I consider going into a shop to organise a holiday, to be a fairly redundant and old fashioned way…read moreof going about it. With the wealth of information and deals available online, travel agents on the high street have quickly been lost on my holiday planning radar. I am desperately wanting to visit Dubrovnik this Summer, with possibly a little jaunt down the Dalmatian Coast. Trying to book a trip with pleasant accommodation at the cheapest possible price is the aim, and I will go anywhere to achieve that! As a result, I am systematically working my way through online deals and shops in the city centre. At Flight Centre, the staff help you to tailor a holiday to suit your needs. For Dubrovnik, they only offered cruise packages, which does not interest me, but I was impressed with some of their other deals. There was a particular 10 night break to Bangkok that I was surreptitiously glancing at, for just over £500. Although the staff at Flight Centre were attentive and helpful, I remain unconvinced. I think I could still construct a separate flight and hotel itinerary at a better price. I did enjoy the life-size cardboard cut-out of a pilot in full dress however, magnificent!

The Flight Centre in Leeds city centre is located on Albion Street, over the road from First Choice…read moreTravel. The road is popular and hosts large stores like Argos, PC World and Waterstones so it does attract a lot of passing trade. The shop I have to say is a little boring looking compared to First Choice, as it is red, white and black, and not very compelling. The deals in the window are OK but personally I think First Choice offer better packages. The staff in the Flight Centre are very polite and friendly and not at all pushy. The shop is always very quiet when I pass and when I entered there were more staff than browsers which is not great - it makes you a little nervous as to how the shop is coping in the current economic slowdown. There are plenty of destinations offered by the Flight Centre by many different operators and all of them are ABTA protected which does give you a level of trust in them. They do short breaks, last minute deals, Ski, Sun and special events like the World Cup and Olympics so there is plenty to choose from. Prices are competitive but I don't think they are the cheapest in the area, my advice would be to shop around. All in all the Flight Centre is somewhere I would browse but am unlikely to purchase a holiday there unless it was an amazing deal. As it is I will keep window shopping.

First Choice Travel is a travel agents located on Albion Street in Leeds city centre, one of the…read moremost popular streets, housing Waterstones, Argos and PC World. So it is well situated for passing trade. I often pop in for a brochure and the prices seem competitive and the staff very polite indeed, and not too pushy, as you can sometimes find in travel agents (especially in the current climate). The advertised late deals and offers in the windows look great especially if you are on a budget or if you can drop everything and go! Sadly I can't but I love looking at the deals, some of them are excellent. They offer a good range of destinations, packages (such as Disney) and even weekend breaks and city breaks. There is plenty to choose from and stay within your budget. They are a travel operator I trust and all their holidays are ABTA protected which after the XL fiasco is a very good assurance to have. I have yet to purchase a holiday from them but after going in, picking up some brochures and having a chat with them it is a high contender to be the place I purchase my forthcoming honeymoon from, so watch this space. I think the shop is well situated, fairly busy whenever we have passed, and the staff are very nice, so I will be happy to spend my money there. I will give it 4/5 for service so far.

The First Choice Travel shop on Albion Street is a great travel agents, one of my favourites, in…read morefact I have just booked a cruise through them. They are part of the Thomson group now so you are basically going into a Thomson travel agents when you go into a first choice. The staff are lovely and really responsive to what you are looking for. I found a cruise on their website and when I called up to book it they matched the online booking price saving me £100 and when they heard it was my honeymoon they made a note on the account to upgrade me if possible and put wine and flowers in our cabin! They are very friendly on the phone and the shop is very nice. I would say this is my favourite travel agents in Leeds and well worth a visit if you are looking for a bargain luxury holiday.

The people of STA travel have been a massive and invaluable help to me on a number of occasions…read more Firstly when I decide, on a whim, to join some friends traveling to India for 6 weeks in the university summer holidays. I hadn't a clue what this would involve but they were able to tell me everything - what jabs I would need, when and how to get a visa and what a Lonely Planet book was. Yes, I was that clueless. Previous and since I have popped in with the idea that I wanted to so some kind of inter-railing thing and they have been more than happy to give me information about student-priced options. I went so far as to ask about getting a boat to Holland. The staff were happy to chat to me about their own well-travelled experiences. I recently popped in to ask about insurance for a 3-6 month trip to Asia and their options, unfortunately, were an absolute rip-off. So my revised view of STA travel is that they are good for somethings but are also cashing in on those naive yet wealthy gap-year types.

Going travelling for a year before or after University has almost become a right of passage these…read moredays. When I decided to go away for a few months my first and only port of call was STA travel. I wanted a travel agent that specialised in student holidays, as being young and naïve I didn't really have a clue as to where I wanted to go or what I wanted to do when I got there. One day after a particularly hectic day studying, I popped into this branch for a bit of inspiration and motivation to get a holiday booked. The really friendly assistant chatted with me for ages about what sort of thing I wanted to get out of it, what sort of budget I had, how long I wanted to go for and what type of person I was. They then gave me loads of suggestions, good and bad points about each suggestion and a realistic estimate of what I could expect to pay. I left with a clear idea of where I wanted to go and went back in after a couple of days and booked my trip. They were great in that they talked me through everything I would need to do before I left, if I needed a visa or any injections and gave me tips on what to do once I got there.

You are always going to be happy when you are booking an epic adventure…read more What this place does that is impressive is remember you even 4 years later when you have saved up enough to go away again and have specialists that know the countries well enough to give you local advice. Really prompt at answering emails and anyone will help you even if you booked with someone else.