Hi, Andrea .... in last Sunday's (Jan 14, 2007) travel Q & A, you responded to a reader seeking "private" or personal travel guides.
I am not a travel agent but as a travel writer I frequently defer to the expertise of travel agents and this much I know: many travel agents have a network of means of personalized, customized travel. For a consumer who is less interested in picking one from Column A and one from Column B, a travel agent can provide unique services.
WWW.celebrate-travel.com is an agency I yield to when I need references for my own professional use.
Please mention "customized" service as an attribute of the professional travel agent.
Thank you,
donna

I have been watching Expedia, Orbits, etc. somehow I never manage to get the advertised fare.. if it's $89 or another bargain.. it land up $300 plus for me.. I try to seach if its Tues-Fri etc.. but it is sometimes quirky and frustrating. Is there a guideline to follow?

An ambitious new blog enterprise.

I last did a festival--the Fourth of July--in Chicago a decade ago. I managed to miss both food and fireworks (had to see "Showboat"), but was amazed at the orderly movement of the post-fireworks crowds through downtown. And I even wandered into Ravinia, where I somehow talked my way in to get dinner and munch it until the train arrived. The real motive was to see art from Taiwan's National Palace Museum, an extraordinary opportunity, better than seeing the actual museum, which kept most of its treasures sequestered in tunnels.

Now, the National Palace is having an unprecedented blowout of an exhibition to celebrate its refurbishment, and United had a $703 fare, Orlando-Taipei. So on Feb. 6, I'll be in a Chinese city for the first time. I think I'll simply rely on tourist info at the main rail station to find a couple of day trips. My expert on Chinese botany tells me Taroko Gorge shouldn't be missed. There's a mangrove forest right at the edge of Taipei. Cute little kingfishers. Taiwanese sweetgum trees.

I've had some problems with Travelocity showing a low prices for flights, then being unable to generate the actual itinerary. But even weirder, Orbitz managed to beat United's website for a fare going from Orlando to Osaka, returning from Tokyo. I've found it's usually best to check all sources.