Thanks to her father’s military career, Trish Gastineau saw more of the world in her first 18 years than most people do in a lifetime. During those formative years, she lived in Guam, Japan, Hawaii (twice!), California, Virginia, Florida, Texas, Maryland, Tennessee and Mississippi.

“I became a travel agent because I traveled all my life,” said Gastineau, owner of Simply Europe Travel in Montgomery, Ala. “It just seemed like a natural fit.”

Gastineau’s travel career began simply enough, when two-plus decades ago she came across a newspaper ad for a position in a travel agency. “When I saw the ad, I thought, I can do that, I know everything there is to know about travel.”

Although Gastineau didn’t get the job, she attended travel school and quickly realized that she did not, in fact, know everything there was to know about travel. Nonetheless, she landed a position at a cruise-only agency before she even graduated.

Over the years she has worked at a variety of agencies in an eclectic array of management and sales positions, selling both corporate and leisure.

One thing remained a constant, though: Throughout her career Gastineau has always capitalized on the social skills she developed during her childhood and adolescence. “I have always loved to talk to people and find that common denominator,” she said. “As a military brat, if you wanted to have friends, you had to do that.”

Gastineau decided to take the plunge and go out on her own as an independent contractor, and began to focus more designing customized vacations to Europe. “I’ve had a life-long fascination with Europe and I love customizing,” she said. “I don’t think anybody should have to take a cookie cutter trip – I think it should be whatever they want it to be.”

Gastineau’s career as independent agent was interrupted for three years when she took an in-house position at a Montgomery travel agency. “That’s when I was first introduced to Virtuoso and all the really interesting things they offer,” she said. “And that’s when I really started to really blossom in working with FITs.”

She believes her temporary return to a brick-and-mortar environment was well worth it – if, for nothing else, the discovery of Virtuoso and all it offers. “Had I not done that I would never never have been able to go this far forward in my career,” Gastineau said, adding that she regularly takes advantage of the consortium’s robust array of sales and marketing programs, its value-added amenities, and its formidable portfolio of on-site partners. “For the kind of customized trips I do, I attract people with higher levels of income, and Virtuoso’s lead generation program has also proven to be invaluable to me.”

Missing the autonomy she had as an independent contractor, Gastineau left the agency for the chance to work for herself again.  After a fastidious research process, she joined Travel Experts, a host agency that also happens to be of Virtuoso’s top producers.

“I also wanted a host that did not have a business model where they were booking their own agency clients and I was going to be an afterthought,” she said.  She also carefully assessed the charges she would incur. While Travel Experts’ agents keep 100 percent of their commissions, it charges a monthly fee “Once I did the math it became a no brainer,” she said.

Gastineau’s specialty in customized vacations, meanwhile, is expanding beyond Europe into Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

Her cruise business – both ocean-going and river – is also customized. “I almost always customize cruises with pre- and post-packages and private shore excursions,” she said.

Not one to rest on her laurels, Gastineau promotes her services on an ongoing basis, and in a variety of ways. “It’s not like in the old days when we took out full-page ads in the yellow pages,” she said. “Today, your clients could be anywhere.”

In addition to taking advantage of Virtuoso’s sales and marketing programs, Gastineau hosts consumer functions in partnership with vendors, promotes her services through her own Web site and a Facebook business page, and is active in a range of other social media platforms.

Public speaking also plays a role in her promotional efforts. “I’ll speak to almost any group and put myself out there for that,” she said.

In the final analysis, Gastineau firmly believes all travel advisors, including those employed by brick-and-mortar agencies, would be well served to align themselves with entities that will enhance their opportunities for success. “It’s so important to have the correct entrepreneurial mindset and surround yourself with successful people who are going to lift you up,” Gastineau said. “For me, that was Travel Experts and Virtuoso.”

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