Casey Carr was born into the travel agency industry, so becoming a travel agent was a natural fit.
"We're a family company-pretty well-known in the Dallas area through our travel feature on KLUV Radio that is in its 46th year now-and my sister and I grew up in the industry," said Carr, general manager of Sharon Carr Travel in Dallas, Texas.
"We came into the office to stuff envelopes, deliver tickets, etcetera and, of course, traveling a lot with my mom hosting our groups."
He earned a degree in history and at a young age already possessed years of destination and product knowledge. After graduating, Carr spent time traveling on his own and working in the cruise industry for the now defunct Cruise West onboard the Spirit of Glacier Bay and for Carnival onboard the Carnival Pride.
"The travel industry is just great to be a part of, it's fascinating, it's always changing and it's fulfilling," Carr said. "We really do get to make dreams come true."
Sharon Carr specializes in cruises and exotic destinations.
"We cruised every year growing up and having worked in the industry I understand all of the ins and outs, the work that goes on behind the scenes and the differences in the various cruise lines," he said.
"It's a great way to travel and get a taste of different cities while still relaxing and getting a real vacation out of it," said Carr, who gravitates to exotic destinations. "I like experiences that take me out of my comfort zone, even jarring experiences that can be difficult, but force me to rethink things and change my perspective and learn."
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Carr also explains how a lot of the great exotic destinations are changing and growing up, so it's important to him to see them while they still retain a little authenticity.
"I love Europe and big cities, but they're always going to be there and stay relatively the same, while places like Africa and India are changing so rapidly it's a different experience every time I return," he explains.
"During my first trip to Africa in my teens, we drove for hundreds of miles on dirt roads and now they're paved, the lodges have internet and the Masai villagers carry cell phones. It's wonderful and absolutely essential for these countries, but some of the mystery is fading and it's a real privilege to experience it before it changes."
When it comes to obstacles facing travel agents, Carr believes the lack of seasoned travel agents is at the top of the list.
"Lots of great agents left the industry over the last two decades for various reasons," he said. "We're an endangered species and we don't enjoy the cultural prominence we once did. I often hear 'Wow, I didn't realize travel agents were still a thing' Couple that with the rise of MLM's offering literally everyone with a checkbook the chance to be a travel agent with no training, no destination knowledge, no product knowledge and really no value to present to prospective clients."
He doesn't fault anyone for wanting to be a part of this industry but said there is a lot more to being a travel agent than really enjoying travel: "If you haven't come up through the ranks with some training and experience, you're bound to give us all a bad name."
His advice to travel agent wannabes?
"Do not join an MLM," Carr advised.
"No real travel agency wants you to pay them for the privilege of selling travel for them; it's nonsense and they're just taking advantage of you. Call your local travel agency, preferably one with some sort of training program. Everyone is looking for good help, and if you have great customer service skills and a solid work ethic, you can become a good travel agent, but be patient and put in the work to get there. It can and should take years before you are good at it."
He also suggests that, if you have the flexibility, go to work in the cruise industry.
"It's a fantastic training ground for customer service, for learning the ins and outs of one of the largest and arguably most lucrative facets of the travel industry. You get to travel, save money and work with an incredibly diverse staff. On the Carnival Pride, our staff represented 216 countries," Carr said.
"The officers onboard, usually ex-European Navy, will whip your ass into shape in no time, and the work ethic and discipline you develop are invaluable assets that will carry you far. I would hire anyone with a cruise industry background in a heartbeat because I know they have world-class customer service training and a product knowledge that is now a part of their DNA."
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Looking back on his career, Carr shares two of his favorite stories:
"On my first trip to India, one of my clients carried a picture with her of her grandmother at the Taj Mahal in the 1940s," said Carr.
"She'd loved that picture all her life, and it was a lifelong dream of hers to travel to the same spot and see it with her own eyes. She had lost her grandmother a few years before, and you could just see how special this was for her. It's incredibly gratifying. We bought her a double picture frame and framed the two shots together."
In 2010, when Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted and shut down air travel over Europe for six days, Carr had a group of 40 stressed out travelers trying to come home from a tour of Italy.
"With the help of Trafalgar Tours, we changed all of their flights and drove them a few hours to Switzerland where they spent the next five days on a full extra trip with great hotels and their wonderful Trafalgar Guide who had carried them through Italy," he said.
"It hardly cost them any extra. We turned a difficult situation into an amazing bonus experience for our clients. We got to be the heroes and, in my opinion, made a great case for always booking your travel through a travel agent."
When asked about his favorite place to travel, Carr understandably struggled for an answer.
"This is the most common question every travel agent gets and it is nearly impossible to choose, as almost every destination is great for its own reasons," he said. "I usually answer African Safari to this question. It is one of our specialties and is probably the best trip that we put on. From the beautiful lodges to the extraordinary game drives and animal encounters, it's pretty hard to top it."
A close second would be New Zealand.
"It's probably the most jaw-droppingly gorgeous place I ever laid eyes on, plus I'm an avid fly-fisherman and New Zealand boasts some of the greatest fly-fishing on earth," he said. "Culturally, India is the crown jewel for me. It is the most different culture from my own that I've ever experienced, simultaneously the most challenging and most breathtaking country I've ever visited. There is no other place like it."
In addition to his position at Sharon Carr Travel, Casey also has his own film production company, www.globetrekproductions.com, which he started in 2012 with help from his college roommate and teammate Mike Williams.
"I've had a lifelong love affair with film and to be doing it professionally is something I never really even dared to dream," he said. "I made movies for kicks for 12 years before I decided to try and start a company."
His first gig was a film for Uniworld River Cruise Lines in Vietnam and Cambodia. He's now made five films for Uniworld and several other companies.
"I love to shoot, write scripts; I love editing, just the whole process is a joy for me. I'd still be making films for kicks, but it's nice to be paid and get a little recognition for my creative work," he said.
"What's that saying? Love what you do and you'll never work a day in your life?"
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