Area Travel Agents Busily Booking Warm-Weather Getaways For The Winter-Weary

By Lynne Adkins

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- This winter has a lot of people longing for tropical drinks and sunshine.   In response, travel agents are busy trying to get people out of the cold and the ice.

If you have your passport ready, you can be on your way within hours, says Jeannie Sabaroff (top photo), team leader at Liberty Travel, at 16th and Chestnut Streets in center city Philadelphia.

She says people are more than ready to get away from the shoveling and all this winter weather.

"We're getting tons and tons of calls to go anywhere warm," she said today.  "That's the key phrase I hear: 'anywhere warm.' "

Is money an issue?

"I think so.  For some of the last-minute trips it's definitely a concern, but luckily we have a price-beat guarantee so, for anything online, we can actually beat the price."

The most popular destinations, she says, include the Caribbean, Mexico, and Florida.   Sabaroff says that most customers are booking for the upcoming Presidents' Day weekend.  She advises travel insurance because Punxsutawney Phil is forecasting six more weeks of winter.

In:
• KYW Newsradio 1060
• Delaware Valley
• Lynne Adkins
• Environment
• Philadelphia