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Great Planes Travel celebrates 20 years

Lead Summary
By
Mavis Fodness

Great Planes Travel is celebrating a new location and 20 years of business during a ribbon-cutting this afternoon in Luverne.
Owner Sue VerSteeg moved her travel agency to the former Rock County Eye Clinic location on Freeman Avenue this year, and the event from 1 to 3 p.m. will offer tours of the new location and background on her travel experience.
VerSteeg said many things have changed since the business opened in 1999, but not her dedication to the career she chose after graduating LHS in 1986.
“I love it. I can’t wait to get up and come to work,” she said. “I never know where I am going.”
One moment she could be planning a February cruise and the next she could be answering questions about renewing a passport.
As expected, the area’s snow and cold weather cause the agency’s busiest months. “The winter months are crazy,” she said.
Mexico, the Caribbean, Florida and Arizona are common winter vacation destinations, but in the summer her clients consider Europe or an Alaskan cruise.
Regardless of the destination, VerSteeg’s job is to make sure all the travel to and from the clients’ homes goes without a hitch.
Common hitches include canceled fights or a last-minute change in hotels. “We are always here for our clients,” VerSteeg said.
Because of her interest in travel, many of the clients’ destinations are places VerSteeg and/or her family have visited personally.
“I have a love for adventure,” she admitted. “We’ve been to places many times.”
She travels with her husband, Chad, and children, Chase, Connor and Olivia. But some adventures are solo and only shared with her mother, Becky, (and in the past, her father, the late Dwayne Christensen) after a safe arrival home.
VerSteeg grew interested in travel during high school geography classes in Magnolia and later in Luverne.
After graduation she attended the now defunct McConnell Travel School.
After achieving her licensure as a travel agent, VerSteeg started her career with Ken Hirsch Travel in Sioux Falls, later coming to Round Wind Travel in Luverne.
She opened her own agency in 1999.
Whether it’s the day of the week for best flight availability or the booking at four-star hotels, VerSteeg keeps budgets in mind.
“No matter the client, we try to get the best deal,” she said.
VerSteeg’s agent team includes Kennedy Gonnerman and Crystal Tiesler in the Luverne office with Melissa Voge and Jennifer Wipf working out of their Edgerton and Pipestone homes respectively.
Days in the office are often a whirlwind of travel activity.
“Every day I go home, I think, ‘Where did I go?’” she said. The answer is, “I went ‘everywhere.’”

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