Arlington-based travel agency has been in business for 36 years

ARLINGTON — Travel Time of Everett hasn’t been located in downtown Everett for 15 years, but Penny Clark still uses the name because that’s how her long-time customers know her business.

In the age of instant internet travel booking, Clark still runs a thriving travel agency business from an office in the back of her home in suburban Arlington.

A planned rent increase from her landlord in downtown Everett in 2010, in the middle of the then-global financial crisis, caused her to move her office.

Clark started her business in 1989 in Everett.

Clark still books trips for hundreds of customers, she said, earning commissions from hotels, cruise lines, rent-a-car companies and tour companies for travelers who prefer to have a travel adviser.

She would prefer, though, not to help travelers book airline tickets. Airlines eliminated travel agent commissions for tickets in 2002, and Clark, like many travel agents, would charge a booking fee.

Clark said she even gave up a contract booking airline tickets for state employees in 2023. She would have to re-book — often multiple times — for the $37 booking fee because of airline changes in flight schedules.

“It wasn’t worth it,” she said.

Clark said she can still book airline tickets.

“I, on occasion, book them for someone who calls and says I can’t figure this out — then I’ll do it,” she said.

Clark also runs her own escorted tour business, taking travelers on three to four tours a year to a variety of destinations, including New Zealand and Australia, the Phoenix suburb of Peoria for Mariners spring training games, and Branson, Missouri, for shows and outdoor beauty.

The tours go back to 1995 when the late Frank McCord, then CEO of Cascade Bank in Everett, organized a tour to Europe for top depositors, Clark said.

She was put in charge of the tour, which attracted 188 people and grew to be part of a travel club that ran regular trips.

Clark said the bank-sponsored trips were discontinued in 2002 after McCord stepped down, and a new bank CEO was concerned about liability issues.

The travel agent said she folded the trips into her own tour business and has offered them ever since.

“A lot of these people that travel with me didn’t know each other to start, but now they go to shows together or dinner together or play cards together or what have you,” she said. “They have become friends.”

Most of the trips average in the $3,000-per-person range, but the New Zealand and Australia trip, which is almost a month long, costs in the $10,000-to-$13,000 range, depending on whether travelers economy or premium economy for the air portion of their journey.

She said the trip starts on Jan. 30 and is already sold out with 22 travelers.

Clark said the best part of the escorted tours is that she gets to travel herself.

“I kind of tell the story that when I got into this business, I was very young and I used to feel like I was escorting grandparents on trips,” she said. “And then as the years went by, it was like I was escorting my parents on trips. And now I feel like I go on vacation with a bunch of friends because we’re all over 60.”

So, where are the hot destinations for travelers who seek her advice?

Clark said she books many trips for river cruises in Europe.

“You wake up each morning, and you’re in a new city, no packing and unpacking,” she said.

Clark said the ships offer an intimate experience, with around 150 passengers per boat. Meals are included along with wine and beer for lunch and dinner, she said.

One formerly popular destination, Hawaii, has drawn fewer travelers, Clark said.

She said people stopped booking trips to Maui after the wildfires in 2023.

While Clark said she still books trips to some of the other islands, it’s become very pricey.

“You can go to Mexico for seven nights, all inclusive, all meals, all drinks included for the same price as Hawaii with no meals and drinks,” she said.

Clark said a couple could stay at a resort in Puerto Vallarta for around $2,000 a week, the same price as only a room in Hawaii.

She said it’s a misnomer that there are no travel agents left, but many, like her, have given up their storefronts and now operate out of their homes.

Clark said what she loves about being a travel agent is that she is working with happy people who are anticipating an enjoyable vacation.

Another part of it, she said, is that she enjoys doing research about a destination to help travelers. Clark said she can also offer her first-hand knowledge of a destination.

Clark, who is in her early 60s, said she has no plans for retirement anytime soon.

“I love the job too much,” she said.

Randy Diamond: 425-339-3097; randy.diamond@heraldnet.com.