Do you want to know how to become a travel agent in London? If so, look no further. This page will give you detailed information about the educational requirements, travel agent duties, employment and much more.

London is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom. There are over 7.1 million people in living in London. If you aspire to become a travel agent in London it is important to know the city, country, its people and customs. You want to know what the various sightseeing and tourist attractions are such as St. Paul's Cathedral, the Museum of London, the Queen's house and Big Ben.http://www.planetware.com/tourist-attractions-/london-eng-l-lon.htm

As a London travel agent it is important that you are well traveled since your customers might want to visit foreign destinations. Selling vacation destinations by speaking from your own experience is effective and makes you come across as a expert in the field of travel. This is necessary nowadays because websites like Expedia.com, Travelocity.com, Priceline.com, Hotwire.com and Kayak.com easily enable people to book their own air fares, hotel accommodations and rental cars.

Whether you want work as a travel agent in the United States or in London, the general steps to take are basically the same. Hopefully this page will answer some of your questions.

EDUCATION: If you ultimately want to become a travel agent in London, the best thing to do is to start by finishing high school. You need a minimum of a high school diploma or the equivalent. If you want, you can even get a college degree in tourism and travel. The Mahalo page 'How to graduate high school' might help you.

TRAINING: Employers in the United States and in London both prefer hiring people with some form of travel agent training and work experience. Therefore it is good to take some additional classes. You can look into community colleges, online schools and adult education programs. The website citytowninfo.com provides a whole list of travel agent schools in every U.S. state. This list also includes online classes. Some beneficial courses you can take include geography, world history, and computer science. The main language spoken in London is English. If your English is already fluent, you can even try to learn an additional language. This might benefit you since many travel agencies look for people that speak multiple languages.http://www.citytowninfo.com/employment/travel-agents

Keep in mind that regardless of what country, city or town you work in, you will need to be courteous, professional, well organized, detail oriented and accurate to become a travel agent. Your customers rely on you to provide them with the travel arrangement that fits their budget.http://careerplanning.about.com/od/occupations/p/travel_agent.htm

FIRST JOBS: Before making the move to London you are better off to get some work experience first. Start by looking for entry level positions at local travel agencies. This can be as a reservations clerk or a receptionist. You will get your foot in the door and over time you might get more duties and responsibilities which might lead to that travel agent job. Meanwhile you can learn and gain experience by watching other travel agents go about their day to day activities. If you cannot find a job at a travel agency, offering to work for free is another option. You can become an intern and learn as you go. It will look good on your resume and help with future employment. The Mahalo page 'How to write a resume' can be beneficial here.

WHEN IN LONDON: After gaining some work experience at a local travel agent you can slowly start to venture out and look at what it takes to work as a travel agent in London. You can start online by searching for travel and tourism jobs abroad. There are many companies that advertise for experienced travel agents in London. It's up to you to find out more about them. Before getting the job, check if they will help you move. Do they arrange the required visa/permits? Do they arrange housing? If you don't get a job and want to move to London first, you will also need to check with Immigration Services about work permits and visas. Another option you have is to utilize a company that assists in providing jobs abroad, for instance transitionsabroad.com and jobsabroad.com. They will also take care of the required paperwork you need to be able to work. http://www.transitionsabroad.com/listings/work/index.shtml

DUTIES: The duties for a travel agent in London are similar to travel agents in the United States. The only difference is that your customers in London may have different demands and wishes compared to your American customers. Before deciding that you want to become a travel agent it is always good to know what will be expected of you. Following are some of a travel agent's tasks and duties:

• ■ A travel agent has to receive payment from the customer for the travel arrangements that were made. This can include air fare, cost of accommodation, car rental and such.
• ■ As a travel agent you also have to communicate with customers to find out what their wishes are, where they want to go, what accommodations they want, what kind of transport they need and what their budget is.
• ■ Travel agents have to calculate the cost of the travel arrangements including hotel accommodations. You have to be able to quote pricing of several travel packages to the customer so that they have a choice.
• ■ Booking the air fare, hotel, and car rental is another task of the travel agent. You do this either by phone or using your computer terminal.
• ■ Present the customer with several tour packages and vacation plans offered by various suppliers.
• ■ Brochures and publications need to be given to the customer to provide them with information about their destination. They need to know about attractions, needed vaccinations and travel documents, weather/climate in their travel destination, and local customs.
• ■ Printing tickets is another duty of a travel agent. http://www.careerplanner.com/Job-Descriptions/Travel-Agents.cfm

SCAMS: When you start looking for that travel agent job, you are bound to come across one of the many scams out there. You will find companies that advertise by promoting all the benefits of the travel agent job. They recruit new travel agents by glamorizing the fact that you get to travel and see the world and that you get to work from home, make your own schedule and be your own boss. Some scam companies even require that you recruit new affiliates for them. These are simply multi level marketing companies and have nothing to do with selling travel. Also watch out for companies that ask for a lot of money upfront. Before committing to any company, make sure that you do your research. http://www.homebasedtravelagent.com/scams.htm

LONDON TRAVEL AGENCIES: London has many travel agencies. Some cater to a different clientele than others. There are agencies that mainly handle business travel, other agencies arrange London tours and some agencies only handle group travels. It's good to know what kind of agencies there are in London so that you have some kind of idea of what your options are. Following is information on several of these agencies:

• ■ Skylord Travel, 118 Tottenham Court Road, London, W1T 5AN, Phone: 0870 0275064. This travel agency was founded in 1983 and is one of the largest in the U.K. They have 6 branches spread over the U.K. http://www.skylorduk.com/about.htm

• ■ Experience South East Asia, Studio D, 109 St Johns Hill, London, SW11 1TH, Phone: 020 7924 7133. This travel agency specializes in travel to South East Asia including Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Laos. http://www.experiencesoutheastasia.com/

• ■ Harts of Epsom Ltd website Harts of Epsom Ltd, Gatley Avenue, Epsom, Epsom, KT19 9NQ, Phone: 0800 014 1771. This company can arrange European cruise travel and offers various travel packages worldwide. http://www.hartsofepsom.co.uk/