About
We are an award winning travel agency in Sterling, IL and Naperville IL. We have over 50 years experience, we can "create a world of possibilities".
My name is Avril Winkle and I am the owner of Destinations Travel Services in Sterling, Illinois. I would like to take this opportunity to tell you about my background in the business of travel. I attended Rupert Stanley College in Belfast, Northern Ireland and studied Travel & Tourism/Business. I have worked in nearly every department within the industry, including teaching Travel and Tourism. I started my early travel career working for Oasis travel in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, who over the years have won many times the much-coveted award of "Travel Agent of the Year." By working for Oasis Travel, I developed and understanding of what real customer service means. After working for many years there, I made the decision of leaving as I needed to further my career and went to work with lunn Poly, which is one of the largest multiple travel agencies throughout the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland. My starting position with Lunn Poly was Shop manager. I further developed my career with Lunn Poly by taking an internal transfer position to the United Kingdom managing a much larger shop. After many years with Lunn Poly, I took another position with Travel Choice, which is another large multiple agency in the United Kingdom. I had 13 staff and also managed the American Express currency exchange department. After several years there, I was offered the position of Regional Training Manager and moved to the East end of London. I held that position until came to Sterling, Illinois in April 2001. After settling here, I worked for Travel Network in Freeport, IL, and eventually found a closer position at Twin City Travel in Sterling, IL. I worked at Twin City for four years and I could see that to best use my experience, knowledge, and the desire to incorporate current technologies, it was time for me to take the next natural step in my career. I wanted to make a difference in the travel industry in this area, and felt the best way to do this was to open my own travel agency. Therefore, in November, 2005, I made my dreams a reality and opened Destinations Travel Services. My continued goal is to bring my experience and your vacation dreams together to create a world of possibilities.
