Angela Jones’ Inspiring Journey to Empower Travelers: Angela Jones Troi-Co Travels

Angela Jones Troi-Co Travels: World travelers share a genuine interest in understanding and appreciating diversity. They are often open-minded, adaptable, and willing to step outside their comfort zones. Ultimately, they embrace the rewards that come with travel.

Travel Agent Angela Jones fits that mold perfectly. Now, she wants others to experience the thrill of going here, there, and everywhere.

Angela has always loved to travel abroad. In fact, she has visited many destinations in the Caribbean Islands, like Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Aruba, Curacao, and Honduras. Angela has been on 31 cruises, her mom Irma Smith has taken 27, and her god-sister Belinda Washington has enjoyed 24. And those counts are still climbing. For all these trips, she personally planned and executed every detail herself.

A New Direction After a Life-Changing Diagnosis

Life, however, threw a curveball. Angela’s demanding job as a registered nurse for 23 years clashed with a December 2021 diagnosis of stage 4 bone and liver cancer. She quickly realized she couldn’t do both, so something had to give. Consequently, her nursing career came to an end.

By October 2022, the cancer was much better. To mark the occasion, Angela organized a celebration cruise for a large group of her friends and family. She planned and booked everything, including bus transportation, hotel accommodations, and the Caribbean destination, along with all other necessary details.

The cruise also featured an uplifting tribute to her ongoing cancer journey. Angela wore a hot pink t-shirt that said, “I am the fighter.” Meanwhile, the other 91 cruise-goers wore t-shirts that read, “Her fight is our fight.”

“I did that cruise for 92 people and not being a travel agent,” says Angela, 58. “People would ask me, ‘Can you do that for me, plan my cruise?’ Yes, I said, but not for free.” This is when she decided to become a travel agent.

With years of experience planning group cruises and her nursing job no longer in the picture, it was the perfect time to launch her travel business. She named it TROI-CO TRAVELS after her two adult children: her daughter Troi and her son Courtney, who is called “CO.”

Full-Service Planning for Every Occasion

Angela is a full-service, certified travel agent. She plans vacations as well as individual and group cruises, whether for family reunions, weddings, birthdays, or just-needed getaways.

“I have partnered with a great transportation company that will take care of your group, large or small, for ground transportation and hotel accommodations for the night before you sail,” Angela says. “Airport pickup to your hotel, then next morning transportation to the cruise port.”

“After your cruise, transportation will be outside for a ride to the airport. City tours and excursions are also available for late flights home or group activities on arrival day,” she continues. “Let me show you how to make a great vacation affordable for your family. Payment options and payment plans are available, too.”

For example, Angela is offering an extremely affordable St. Louis Family and Friends “It’s A Party on the Ship” cruise from July 8-12 to Princess Cay and Nassau, Bahamas. Prices are subject to change until a deposit is made.

Angela’s Top Tips for Cruisers

Angela offers a few helpful tips for cruising:

• The further in advance you book a cruise package, the better the price. In fact, you can book cruises as far out as two years.
• Even if you have a special rate code or loyalty rewards card, you can still get the same benefits using a travel agent. Angela prefers the title “personal vacation planner.”
• Deposits are as low as $50 per person.

“Don’t wait until the last minute,” she adds.

A Journey Marked by Resilience

Angela’s first cruise was in 1999, the same year she graduated from nursing school with an associate degree. That trip began a yearly excursion on the seas that she organized for her family. Later, in 2011, she earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree.

A few years later, the unthinkable happened—breast cancer entered her life. Doctors diagnosed her with stage 1 cancer in 2015, but she continued to work as an RN for six more years. The cancer advanced to stage 4 in 2021 after it spread to her bones and liver. Now, she travels back and forth to the Chicago area for treatment at Cancer Treatment Centers of America, which is now City of Hope. Her treatment includes oral chemotherapy twice a day and a daily anti-hormonal medication. She must take these medications every day for the rest of her life to prevent the cancer from spreading. For this reason, she makes the roundtrip to Chicago every three months.

The cancer greatly challenged her emotionally, especially because of a seeming family history of the disease. Her sister, Wanda Renae, received a stage 4 bone and kidney cancer diagnosis in January 2018 and died just six months later, in July 2018. She was 54 years old.

“In six to eight months, I assumed I was going to die as well,” Angela says. “But my faith in God and belief in His healing powers has kept me here for two years.”

Adding to the personal trauma, her son Courtney, now 35, was shot in the head 10 years ago as part of a triple shooting. The incident left him paralyzed on the right side of his body. The bullet entered the left side of his brain, leaving him unable to talk. Although he is nonverbal, she is her son’s caregiver, and the two communicate well through text messaging. The other two victims tragically died in the shooting.

“I don’t refer to my son as handicapped but as handi-capable,” she warmly says.

The Adventure Continues

Life goes on, and so does the traveling. Angela is packing her bags for an eye-opening 31-day transpacific trip departing March 27 on Carnival Cruise Lines from Brisbane, Australia. The adventure will take her to Guam; the Japanese cities of Naha, Okinawa, Hiroshima, and Tokyo; and then to Anchorage, Cruise Hubbard Glacier, Juneau, and Ketchikan in Alaska. Finally, she will end it all in Seattle, Washington on May 1, her 59th birthday.

If her cancer journey hadn’t happened, would she be in the travel business? “I’ll still be traveling but not as a travel agent,” she says. “I would be too busy working as a nurse.”

Angela will return to St. Louis on May 3 and will be available to assist with any new bookings, reservations, or questions. Please feel free to leave a message, and she will return calls when she returns.

For more information about TROI-CO TRAVELS or to book a cruise, call Angela Jones at 314-448-6521 or visit https://www.evotravelagent.com/troico.

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