agents work from home and do not have the overheads or stress associated with agents in a shop front. As a result their prices are lower and their product knowledge profound. They can concentrate more on your booking without the distractions of calls coming into an office and people queuing up. They are on your case as soon as you hang up and have your arrangements made that day as oppossed to flight centre where I have waited weeks for them to get back to me. Personally I would rather sit back and have a latte anyday. Good luck, but as the saying goes if you don't have travel agent your on your own. For mine, they are worth their weight in gold. Posted by: Andy Miller on September 17, 2008 3:56 PM let me know when contiki is starting so I can visit again before them. Posted by: cingram on September 17, 2008 8:11 PM I loved IndoChina when it was Communist and war-torn and undeveloped, because a can of beer cost 20c and a good street meal cost 60c, and the average person earned $60 a year. It's all gone to hell now, of course, with tourists pushing up the prices and the earnings of the locals. Contiki will wreck everything, and the annual wage for locals will be pushed to $200, with all the attendant inflation and price increases for poor tourists. It's all in the attitude, isn't it? The destination on a Contiki tour seems to