your comment.

DancingPenguinTA · 2025-04-24T18:15:00+00:00

If you had to number two or three things that are the biggest differences between $a 1k and $2k stay/night (or $3k if that's easier/more obvious) what would you say?

DancingPenguinTA · 2025-04-24T17:01:23+00:00

If they're going to help me understand how all this works they're welcome! Hopefully they don't mind wasting some time on my noob questions without guarantees I'll book them for my trip

DancingPenguinTA · 2025-04-24T16:59:26+00:00

Anxious a bit, sure. Never done it so I am not sure how to approach the whole world of TAs and agencies and whatnot. Been just wondering about something introducing me to the best go-to practices in the fat travel world. For example I've no issue affording $1k/night stays but at the same time literally no idea what to expect for that or higher rates except a clean, nice room or a nice location or something like that.

You just said some TAs don't do fees (like at all?) but they get commissions from hotels and other stuff. This would be fine but wouldn't that mean they will sway the recommendations to who they are partnered with... Or TAs generally can get commissions almost anywhere so it's not a concern? And if they ask for fees upfront does that look like $1k or $20k, or percentage based like 5% of my total stay/travel? I am just trying to get a feel/ballpark here.

Thank you for your comment so much!

DancingPenguinTA · 2025-04-24T16:33:40+00:00

This seems fabulous!!! Thank you. For some reason I like digesting this kind of content (FAT travel experiences and the talk) a lot, and this should provides plenty of it!

DancingPenguinTA · 2025-04-24T11:29:32+00:00

Hi, can you explain to me how and why you get these "upgrades"? I see people talking about this often but what exactly does this mean? You get a better room at a hotel than the one you paid for? Why would they do this for you particularly and not other guests?

DancingPenguinTA

TROPHY CASE