Stuart Rothenberg

Stuart Rothenberg, President
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As Travelong's new President, Stu takes over most of the daily affairs of the travel agency. During his past 12 years, Stu was the owner of one of New Jersey's largest travel agencies.During his time as President, he helped to grow the agency from a small local agency with a 4 person staff to a regional corporate agency with over 50 travel consultants.

Joining Travelong, Stu is charged to help develop Travelong's image as the premiere luxury travel company in New Jersey.Additionally, beginning January, 2007, Stu has been appointed as the only Accredited Space Agent (ASA) in New Jersey able to sell Space Travel on Virgic Galactic's SpaceShips.

A proud alumnus of Penn State University, Stu is an active Maplewood resident, married to Talya where together they are busy raising four children.

But when I heard that Stuart Rothenberg, owner of Travelong in Summit, had become the state's sole accredited space agent for Virgin Galactic, I knew I'd better start asking about press rates.

I talked to Fair Lawn native Rothenberg, who now lives in Maplewood, right after he'd returned from Kennedy Space Center near Orlando, Fla., where he had received training in the fine
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Rothenberg was back but hadn't exactly come down from the experience, which he said gave the 45 chosen agents just a taste of the ultimate getaways they would be selling.

"I was 9 years old when the Apollo mission went to the Moon," he said."I grew up in Fair Lawn, in a house where my parents had posters on the walls with space quotes, like 'A man's reach should exceed his grasp (else what's a heaven for?)' [a Robert Browning poem that was adopted by NASA], and 'One small step for man ...' "

Rothenberg sees Virgin Galactic as another small step to something huge.When he heard VG had tapped Virtuoso, an international network of luxury travel specialists, as the exclusive sellers of its trips, he decided to leave his corporate travel business and buy Travelong, a longtime member of Virtuoso.
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"They impressed on us that they [Virgin] are the operators, not the builders," Rothenberg said.
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The space ride itself is about two hours, Rothenberg said.
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"It could also be a spiritual reason," Rothenberg added.Many in his group of 45 space agents in training had tears in their eyes when they saw the Earth's horizon from miles away."I was impressed, there was more of a connection to Earth."

Rothenberg expects interest to heat up when the first trips start, probably in 2008 or 2009.

"We've sold a lot of exotic trips, experiential rather than just destinations," Rothenberg said."People will have a lot of questions -- similar to when people started going to Africa years ago."

As a veteran travel agent, "you know what information you need to provide," Rothenberg said.
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Signing up: Check out virgingalactic.com, or call Stuart Rothenberg at Travelong in Summit at 908-277-2700, www.travelong.com.A $25,000 deposit is required.

Stuart Rothenberg has been sending people all over the world to exotic places, but now he is offering trips that will literally send you out of this world.This premier travel consultant is among an elite group of 45 Accredited Space Agents in the United States who can book you on a trip into Outer Space.In fact, Stuart is the only travel agent in New Jersey accredited to reserve seats aboard Virgin Galactic's suborbital space flights. Stuart's Summit-based agency, Travelong is part of Virtuoso, a travel agency network whose consultants are renowned for selling experiential travel.Virgin Galactic named Virtuoso as their exclusive retail travel group for North America.The two organizations worked together to pick the consultants for this unique program. "As a Virtuoso consultant, Stuart Rothenberg embodies the adventurous and entrepreneurial spirit needed to represent Virgin Galactic," said Carol Wincer, Head of Astronaut Sales for Virgin Galactic.
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"Stuart brings a passion for space travel combined with his talent for providing unique experiences to his clients.These qualities make Stuart is an ideal choice for this new level of travel."As part of this select group of consultants, Rothenberg will go through a rigorous education and training program to complete his space agent accreditation.First flights will launch in late 2008. Contact: Stuart Rothenberg, president of Travelong, to book your trip into Space at (908) 277-2700 x 25.
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New Jersey Travel Agent Stuart Rothenberg
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(January 26, 2007) - Stuart Rothenberg recently became president of Travelong, the oldest travel agency in New Jersey.As part of his new partnership with Walter Long, Stuart will be managing the day-to-day operations of the Summit-based agency, which has always been on the forefront of selling and marketing luxury and experiential travel opportunities.
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Rothenberg was recently appointed as one of the exclusive Accredited Space Agents (ASAs) for Richard Branson's new Company Virgin Galactic, which offers flights into Space for travelers.
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Stuart is the only travel agent in New Jersey who can offer Virgin Galactic's highly unique space travel experience. "Travelong has always sold travel as a life experience, and with the recent appointment by Virgin Galactic, Stu and the entire Travelong team continues to be at the forefront of selling and marketing experiential travel opportunities.
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Prior to joining Travelong, Stuart was president of Travel Strategies International (TSI).In June 2000, Stuart formed TSI by combining several long-standing New Jersey travel agencies into one operation.He also forged relationships with two New York agencies, Journeycorp and Tzell Travel.Together, the travel agencies became the largest travel group in the tri-state area. The Travel Strategies International operation grew from four travel agents to 50 employees.For eight years, Stuart managed the company's growth from $4 million into a $40 million operation. In 2006, Stuart took over the day-to-day management of Travelong.He believes that the luxury travel prospects are ripe."Many people have begun to realize that the Internet is not the be-all, end-all," he says."It certainly helps to do your own research and planning, but people don't want to get stuck in a pre-packaged trip with the masses." "Luxury travel means having incredible life travel experiences, whether it is a family retreat in Tahiti, a weekend getaway to Paris or taking a trip into Space."Rothenberg notes, "Individuals need help finding the right destination and getting informative and personal services." Travelong is one of the original members of Virtuoso, the leading consortium of luxury travel agencies in the United States.Virgin Galactic chose the Virtuoso consortium as its exclusive sales group to sell flights into Space with Virgin Galactic, and through a formal application and interview process, Stuart Rothenberg was appointed one of 45 U.S. based luxury travel agents selected by Virgin Galactic to become a Space Agent. For more information on luxury travel experiences or to book a Virgin Galactic Space adventure call Stuart Rothenberg at Travelong: (908) 277-2700 x25