Travel planners · Bulimba, Brisbane
We charge a planning fee so nobody is steering you.
Trips built around what you actually want, by four people who have spent years in the places they plan. The fee is stated up front and it is the only thing we are paid.
Japan, spring
Northern Portugal
commission
accepted, ever
- FixedFee agreed up front, before any planning starts
- 26Countries we will plan, all ones we know first hand
- 0Commission accepted. Net rates passed through
- 2015The year four people started doing it properly
Why a fee
A free travel agent is being paid by somebody, just not by you.
Commission is normal in this trade and it quietly shapes every recommendation, because some hotels pay considerably more than others. We charge a planning fee, decline commission, and pass through the net rate on everything we book.
It means the lodge we suggest is the one we would send our own family to, and we will happily tell you when the cheaper option is better.
What each element actually costs, shown without a margin added.
What we do
Three ways to travel with us
Everything is built from scratch: no packages and no brochure itineraries. The only fixed dates are four small group departures a year.
A planning session
Two hours with someone who knows the region, and a written itinerary you can then book entirely yourself.
$260incl. GST
Full trip planning
Route, accommodation, transfers, guides and the sequencing that stops a three-week trip becoming a series of travel days.
from$650incl. GST
Small group trips
Four departures a year, ten people maximum, led by one of us. Usually walking, usually somewhere with poor phone signal.
from$3,400per person, incl. GST
How it works
A conversation, a plan, then the booking.
Six to ten weeks for a complex trip, less for something simple. The planning fee is agreed before any of it starts.
- Talk
A free call, about an hour. Where, when, who with, what you want the days to feel like, and what you would rather avoid.
- Plan
We build a route and a written itinerary with options, costs and honest notes on each choice. Two rounds of changes are included.
- Book
We book it at net rates with no commission, and you get a full pack plus a number that is answered while you are away.
Recent trips
Four we planned last year
Shared with permission. Costs are for the trip itself, excluding our fee and flights.
A family of four in spring, built around rail passes and four bases rather than the nine stops they first asked for.
Ten days walking, the Alps
Hut to hut, two people, September. Booked late enough to dodge the August crowds.
- Trip cost
- demo slot
Twelve days, northern Portugal
Slow, food-led, one hire car and three places. The cheapest trip we planned that year.
- Trip cost
- demo slot
Two weeks, Namibia
Self-drive with two guided sections, carefully paced, with a satellite phone we insisted on.
- Trip cost
- demo slot
Planning calls are with the person who will plan the trip.
Who plans your trip
Four people, a lot of miles
We only plan trips to places at least one of us knows properly. If you ask for somewhere outside that, we say no and suggest someone better placed.
- Planner onename, photo and regions: demo slot
- Planner twoname, photo and regions: demo slot
- Planner threename, photo and regions: demo slot
- Planner fourname, photo and regions: demo slot
All four travel. The number you get with a booking reaches one of us, at any hour.
From travellers
After they got home
Sample reviews, demo copy
They talked us out of the month we had chosen and moved the whole trip three weeks later for the weather. It cost them nothing to say and it made the holiday.
Every hotel came with a note about why it had been chosen and what was wrong with it. One said ‘thin walls, but the location is worth it’. It was, and it was.
Our flight was cancelled the night before and somebody answered the emergency number at half past eleven. Everything downstream was rebooked before we landed.
Tell us where you are thinking of going. We will tell you when to go.
An hour on the phone, free, before any fee is agreed. Bring a rough idea and a rough month.
Or call 07 2150 3678.