by Linda J. Howe
 
     "It would kill me to drive every day," says the Ellen
     Sitler-Bates about her current seven-month stint in Toronto.
 
          Normally manager of the Waterloo branch of Travel CUTS,
     she's in Toronto to fill in for the regional manager while
     she's on maternity leave.  But she plans to come home on the
     weekends and occasionally in the middle of the week if some
     event is on.
 
          "I've been here for five years and I'm looking forward
     to the challenge," she adds.
 
          Travel CUTS is a travel agency owned by the Canadian
     Federation of Students. It offers special student fares, but
     "we deal with everyone. We're like any regular travel agency
     but we usually deal with budget travellers."
 
          The majority of customers are students, she says, but
     "we have a solid base of non-students that's growing mainly
     through word of mouth.  We know our customers personally."
 
          Because CFS can guarantee a large number of travellers,
     Travel CUTS gets special deals.  At the Waterloo office, two
     staff answer phone calls and three look after the people
     coming to the counter.
 
          Most student fares are more flexible than non-student
     fares, Sitler-Bates says. They can be for three months, six
     months, one year -- or one-way. The return date can be
     changed for a fee of about $50.
 
          Some flexible non-student fares can be arranged, but it
     depends on where people are going, she points out.
 
          "We look for the best deal and explain why it's
     better. . . . We call airlines directly." If an airline
     folds, a disaster that's not unheard-of lately, travellers
     can get their money back through the Ontario Compensation
     Fund but it usually takes six to twelve months.
 
          "We want to hear what people want to do, not what they
     think they can afford. We can help them decide if they still
     can afford (what they want to do) and can make
     recommendations. . . . We are very good at helping people
     out."
 
          Sitler-Bates and other staff members have travelled
     extensively themselves, so they "have a sense of how far it
     is between places and how long it will take to get
     there. . . .
 
          "We do tours, especially to Asia and adventure tours"
     and arrange Canadian wilderness canoeing trips.
 
          Travel CUTS and CFS offer a service called SWAP
     (student work abroad program). SWAP provides students with
     "a no-hassle way to get working holiday visas" to Japan, New
     Zealand, Australia, Germany, the United States and many
     countries in Europe, Sitler-Bates says.
 
          She will help people get enrolled in a Eurocentres
     language program, intensive study of French, Italian,
     Spanish, German or Japanese.
 
          Other services at Travel CUTS include issuing Eurail
     passes, taking passport photos, and selling Via Rail train
     tickets, Lonely Planet Europe guides and Let's Go Europe
     books (at cheaper rates than in stores), hostel books and
     even sleeping bag sheets.
 
          Need an International Student Card? Travel CUTS is the
     place to get it -- free now, while UW students are still
     part of CFS.  It'll cost $15 for a UW undergraduate once the
     UW Federation ends its CFS affiliation.
 
          When Sitler-Bates isn't working, she likes to travel,
     canoe, camp, downhill ski, swim, take photographs, quilt,
     knit, sew, write travel articles, and delve into her own and
     her husband's family trees.  "Except for crafts, most things
     are travel-related," she says.