For more than 30 years, Jim Strong has helped travelers secure the choicest rooms, best upgrades and plushest airplane seats as president of Strong Travel Services.
Now, in partnership with writers Greg Edwards and Andy Sandberg, Strong is putting his travel knowledge to new use as the producer of the play “Craving for Travel,” now showing at the Peter J. Sharp Theater near Times Square.
Performed by just two hyper-talented actors — as a pair of hyper-connected travel agents — the show features some 30 characters ingeniously connected to the agents themselves. Over the comedy’s span, the agents try to outsmart each other for professional glory while navigating an industry increasingly faced with Internet-era obsolescence.
Two years in the making, “Craving for Travel” is a comedy with a heart. Here, producer Strong shares his thoughts on a world he knows so well.
In the age of the Internet, travel agents are still relevant and necessary because the sheer vastness of the online world tends to overwhelm consumers. Folks want to work with someone who can explain all that data and highlight their options.
I travel frequently to a lot of great places but one of the most fantastic trips I took was to Fiji where I stayed on the private island Laucala, which was once owned by Malcolm Forbes. Today, it’s owned by the man behind Red Bull and Laucala has the most beautifully executed service.
For my most adventurous clients, I am now suggesting they consider space! Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic suborbital plane is in the final stages of preparation and it will be the next frontier of travel.
Only an agent can make sure you’re getting the best value for your buck, the best experience for your time and make sure you’re treated as wonderfully as possible. People might want to travel without an agent, but you must remember — you cannot VIP yourself.
I love cities and I especially love seeing theater in cities. For me, however, I think that London’s West End is really fantastic. The venues are full of history, the talent is top notch and they attract a truly remarkable roster of productions.
People may say they’re “over” boutique hotels, but I still find them to be quite chic. They tend to offer a little something for everyone and serve as a stage for people to enjoy themselves when traveling. I particularly enjoyed the SLS Hotel in Miami recently.
I’ve been to a lot of hotels in my life and I tend to enjoy traditional, classic properties over newer ones. Older hotels just feel more authentic to me and better suit the destination. It’s hard to name one all-time favorite, but I do love the Peninsula Beverly Hills, the Connaught in London, and the Villa Gallici in Aix-en-Provence in France.
The place I still dream of visiting is New Zealand. I’ve made three different plans to go there, and each one was cancelled for some reason. I’m not a big “Lord of the Rings” fan, but the scenery portrayed in that movie makes me feel like I cannot wait to get there.
The one thing I am so over in the travel process is massive, long immigration lines. They’re unpleasant and inefficient and it makes no sense to invite people to visit your country and then make them spend hours waiting to get in.