Guest Senior Editor PJM, London, England: Sorry to see honest, hard-working people lose business, but we believe bricks and mortar travel agencies may soon have to close up shop.

Over the years, we’ve had experiences with excellent, good, so-so and inept local agencies. With the ever-expanding internet, we now click travel sites on our computer to do most of our comparison shopping.

We’ve been all over the globe, including Italy, France, Belgium, Germany, Russia, Las Vegas, Reno, Mexico, Panama Canal, Hawaii, Alaska, South America, the Caribbean, Canada, USA and many more destinations. Before we decide on any trip, whether for three days or three weeks, we crank up the smartphone. One of our most recent ventures was a family event from London to Florida in the USA. We had enough Virgin credits for free tickets, so the air journey was taken care of.

For booking a Florida hotel, shopping online got us a lower-than-list price. The fact that the hotel was at least 20 miles from any beach and in an industrial town had no effect. We had to pay $250 a night, but fortunately it wasn’t as high as the $450 listing on our room door.

Of course, it’s convenient and pleasant to make travel plans face to face with another human. However, today’s travel pricing is more and more based on hour-by-hour changes and enticements. We’ve found some real bargains, especially for last-minute cruises and off-season, all-inclusive air-hotel packages.

We just recently booked a four-night cruise with our hometown agency, and everything went very well. However, like movie houses, snail mail, honest politicians and daily newspapers, it’s possible that traditional bricks and mortar travel agencies may eventually go the way of the extinct dodo.