I have to admit I was always one of those people who thought I could skip the middleman and book an…read moreentire holiday online. From reading reviews for the best places to stay to using SkyScanner to find the best flights it would be as easy as pie. Enter my 2012 holiday to South America and now my 2014 holiday to Africa and Middle East... Enter multiple travel agents who didn't really care, were out to book the tour or flight that would get the best commission and had worse follow up to email enquiries than my telephone provider. Enter a stroll into Flight Centre Unley Rd. In the last 2 years I have dealt with 2 travel agents (Alice and Andrew) who have helped book flights and insurance, offered for me to go away and find better prices that they will match and come up with itinerary suggestions within a week of visiting their store. It wasn't until this experience that I realised that travel agencies like this realise they have to compete with online by offering a quick and easy service and they do it bloody well. It wasn't until our flights were changed mid-South America trip when we had limited phone and email connectivity that I realised the benefit of having a travel agent as they were in contact immediately and ensured we wouldn't miss our flights as a result. When booking a non-standard holiday I would always use Flight Centre on Unley Rd because I know I can get the best price (even compared to online deals) for a quicker and hassle free experience.

My recent experience when booking a Bali holiday with Flight Centre in Firle Plaza was very…read morepleasant and made organising our holiday a piece of cake. First of all, we decided to book with very little notice, deciding on a whim to treat ourselves to an end of University tropical holiday. We dealt with Melissa who was very helpful and assured us that at even that late stage we would be able to still get some great accommodation and flights at prices that were still quite reasonable. During the process Melissa called me several times to verify and confirm details with us to make sure we were in the loop the whole time. She also didn't treat me as silly when I called a couple of times to check figures or minor details (I am a bit of organised freak when it comes to travelling!). I would definitely book another holiday with Melissa and the staff at Firle Flight Centre.

Out of all the travel agents out there Flight Centre would be one of the best known as well as one…read moreof the cheapest. They have some fantastic deals and packages to go pretty much anywhere. I went there not long before Xmas and the place was packed. Every single desk had a consultant with people. You would really need a booking at this time of year. So whether you're looking to travel somewhere local or somewhere much further away, whether you're thinking of travelling by plane or maybe a cruise, these people know their stuff. Their consultants are always very well dressed and very friendly and willing to help with whatever you need. They have some amazing brochures or booklets on all sorts of destinations which are great to be able to take with you when you are trying to narrow it down. They also have great priced group deals if you are in a party of however many. It's so much easier to have someone in the know take care of everything for you than do it yourself, plus they can get deals as agents that we could not find anywhere. So give them a try when looking to book your next holiday!

I spoke to Jade Moate (staff) with regard to the availability of a gluten free meal option out of…read moreAdelaide and was dealt with a very demeaning and discriminative attitude. It is such a shame and disgrace that in today's world where people of different races and backgrounds have the capacity to and are traveling around the World that staff are still allowed and covered by their colleagues and organizations to be racist and discriminative to their PAYING customers. This is definitely a bad reflection on Flight Centre as a business. When I tried to explain to her that my ticket says that breakfast will be served and hence I would like to make the request for a GF meal, she was absolutely rude saying she did not like the way I spoke to her. I agree my accent was not similar to hers, however that does qualify her to be discriminative. I am a paying customer and there is a professional decorum that a business has to adopt for ALL their paying customers. That was definitely not the case and she just put me on hold and transferred me to her colleague. Her colleague Sarah Churchett answers the phone and when I mentioned that Jade was rude and discriminative, she insisted that was not the case till I reminded her that it was not for her to make that decision, as I was on the receiving end. Sarah then continued to tell me that Jade had issues that she dealing with on a personal level.and that was why she spoke in that manner. I again had to remind Sarah that may the case and I respect personal struggles of any individual, however that should not be projected on PAYING customers. staff should be trained to speak respectfully to ALL paying customers, regardless of their race, accent or background

Small shop but full of info and perfectly positioned near doors to outside of centre so don't need…read moreto wander the entire place to get there! I have dealt with Jade there and she is brilliant. She used to work at another store but I have followed her to this store to book my families holidays! She is professional and friendly and always happy to assist. The other staff are also super friendly and very cheerful. Great store and staff! Highly recommend.

This flight centre is really clean. It makes you feel like wherever you end up flying, you're going…read moreto get the same cleanliness. Weird logic, I know. The few times that I've been here, even if I'm just browsing the brochures, the staff have always been very friendly and quick to try and help me out. The travel agents who work here are very efficient and know their job well. You can walk in knowing what place you want to travel to and how much you want to spend, but have no knowledge of how to organise anything and discover your options and these travel agents will know exactly what to do. Pretty sweet!

I've come into Harvey World Travel quite a few times before to ask about holiday deals and…read morepackages. The team were knowledgeable but lacked initiative, in my personal opinion. I had to squeeze answers out of them and I found myself asking a lot of questions that were met with minimal-effort answers. They weren't as cheap as other travel agents, and didn't seem too excited to cater to any customers either. It all comes down to service, really. After the underwhelming experience I had, it didn't take long for me to get up and leave - they might have had some good offers but I was already put off by their service. I've seen some good deals on the website, however, so maybe other HWTs are different. I hope they are, anyway.

I am off for a trip interstate and my old check-in luggage has seen better days. I made a decision…read morethat it is time for an upgrade. I remembered seeing some advertisement somewhere that Strandbags have sales on every now and then. Pretty massive sales actually! It was actually my good luck as they had a sale on travel luggage. In fact, there was 60% off some of the items! Woo hoo! Obviously with such an amazing sale they were pretty busy. But I did not mind waiting for help, especially if I was going to save that much money! After a little wait a lovely lady by the name of Kim came to my aid. She was bright and bubbly and apologetic about the wait. Which was really lovely! So, I told her what I was looking for and she gave me great advice. I picked up a small carry-on bag that I thought looked cool, but she pointed out the weight of it. I didn't realise that it was a lot heavier than the others. She then found another bag that suited the style I was after and that was light. Perfect! I let the store happy and ready for my trip with my cool new bag at a brilliant price! I would recommend checking them out before department stores.

This Strandbags is not a very big store and it's not stocking the most luxury bags and purses…read more(unless you think Guess, or genuine leather is as good as it gets). What it does have though is that little treasure called the clearance bin. I've bought so many tiny purses here (the ones that fit into your tiny party clutch) for dirt-cheap prices. The best part is you can afford one to match every little party bag you're packing and when you get so boozed up you lose it, that's ok it wasn't worth much anyway. In a nutshell - tiny purse heaven!