"You're continuously hunting for the best available fares," said Myers, who has been working as a travel agent periodically for the past 10 years, but steadily with Key West Travel for the past two and a half years.

Her other duties include arranging passports, travellers cheques, hotel bookings, car rentals, travel accessories and insurance.

"There are a lot of little details that a travel agent has to pay attention to," she said. "A lot of things can go wrong ... it's high stress."

There was a time when consumers could get a travel agent to do the bulk of the work for them and then make arrangements for themselves -- leaving the agents without anything to show for their efforts. Now, travel agents require a commitment deposit ($50 at Key West) if you're going to have them make extensive inquiries.

It's not a bad idea. Many novice travellers forget about currency conversion or "exchange" rates, she says.

Presently, a stay in the United States is expensive due to the low value of the Canadian dollar.

The cheapest destinations would be Mexico or Central America, but they don't offer many attractions for a family getaway, Myers added.

The most popular place to go would be the Caribbean, she said, adding that she hopes to visit Antigua some day.

According to Myers, many people are "under a terrible misconception that travel agents get to travel cheap."

Although travel agents do get to go on subsidized "familiarization"

trips, she insisted they aren't a holiday.

"They're harder work than staying here in the office," she said.