10 Reasons Why … booking with The Perfect Wave is better than endlessly searching online

While some people might rank surf travel agents right up there with VCR repair men or video store clerks on the list of jobs that have gone the way of the Yellow Pages, there’s a reason you see them dominating the pages of your favourite endangered surf magazine.

The reason being that – even in a world where every Tom, Dick, Harry and Betty thinks it may sound cool to be all DIY and coordinate their own vacation plans – surf travel companies account for around half of most modern day surf mag advertising revenue for a reason.

Why?

Just read The Perfect Wave’s tag line – “We make surf travel easy for you.”

You have the option of coming into one of our global offices or calling us on the phone. Yes, that’s right – we employ humans, i.e. well travelled surf experience specialists. Not only can we do things the internet can’t, but we also still collect our fee from the operators we sell, which means… best part, we don’t even charge you for our service! So don’t hesitate to go old-school, phone us and let us be the travel agent to plan your next trip.

surf remote waves in Papua New Guinea (photo by PNG Explorer)

Of course, we also embrace technology. You can enquire on our website: www.theperfectwave.com. TPW was recently ranked #1 surf travel website in the world. Alternatively enquire via e-mail, we will email you straight back. After a couple of e-mail exchanges, we will have you sorted with an absolute minimum of fuss.

So here’s 10 reasons why booking with The Perfect Wave is better than booking on a random online portal:

1. We know whether you’re actually getting a good deal

Since 90 percent of the airline tickets you buy are for a domestic flights to visit family or friends, or surf the Gold Coast or Byron, your knowledge of the relative value of a flight to Padang, or Male is, how shall we say, limited. Our experienced team of surf experience specialists, however, book like 45 of those a day and will know immediately if the $1,300 whatever website told you is the “best price” is actually a good price.

2. We know where to surf in certain swells and where to eat or drink

If you don’t happen to be heading to Kuta or the Bukit, it helps to have a reputable resource available who knows all about swell size, direction, wind and all the variables in the Mentawai, Maldives and other popular Indian Ocean hotspots. Our crew also know the best restaurants, dive bars, or cockfighting arenas without having to sift through a thousand ridiculous reviews about how the waitress didn’t bring the table enough bread. Since they book trips all the time.

Score Impossibles and other epic waves on a Bali surf trip

3. We have got your back when it comes to flight delays/cancellations
Try calling a website without office staff when your flight gets cancelled and the line to rebook stretches through the terminal. If you go direct, then know that most operators are in remote regions and can’t really help you with a flight cancellation on the way to your destination. Even if you get through to the airline directly, they still don’t have a clue who you are. Call your Perfect Wave surf experience specialist and they’ll get you sorted on another flight while you get another drink at the airport bar.

4. We can actually get you seats together, on the same flight, for the same price
Rather than spending a week on a group text trying to co-ordinate your crew from the local boardriders club on your annual Mentawai charter, only to book your flights separately online and find you’re all sitting next to different people who clip their toenails (and paid different fares), The Perfect Wave’s experience specialists can get your entire group the same ticket price, with seats together, on the same flight.

5. We can secure you VIP status without being a VIP, or an exclusive trip in paradise with a world surfing champion
Want to go to the Maldives with a Master? Pipe Master, 1988 World Champion Barton Lynch that is? Or would you prefer to go to Indo with an icon – Australian Surfing’s favourite son – 1999 World Champion Mark Occhilupo? Yeah, that’s no issue for The Perfect Wave. Thanks to the relationships we maintain across the surfing industry, we can also score you and your partner a spot on a private island in the Maldives at an exclusive Donavon Frankenreiter gig at our 2015 “Surf Music In Paradise Series” or stowaway with the original rebel Bob McTavish.

6. And speaking of hours on the Internet, The Perfect Wave do all the research for you.
Websites don’t seem to understand that when you say “search nearby airports,” it doesn’t mean “I’m totally fine with being the guy who asks my roommate for a ride to an airport 75 miles away so I can save $45”. TPW know your airport preferences, and won’t tease you with cheap flights that involve leaving and returning to airports that are in different states. Unless you want them to.

7. We get better prices, first
That $649 one-way flight to Jakarta your email update indicated was a “fresh new deal” was actually available to The Perfect Wave last week, because we have better relationships with airlines and wholesalers. Which also means our prices are… ready for this… usually better than online. Especially for complicated or premium fares.

clean, clear and warm water in the Maldives

8. We do more than book flights
That PNG boat charter looks like a great January alternative, but you do realize it requires a lot more legwork than just pressing “Buy Now” on the round trip ticket to Port Moresby, right? You may or may not require a series of semi-crippling inoculations before you go. Unsure where to go for either shots or potentially visas for more exotic locales? Guess who can set both of those up for you?

9. We have Garuda and Virgin’s prices too
Fun as it is planning your flight, calculating baggage, seat selection, and excess board bag fees, then repeating the whole process on garuda.com or virgin.com to see if it’s cheaper, The Perfect Wave’s surf experience specialists can do the comparison shopping for you. And he or she can do it with any other airline that doesn’t play the online search engine game.

spoil yourself – luxury surf trip

10. No-hassle 24-hour changes
“Non-refundable” on your online reservation – be it a flight, hotel reservation, Surf Tour Of Duty, whatever – usually means you have 24 hours to make changes without penalty. Most people don’t realize this. Yes, even a “non-refundable” airline ticket can be changed. The only catch, you have to actually call and deal directly with the airline. Or, instead of spending hours on hold listening to “all agents are currently busy”, you can let The Perfect Wave happily fix the ticket we booked for you. Your call.