Been there, done that: Starship Travel in South Elgin celebrates 40 years
If there’s a place you’ve been itching to go on vacation, there’s a good chance Linda Schreiber of Starship Travel has been there and done that.
And if not, someone on the staff of her South Elgin business at 323 S. Randall Road probably has. The agency is celebrating 40 years of making travel easier and safer for people in the suburbs.
Who still uses a travel agent?
“Smart people,” Schreiber said. “Our best customers are internet losers. They're getting lost on the internet and they don’t know what to do.”
She said what takes other people hours of research to do, she can do it minutes and it’s usually cheaper. And certain types of travel, like cruises or African safaris or destination weddings for large groups, have components that require the knowledge she and her team have accrued over years of travel.
“Our slogan is we know what we sell because we have been there,” she said.
Schreiber said she’s visited 67 countries (and counting) over the years and probably flown about a million miles, though she’s never bothered to do the math. And after all the years in the business, she still enjoys travel.
“I can't believe it's 40 years,” she said. “I'm trying to figure out how I got here.”
Her career started, appropriately enough, on a trip.
She took a personal vacation to Asia, visiting South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan with a group. Long story short, the owner of their tour provider left a lot to be desired.
“He really screwed it up,” she said. “I ended up taking it over for 19 people. He made so many mistakes on this thing, and I learned from that.”
When she got home she got her travel agents license and worked at a couple of agencies before setting out on her own, opening Starship Travel in Arlington Heights in 1986.
She expanded with a second branch in South Elgin eight years ago. Economic pressures from the pandemic forced her to close the Arlington Heights location after 34 years.
“It was heartbreaking, but I couldn’t afford to keep two offices,” she said. She chose to keep South Elgin because she lives nearby in Gilberts and more and more of her customers were coming from the far West suburbs.
The agency will celebrate 40 years this Sunday with an anniversary travel show from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Elgin Country Club, 2575 Weld Road.
The free event will feature more than 25 vendors and numerous vacation seminars, as well as drawings that include a grand prize of two round-trip airfare tickets.
Schreiber knows there is a mindset that anyone can arrange their own travel.
“People should trust and use travel professionals,” she said. “I can go online and look up how to fill my own teeth, but if I need that I’m gonna go to a dentist.”