One of the lessons of the Covid-19 crisis has been the importance of human connection — especially when booking travel.

The horror stories are mounting of travelers who booked their journeys with an online travel agency — like Orbitz, Travelocity, Hotels.com and many others — only to be unable to contact them, make changes or get refunds when their trips were canceled.

And even worse, there are fees often imposed by these online agencies and websites once you get them on the phone.

The almost non-existence in many cases of customer support, coupled with the fees, brings many of us back to the future and the benefits of booking directly with a human travel agent, who can often act as your advocate when things go wrong.

Booking online may seem expedient — and in the short term, it is — especially if you have an uncomplicated itinerary. But what happens when something goes wrong?

Then you may want or really need to have a conversation, and that’s where a good travel agent can literally come to the rescue.