So, if I were jetting off to say, Anguilla, for a weekend jaunt, it'd be a different story?

''If it's a simple point-to-point airline reservation, yes, do it yourself,'' Elliott says. ``But if you want something special, see an expert. I mean, would you bake your own wedding cake?''

Even Baltic Holidays' Heidi chided me on my lack of savvy: ''Unfortunately, the outcome is that you can either go on the trip and leave everything as is,'' she wrote after my desperate e-missive telling her I couldn't afford to go. ``Or you can cancel, but you would only get 100 [pounds] back. If you'd had holiday insurance, you could reclaim the rest.''

Heidi, for her part, was just doing her job. She wasn't out to rook me.

''Tour operators are protecting themselves with their policies. They're buying air, hotel and cruises at volume discounts and reselling them to you, so there's some risk involved,'' says Elliott.

''The best way to protect yourself is with an airtight travel insurance policy.'' Right, got that. Thanks.

MAKING THE BEST OF IT

So how was my vacation? On a ranking of A to F, I'd give it a solid C. The hotels were decent, but hardly first class; the tour guide had a serious Lithuanian accent that was often hard to decipher, and the bus rides, as expected, were endless. But I admit, I had a negative attitude going in, feeling a tad hoodwinked, not to mention perilously broke.

Even so, I made the best of it, saw some terrific sights and made some friends. I look back at my pictures with no regrets.

The trip was in August 2006. I made my last payment on my credit card in May, so it is officially behind me. I love to travel, so there's always a next time. Live and learn.

One last lesson: Never make a transaction online for anything when you've had less than six hours' sleep.

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