Planes, Trains, & Automobiles

Remember travel agents?

I sure didn’t, not until this last week when my grandma mentioned she was booking a cruise with one.

Which is also how I came to know that travel agents actually still exist.

For those of you that have no idea what I’m talking about, a travel agent is a person that books your vacation for you.

You go to their office, usually a small, slightly dirty one tucked into the corner of a strip mall somewhere, tell them where you want to go and how much you want to spend, and they’ll call you back about a week later with your flight number, hotel information, and an itemized invoice.

Yes, given our modern tools, it seems completely unnecessary.

But there was a time, not that long ago, when people didn’t have the first idea how to book a hotel in a town that they’d never been to.

(If you’re laughing right now, turn your phone on airplane mode and try to do it. I dare you.)

(No you can’t use your computer or tablet. Cheater.)

Anyways, my grandma’s reference to this dying profession came at fitting time, because lately it feels like I’ve been acting as a makeshift travel agent for many of the international students that I work with.

You see, while the pandemic was rough in a lot of ways, one of the benefits was that international student regulations were relaxed to an extent never seen before.

International students could maintain status remotely.

They could even maintain status from their home countries.

But as the emergency accommodations have subsided the regulatory requirements are back.

Which has been a major adjustment for international students who have grown accustomed to living their transcontinental lives unabated.

Suddenly calls and emails have been coming in like never before.

Can I go back home?

If so, for how long?

Is it risky to travel while class is in session?

What if I need to go home but don’t know when I’ll be back?

To help answer these questions in a general sense, I added a thorough explanation as the top question over at https://www.askadso.com/faq.

If you have any other questions about traveling internationally, feel free to reply to this message.

In the meantime, I’m going out with my grandma and her travel agent to find our local Blockbuster.

Cheers,

Josh