Last week in Edmonton, Direct Travel advisor Sue Pechtel celebrated her 50th anniversary in the travel industry with around 90 friends, clients, suppliers, and relatives at the Royal Glenora Club.
Pechtel was born in Victoria, where she started her career at Blaney’s Travel in 1974. Two years later, she moved to Edmonton, where she met and married travel industry colleague Bill Pechtel of Globetrotter Travel. She recalls days of early, clunky computers (“Resevec!”), hand-writing tickets, stamping brochures, and a lot of paperwork.
The Pechtels eventually sold their agency to Vision Travel, which is now part of Direct Travel.
“I still sell a lot of everything – even some corporate travel – but I really enjoy selling cruises,” she said.
“Bill and I have had some wonderful trips: Peru, South Africa, the Mekong, Australia and Dubai all come to mind. And we’ve escorted about 40 cruise groups, including acting as hosts on some Virtuoso departures.”
Are retirement plans in Pechtel’s future? Not yet. “You could say I work seven days a week – but I love it,” she said.
The couple’s favourite hobby is enjoying fine food and wine, yet another reason to enjoy cruising.
As she laughs, she adds, “My clients won’t let me retire!”
