As with anything, when you have NO real experience, it is really hard to get your foot in the door.

I sent, and by that I mean I snail mailed, because that was all we had in 1982, to almost every travel agent in the yellow pages in the greater New Orleans area. I got not ONE response, so I decided to begin to just print up some more of my resumes, put on my best 1980’s outfit (ok I know you are envisioning that right now in your head and laughing) and hit the pavement.  I began with those agencies that were close to where I lived, which was Chalmette and there were no travel agencies in Chalmette at that time so I ventured into New Orleans East. There were several and I think I walked into like 4 or 5 and got rejected by all of them, I stopped for a bite to eat on  Crowder Blvd, thinking I would just head home after that when I realized there was an agency right across the street that I hadn’t visited.  I figured what the heck, let me just go see since they are like right here anyway.  Well upon entering Travel Fantasies, I was greeted by a petit lady named Harriett who had a distinct accent but I couldn’t figure it out.  She was very nice and explained that she was Portuguese and had a lot of inbound travel and group travel and also that she was basically a one man show.  Next she told me that although she really needed help, she didn’t have the funds to pay me.  I of course at this point had to get creative so I mentioned that I would work for free if I could just get some experience.  Her eyes lit up and she said, “I tell you what, I will pay you 1/2 the commission on any ticket or booking you make that is NOT one of my existing clients”, well I jumped on the idea.  I began my journey at a place called Travel Fantasies and never looked back.  To gain clients I began with rolls of stamps and the real estate book that listed house numbers along with the names of the occupants and concentrated on the more up scale neighborhoods in St. Bernard Parish.  I chose St. Bernard Parish because I knew lots of folk down there and hoped I would get a bite or two. I sent out a letter of introduction along with a destination brochure to tons of people and began getting calls and inquiries, I was ecstatic and instead of going in to the office the three days that we had agreed on I would call every day and ask if I could come in to use the hotel books and brochures. I had the fever and was a sponge in those early days, each new request I would pour myself into the destination until I knew all there was to know about it!