Some of the most defining moments in life don’t happen at home. They happen somewhere unfamiliar — on a beach at sunset, in a cobblestone town square, on a ship at sea surrounded by the people you love most.
For travel agent Amy Hawley, owner of Gem Travel, investing in travel is the greatest gift for family and friends. She understands the transformative power of experiencing a new destination or unfamiliar activity with kindred spirits.
“As a kid, I never got to travel because we just didn’t have a lot of money,” Amy explains. “So my first trip was in college and I just absolutely fell in love.”
In a world where families are stretched thin by work, sports schedules and screens, travel has become less of a luxury and more of an intentional reset. Studies consistently show that anticipating a trip boosts happiness long before departure and shared new experiences strengthen family bonds. Additionally, memories from meaningful travel are recalled for decades, far longer than most material purchases are remembered.
Unlike things that depreciate, travel appreciates in memory.
Amy’s first trip to Mexico set the stage to discover the world one trip at a time. With a history of working in hotels, she found the sweet spot with Gem Travel. Familiar with many different hotels and their nuances, she discovered a love of finding the perfect vacation for people who want to invest in time together.
When planning trips for families, Amy factors in the family’s wishes and budget to explore a range of ideas to make the vacation’s investment worth it. One essential item is finding a place that suits everyone.
“From a family perspective, it’s finding the right hotel that’s going to meet the needs of every age child and the parents' needs,” Amy explains.
Multi-generational trips are on the rise, and experiences that cater to every age — from toddlers to grandparents — have become especially meaningful. Cruise experiences, for example, allow families to be together while still giving teens independence and adults space to unwind.
As Amy works to better understand a family’s wants and needs, it’s time to start making the trip a reality.
Behind every seamless itinerary is careful planning that aligns destinations, seasonality and budget to create an experience that feels effortless for the traveler.
Using Amy’s services is ideal, especially when you need advice about specific locations at certain times of the year.
“I have clients ask, ‘Where’s the best place to go in October?’” she says. “There are so many good ones, but it’s definitely the Caribbean. You don’t want to go to Costa Rica or Alaska because it’s the rainy season.”
Another benefit of using Gem Travel is the hours of research that go into finding the perfect vacation fit. Amy has more access to platforms where she can find deals and put packages together that make a vacation truly memorable. Booking things like airlines, hotels, adventures, transfers and more is Gem Travel’s specialty, taking the stress out of planning and bringing a sense of security when things go haywire.
“We have much fewer restrictions on cancellations and things like that,” Amy explains. “We have more flexibility being a travel agent with deposits and things like that than if you were just to go with a hotel, where you have to pay everything upfront.”
Amy recently traveled to Puerto Rico with her family, and can’t say enough about the island.
“It feels very international, and it’s not,” Amy says. “So you really get to taste a little bit of everything, which is what’s so great about it. There are so many great vendors and excursions that we used out there, and the beaches were just out of this world incredible.”
First-hand experience is also what makes Amy’s planning so special. She states, “That’s the other piece of it, too. I want to go and experience these things myself so that I can say yes, absolutely use this person or excursion.”
A common theme in her travel planning lately is families and significant others wanting to invest quality time together on a magical trip.
“I have this one family right now who has five kids,” she says. “They haven’t been on vacation since they had their youngest, who are twins. She couldn’t find a hotel that would allow the family to stay together in one location.” With Amy’s guidance and after years of postponing vacations while raising twins, the family finally found a place where everyone could stay under one roof — turning “maybe someday” into booked flights and packed bags.
Amy’s favorite thing is seeing a family’s investment in a vacation make such an impact.
“I planned a surprise Disney cruise for a grandmother who brought her entire family,” she says. “It took a lot of time planning, but seeing their surprised faces in the video just made all of it worth it.” When revealing the surprise cruise, the video captured more than shock — it captured legacy in the making.
As families increasingly prioritize experiences over possessions, travel has become one of the most intentional investments they can make, not just in a destination, but in connection, perspective and time that cannot be reclaimed.
Amy’s favorite thing is seeing a family’s investment in a vacation make such an impact.