Client Testimonials
My mission and purpose is to use my extensive travel knowledge, experience, resources, and attention to detail in order to enhance every aspect of my client’s travel. I work very hard to make sure your trip planning and the actual travel itself is as “painless” as possible.
I encourage you to do your due diligence and see what others are saying about working with me for the past 14 years. I have included customer reviews below, but you can also find reviews by visiting my Travel Leaders Agent Profile HERE and find out what people are saying on Yelp.
Click HERE to find out more about my services. if you have any questions or want to start planning your next getaway.
Skip just made my parents the happiest travelers on earth. He sent them to New Zealand, but what was more amazing, he rescued their trip after Dad’s accident.
Mom and Dad have been married 51 years. Last year, they planned to take a 50th anniversary trip to New Zealand. I recommended Skip because I loved how he set up my trip to France. Skip set them up with a dream vacation, and it looked awesome on paper. But two months before they left, Dad fell and injured his head badly. He was in the hospital for weeks and rehab for weeks afterward. They were heartbroken, but they knew New Zealand would have to be cancelled. I made one phone call to Skip. He picked up everything from there. He made the calls, found the trip insurance, cancelled the reservations, and refunded them everything. The only thing they lost was the premium for insurance. Mom and Dad got peace of mind to heal and recover while Skip took care of their travel plans. This year, Dad is better. They called Skip again and asked if they could go to New Zealand now.
He had saved their trip, of course! They traveled in October and came back delighted. It was the best vacation of their lives, and we have The Getaway Guru to thank for it. Love ya, Skip. Thanks for showing us the world.
~ Ginger, Elkhart, TX, 1/27/2020
Skip did a wonderful job choosing flights and the best hotel in our price band for the honeymoon of our dreams in Bora Bora. We spent 5 nights in the most gorgeous hotel on a private island and our room had breathtaking views. He made it very easy for us to have plenty of time to catch our flights and people waiting to show us where to go. Planning a honeymoon on top of a wedding would have been so stressful and he took out all the hard parts for us and made it the best trip of our lives.
The next time we are going out of the country we will definitely use Skip again!
~ Marla and Justin, Austin, TX, 11/11/2019
Unbelievable!!! I want to start out by letting everyone know that I have been working with and using Skip Neal and Your Gallivanting Guru for almost two decades!!! So it’s safe to say that my family reveres and trust Skip and his company implicitly....Well, my wife and I just got back from our honeymoon and it was a truly marvelous trip!!!!!!
To begin with, when we began contemplating where we would spend our two week honeymoon we honesty had no idea where we wanted to go but we did want to spend two weeks away and do as much as we could with the 14 days we were planning to be away. In our struggle to decide, I picked up the phone and as usual Skip took my call after two rings and proceeded to field my questions and inquires. He told me he would work on some ideas (world wide I might add) for places and “get back” with me. Well sure enough the following afternoon Skip not only presented us with a half dozen places he also had descriptions for hotels, excursions, transfers, dining, and approx costs for the potential trips depending on which places we would be most interested in trying out or potentially going to. Three days later we chose Australia thanks to the help and guidance from Skip!!! The trip was PERFECT! Every aspect was perfectly planned from flights, transfers, hotels, activities, dinner reservations ect... and our time there was AMAZING!!!
Just wanted all to know, Skip, is “The Best in the Business” when it comes to Top Notch vacation planning! First class, attention to detail and guaranteed over the top customer service!!! Thanks Skip for seeing to it that our Honeymoon was as spectacular and memorable as we could have ever hoped for!!! You are the Greatest!!
~ Megan and Shane, Georgetown, TX, 10/24/2019
We were referred to skip by a friend, who had great things to say. Skip was incredibly helpful, responsive and friendly. We wanted a quiet romantic spot for a honeymoon. He guided us and worked with us to get exactly what we wanted within our budget! I am telling you this trip was magnificent. I was not ready to leave. We stayed at el darado in the over the water bungalows in Mexico! The service and staff was phenomenal, it was quiet, secluded and romantic. 10/10 would go again and I am definitely using him to plan our one year anniversary trip!
~ Tara, Houston, TX, 10/14/2019
Thanks again Skip for another amazing trip!! I have worked with Skip before, he is great!!....ready for another trip!
~ Brad, Austin, TX, 10/13/2019
Yet Another Amazing Vacation! This is my second time using Skip to plan our vacation to Europe. He does a great job organizing and planning travel/ activities on your trips. He stays within budget and listens to your needs/ expectations. We have used him for our first trip to Amsterdam, Rome, and Santorini & again this year for our trip to Amalfi coast & Mykonos. I highly recommend him.
~ Lizz, Austin, TX, 9/23/2019
I highly recommend Skip! He's the best. He helped us plan our honeymoon, a trip to Jamaica, and more recently, a trip to Maui. We will continue to work with him for years to come. From the beginning, he takes the time to get to know his clients and suggests vacations based on your interests and desires. He never speaks to you in a condescending manner, and is just so upbeat and friendly. Once you book your trip, he keeps you informed up to the date that you leave, and he prepares a vacation packet for you that includes all of your papers in an nice pouch. This is great because you just grab that pouch and you have all the important documents handy when you need it.
More than that, Skip is just an awesome guy! He is easy to talk to and is always accessible to his clients. Trust me. No vacations are perfect (flights get cancelled/luggage gets lost) but Skip is always just a phone call or text away. He does everything to ensure you have a great time.
I would recommend him to my family and friends.
~ Rea, San Antonio, TX, 9/5/2019
Thank you Skip for all of your expertise and help in our dream vacation to Switzerland! Our family loved every minute! I would recommend this agent to my family and friends.
~ Denise, Round Rock, TX, 7/14/2019
My husband and I met Skip 10 years ago when planning our Honeymoon to St. Lucia. We've planned many other trips with Skip (DR, Jamaica, Mexico), took a small break from traveling to grow our family, but immediately thought "SKIP" when it was time to plan our 10 year anniversary trip. He is extremely personable and such a pleasure to work with. He sincerely cares about his clients and wants to create the best experience!! Skip is organized, a good listener and puts together many options for consideration (he really goes above and beyond expectations and makes the experience super easy and stress-free.) For this specific trip, we chose DR (for a second time) prior to all the media hype. Skip was fantastic to answer our questions/concerns and provided secondary options to ensure our comfort level and safety. Skip will always be our go-to-guru!! #TeamSkip
I would recommend this agent to my family and friends.
~ Ashley and Eric, Leander, TX, 7/1/2019
Skip was amazing to work with! We just got back from our honeymoon and had the greatest time. We never once had to stress about travel plans or organizing anything which was so helpful because with the wedding a lot went into planning so knowing our trip was handled was such a relief.
Thank you Skip for making our dream trip to Moorea and Bora Bora a trip of a lifetime! We are looking forward to working with you in the future!
~ Kelly, San Antonio, TX, 4/15/2019
Skip was so easy to work with from the beginning! He was super responsive and tolerated a million questions. He gave us 5 or so options for 4 different areas of the Caribbean to honeymoon in. We were so thankful he was there to do that for us, it truly took the stress from having to plan a honeymoon ourselves. The trip (6 days/5 nights at Secrets Maroma) went off with out a hitch and we enjoyed every second.
~ Megan, Austin, TX, 2/19/2019
BEST TRIP I EVER HAD!!!! We used Skip Neal to help arrange a girls trip to Bora Bora. Initially we planned to do a little island hoping, but after meeting with him and discussing our desire for the trip we settled on only Bora Bora. Skip was great! He gave us multiple quotes for each scenario we thought of and worked with us to get our dream vacation. He was up front and honest with us about all parts of the trip. He has visited the island several times and gave us his personal insight and advice for traveling. He got us a great deal with St. Regis over water bungalow that included breakfast buffet. He also arranged our flight from Papette to Bora Bora in a packaged deal. He helped removed a lot of the anxiety of planning and was available whenever we needed him.
We definitely plan to go back and will be using Skip in the future!
~ Stacy, Midland, TX, 12/5/2018
Just got back with my third trip (our honeymoon and two subsequent vacations) with Skip. He has a passion for what he does and is exceptional in all aspects on how he runs his business.
As I have said before, while the internet has changed the travel industry and there is more ability to do it yourself, Skip is invaluable with his experiences and suggestions. Furthermore, the packages he has put together for us have always been less expensive to go with than if we were to do it ourselves and they include more!
Do not hesitate to book your vacation through Skip. You will be happy you did!
~ Mark, Houston, TX, 12/2/2018
Skip did a wonderful job helping us plan our honeymoon Greece trip. He worked with us on our budget and the places / hotels we wanted to be in. To our surprise, Skips pricing was more competitive than when we looked on our own. We were expecting to pay a premium for the service he provides. His attention to detail is incredible. He helped us through a few minor issues on the trip and made things easy for us. It really helps to have someone well versed in international travel on your side. Our connections had just the right amount of layover time! There were several travelers that did not leave themselves enough time to get through customs and missed their flights. We will absolutely be booking again with Skip in the future for our inevitable travels.
In closing, don't think twice about using Skip!
~ Nick, Austin, TX, 10/2/2018
Skip listened to what we were looking for in this particular vacation and matched us with the perfect resort. Everything was great --- the food, the amenities and particularly the staff were top notch. All of the details were taken care of and we were able to fully relax and enjoy our trip.
~ Craig, San Francisco, CA, 9/20/2018
THE ABSOLUTE BEST VACATION PLANNER EVER!!!
Skip, is hands down without a doubt the best in the business! He has planned each and every one of my families vacations for more than a decade. I honestly think I go on vacation more than I should because he makes it so easy!!! Skip spares no detail while planning our trips, from flights, meals, transfers, excursions and all the little things in between he misses nothing! He will even act as your personal conceirge while you are away should you have issues or questions. He's FIRST CLASS! If you are thinking of planning your next trip please try Skip out! I promise you that you will NOT regret it and furthermore I'll go as far as to say you too will use him for decades like we have!!
So, thanks Skip for everything, you take customer service to a whole new level and we are ever grateful for ALL your help and expertise when it comes to our families travel in or out of the country!!!
~ Shane, Austin, TX, 8/16/2018
We had a great time! We did three excursions and made wonderful memories! Thank you so much for all of your help!
Oh and we definitely stayed one of the nicest resorts on the island. We saw a couple of the resorts while picking people of for the excursions and they were definitely not as nice as ours. We did get duped into sitting in and listening to the resort try to sell us their diamond package. When we tried to leave we got major attitude and we just ended up walking out. Lesson learned! Ha!
Anyway, we spent a ton of time in the pools, everything was super clean, we kayaked, we snorkeled, we took a stinky mud bath which was a blast, and saw the beauty of St Lucia on two cruises. It was perfect!
~ Monica, Round Rock, TX, 8/15/2018
We just got back from a vacation to the Great Barrier Reef that was organized by Skip and everything was amazing! From the flights, the airport transfers, the accommodation and our trip to the reef - everything was perfect. Skip is so easy to work with and returns calls!
I will definitely be using him for all our future trips.
~ Sandi, Austin, TX, 8/7/2018
I first came to know Skip in 2013, when an old friend recommended him after he'd helped plan her destination wedding. I was in dire need of assistance with organizing my honeymoon, so I reached out to Skip and boy did he deliver!! We'd been discussing Costa Rica, so I gave Skip a price range and a few activities we were considering, and he responded with a handful of resorts for us to look at. Within hours after making our final decision, Skip had the resort and our flights booked!! I was so relieved at how easy and painless the process was with Skip's help, and our honeymoon could not have been better!!
Fast forward to 2018, and we have continued to reach out to Skip when we get the travel bug. He has been such a pleasure to work with over the years as he's assisted with our visits to Playa del Carmen and Cancun. It has become a tradition to cheers our first margarita to Skip the Honeymoon Guru!! Each vacation has far exceeded our expectations. Skip is very thorough and considers every aspect included with traveling abroad, many of which I would have overlooked without him. He arranges for transportation from the airport, provides a reputable and trustworthy company to book excursions through, and every resort we have stayed at has been a dream come true!!
With Skip's guidance, we have been able to create priceless memories with an ease I never anticipated. We are so grateful and highly recommend Skip and his services to anyone with any kind of travel needs. I feel his experience and enthusiasm for client satisfaction is unparalleled.
We look forward to farther destinations, many more stamps on our passports, and of course, future cheers to Skip!!
~ Leslie, Austin, TX, 7/12/2018
My wife and I have booked several vacations over the past 10 years with Skip, starting with our honeymoon and most recently with our 10 year anniversary trip. He has always found us great deals and usually an upgrade or two, and we've continued to rely on his recommendations because they've never failed us. In this day and age it's easy to go the "do it yourself" route, but we've always found it worthwhile to book through him, especially because he takes care of everything for us and we know we can trust his suggestions.
I highly recommend contacting Skip for your next vacation/trip!
~ Derrell, Chicago, IL, 6/30/2018
Skip did an incredible job putting our New Zealand vacation package together. He made a plan that fit our budget and our interests. I would highly recommend 'Your getaway Guru' to anyone looking for a travel agent.
Two thumbs up Skip.
~ Angelica, Hutto, TX, 6/25/2018
Skip was a huge help in planning our honeymoon. With the stress of wedding planning, we were hesitant to use a travel agent but hoped that we could find someone who would be able to get us a great deal and Skip definitely accomplished this for us! Our trip to Puerto Vallarta was incredible and the process was very easy.
We will definitely use Skip again in the future and recommend him to anyone considering using a travel agent!
~ Megan, Austin, TX, 5/22/2018
My wife and I wanted to do a bucket list trip to celebrate our birthdays. We decided we wanted to stay in an over-water bungalow and chose Bora Bora as our destination; however, we didn't want the stress in organizing the trip. That is where Skip's expertise came in. We gave Skip our time frame, budget, and interests. Skip was fantastic! Having traveled to French Polynesia many times himself, Skip was extremely knowledgeable, making preparation for the trip that much easier. He provided detailed recommendations, and took care of all the booking that was necessary. Skip was also very responsive to any questions that we had.
It was a pleasure working with him, and we plan on using him again in the future.
~ Justin, Austin, TX 5/18/2018
We've worked with Skip for over four years now and he's helped us plan four vacations in that time span. Every trip he's booked for us (including our honeymoon) was fantastic. I can honestly say we haven't been disappointed with any of the resorts we've visited.
On our very first trip, there was a mixup with an excursion we booked in Mexico and Skip worked to ensure we got our money back. He also made sure we had travel insurance on each trip which was helpful for our honeymoon when we unexpectedly had to change our dates last minute.
We got back a couple weeks ago from our most recent trip to Tulum, Mexico and we really enjoyed our time there; especially the upgrade to the "Privileged" package. The exclusive beach was beautiful and relaxing and all the food was amazing.
Skip, thank you for always being so responsive and addressing our needs when issues arise. You make vacationing easy and carefree... as it should be. It's been a pleasure working with you and we look forward to planning new adventures in the future.
~ Jules, Austin, TX, 5/17/2018
Skip is awesome and easy to work with! He is trust worthy and so reliable, as well as fast to communicate. Excellent!
~ Lindsie, Austin, TX, 4/27/2018
My husband and I met Skip at an open house at our wedding venue in January 2016 while we were still freshly planning our wedding but we instantly knew we wanted to use him to plan our honeymoon. I am so glad we met him because he was so wonderful to work with! He sent us on the most amazing honeymoon to Bora Bora and New Zealand in April/May 2017. It was the trip of a lifetime and he did such a great job planning everything for us.
I HIGHLY recommend using Skip for any vacation you are planning, he will definitely make it memorable!
~ Bailey, Austin, TX, 1/29/2018
