WHEN Emma Westwood began her apprenticeship in the travel business at the age of 16 at Lunn Poly on Alton High Street, the majority of people wanted a two-week beach holiday in the sun, with Spain the main destination.

Now, as an independent travel expert, running her own business, Emma is sending clients to every corner of the world.

She became her own boss at the age of 23, running her travel business at home while bringing up four children with husband Scott and somehow managed to juggle motherhood and work, but it did mean long hours.

As her business grew along, with the children, she needed a base away from home and in September she opened her first office on Alton’s Market Square.

It means for the first time she can run her business on 9am to 5pm lines – Saturdays only by appointment – giving her more family time and yet able to cope with a much bigger client base.

Being an independent travel expert means she is not affiliated to any other travel, airline or shipping company and can make her own travel choices for customers at the best prices.

However, although she’s an independent agent, both Emma and hers client have the protection of the Travel Network Group based in Woking, who guarantee all her finances, and ATOL, and being on a one-to-one basis with clients means she is available 24 hours a day seven days per week should they need her help, which has proved useful as when she herself was on holiday with the family in Canada a client on holiday in Barcelona rang in the middle of the night asking her to get her a quick flight out of the country, as she was terrified after being a witness to the terrorist attack in the city.

From her desk she is in touch with agencies, airlines, railway and shipping companies throughout the world and can arrange any holiday whether it be a week-long cruise or exploring jungles, mountains, waterways and remote places few have ventured to.

“Often people will choose a holiday destination after consulting the Internet but come to me to arrange it for them as it takes the pressure off of things that can go wrong on-line whereas I am at end of a telephone if there is an emergency.

“People are becoming more adventurous when it comes to travel,” she said.

“For instance, I have just arranged a holiday and worked out an itinerary for a man going to New Zealand for a month and I also do specialist holidays such as for a lady who wanted to go on a tour of all the places Van Gogh had lived and worked in.”

Emma is also careful she don’t book clients in to any places that might be too dangerous to visit such as Tunisia after tourists were killed by terrorists while sunbathing on the beach.

She agrees the world is a more dangerous place since she began her career and airports have turned into a nightmare of security again because of terror threats but, despite all this, she said people still want to travel and have a holiday that offers a bit of adventure”.

Emma said cruising was fast gaining in popularity but added that even with unpredictable weather, Britain is still a favourite holiday destination for many people.