You can even make reservations online. Of course, the easiest way to book a trip is through a travel agent. And the best thing about travel agents is that you, the consumer, don't pay them a dime. What travel agents offer is knowledge. They know what the best airfares are, what shots you'll need, what areas are best avoided and what each hotel, resort, cruise line and tour has to offer.
Many agencies specialize.
Barbara Kay's Crystal Dolphin Travel in Canton, which offers trips for those who believe vacations should be life-transforming experiences. Kay runs tours that use thatched huts in the middle of the Costa Rican rain forest as a home base. She'll hook clients up with Special Expeditions, which organizes cruises, staffed by naturalists, to sail around the Galapagos. For the religiously inclined, she runs trips to spiritual meccas, from the Holy Land to Stonehenge. For the adventurous, there's heli-hiking, where helicopters deposit hikers at the top of the Canadian Rockies.