AG Trips corporate office is located in Spring Valley, Illinois, a wonderful farming community nestled in the heart of the Illinois Valley.
We are an innovative, progressive and experienced agriculture travel company. In addition to having an office in the United States, we also have offices in Europe, Asia and Canada.
Jim West, who is founder and CEO of the company, brings over eighteen years of experience in the travel industry. All of our agents at AG Trips are seasoned travel planners who are genuinely interested in seeing that your trip is the best it can possibly be.
OUR PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY is "plan each and every agriculture trip as if we were planning it for ourselves and our own families. Look for the best value, best price and exhaust every possibility before we arrive at the final vacation package."
JIM WEST
Personal cruise expert and event planner!
With over 1400 cruises logged in his nautical diary, Jim West is without doubt, one of today’s leaders in cruise planning. He has worked as a professional cruise director for over ten years, and has sailed on the ships of Princess Cruises, Celebrity Cruises and Orient Lines.
Jim has written four cruise - travel books, including the best seller, “The Essential Little Cruise Book,” now in its fourth edition. He is also a contributing author in “Chicken Soup for the Traveler’s Soul,” with his story entitled, “Dancing with Isabel.”
Jim has explored all seven continents, including Antarctica with Sir Edmund Hillary. When West wrote his first cruise book, containing over 750 practical cruising tips, Hillary commented on its contents, “A very practical book with sound information for everyone, from people planning their first cruise adventure to hardened travel agents.”
In 2004, the Travel Channel tapped into Jim’s cruise expertise and starred him in their television show, “Cruise Ships FAQ,” which still shows in reruns. On the show, Jim provided dozens of ways people can enhance their cruise, based on the knowledge he has aquired.
As the founder and CEO of Travel Alliance, Inc., Jim West has created an unmatched travel company, which operates unique niche markets such as-Sew Many Places for quilters, ScrapMap for scrapbookers, Catholic Trips for Catholic pilgrimages, On Holy Waters for protestants, Bank Trips for banks who offer a travel program, Are We Hair Yet for hair stylists and salon owners, Tuscany Cooking Tours for people who travel to Italy, CME Trips for continuing medical education, Busy As a Bead for people who do beading, Away To Crochet for knitters and Travel West for independent travel planning. With ten more companies being developed, West’s entrepreneurship is unsurpassed in the travel industry.
Endorsed not only by the greatest explorer of our time, but Jim has also been featured in hundreds of magazines and newspapers around the world, and has starred on numerous radio and television shows across the country, including the BBC in London. Jim is sought out by many large corporations to plan events at sea, from small groups of fifty people to chartering an entire ship with thousands of participants.
What makes Jim West stand out above the rest of the cruise agents in the market today, is his onboard experience. Very few travel agents, if any, can boast a ten year career working on cruise ships. So if anything should occur that would create any problems during a cruise event, Jim’s knowledge of where to go and who to talk to make his participation invaluable.
