BEST TRAVEL AGENCY: AMBER PIETAN TRAVEL AGENCY
Memory maker: travel agent fights for her clients
A
where your policy comes with an agent
Mankato | Amboy | Vernon Center| cimankato.com | 507-385-4485 38 • JULY 2020 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
mber Pietan took many vacations with her family when she was a child. She recalls how she and her sister would pretend to be travel agents in the back of the family Econoline van, picking up travel brochures at wayside rests and camping along the way. To this day, she still finds it exciting to learn how people live and the differences in what they eat, not only around the world, but even across the USA. In 2013 she began the Amber Pietan Travel Agency, located at 340 Pierce Avenue in lower North Mankato. Pietan says many people have the mistaken idea that using a travel agent means a trip will cost more. However, she says a travel agent is able to find better deals, lower prices, coupons, etc. that a regular person may not be able to find. That includes domestic travel, she says, even including stays in local hotels. A good travel agent knows the industry, and will fight for a traveler’s rights, including finding refunds when travel plans are upended by, say, an airline. They will know when a refund is in order for delays and changes, even when an airline might just offer vouchers. Pietan says many travel plans are being toppled by Covid-19 concerns. She had planned to visit Amsterdam during tulip time, but instead, is hoping to make a trip to St. Martin in October.