Where do you find answers if you are a traveler? There are plenty of so-called experts who will give you a laundry list of websites, apps and tools to help you help you book travel. It’s ironic that these experts will encourage people to spend hours trying to find these answers on their own instead of speaking to a travel agent who has them at his or her fingertips, for the most part.

That’s because travel agents understand the information needs of their clients and spend their entire days surfing websites and getting answers. There’s a good chance that they have already been asked, and have answered, the questions any given consumer might be asking.

“Why didn’t you use a travel agent to book it instead of booking yourself?”

I was on an NPR radio interview earlier this week with several individuals who all had suggestions on everything from how to find the right hotel to how to use an app in Frankfurt Airport to book your next segment when “your OTA screws up your ongoing flight.” The first thing I thought of was: “Why didn’t you use a travel agent to book it instead of booking yourself?” My second thought was: “Weren’t you the one who booked it wrong in the first place?”

I was so overwhelmed by the variety of tips, websites and apps these guys covered that I couldn’t imagine what the consumer was thinking….and I do this for a living!

There are…many who take great pride in hunting down that special app or combing through sites to find a deal that they can call their own.

There are, of course, many who take great pride in hunting down that special app or combing through sites to find a deal that they can call their own. These are the same people who spend hours in stores perusing sales racks of mismatched clothes and sizes hoping to “find” something special. They are the same people that drive all over town early on Saturday morning searching garage sales for something unique.

For these people, the hunt is as much fun as the experience or whatever they purchase. But these people aren’t going to make the greatest customers. They feel, to some degree, that everything can come down to a Google search and the time to sort through the answers.

One of the apps that I love, and one that was mentioned on the interview by another participant, was Google Maps. I use it on my iPhone all of the time and love it most of the time. On the other hand, I don’t rely on it completely, and if you follow these sample instructions you’ll understand why:

1. Open Google Maps (get directions)

2. Type China as your starting point

3. Type Taiwan as your destination

4. See Steps 1 through 69

5. Read Step 48

Finding the right travel answers isn’t always as easy as consumers might think. That’s why good travel agents are worth their weight in gold!

Mark Murphy is president and CEO of Performance Media, parent of TravelPulse.com, Agent @ Home magazine, Vacation Agent magazine, Travel Agent Academy and Virtual Travel Events.