NILES — Michelle Boyd has been to many places around the world.

She has vacationed on cruise lines. She has traveled on European rivers. She has even been to Cuba.

However, her next adventure will be in Niles. During the week of July 8, Boyd hopes to move her business, Signal Travel & Tours, Inc., from 219 E. Main St. in downtown Niles to 2540 S. 11th St.

Like Boyd, this will not be the Signal Travel headquarters’ first time on the move. From its creation in the 1969, it has moved three times. Ahead of its anniversary on its 50th, it will move once more.

“We’re just anxious to move,” Boyd said.

Signal Travels’ office, two floors of it, is partly boxed-up and partly being renovated as the travel service’s staff works. The office’s second floor is being renovated to accommodate SLR Pilates, a fitness studio a few blocks down whose own current space will become the fitness center Trap House 24.

Boyd said she does not intend to temporarily close Signal Travel for the move. Its communications systems will hopefully be set up overnight so the staff can transition from one office to the other smoothly.

Signal Travel’s S. 11th Street location is not new to Boyd.

“The property belonged to my parents,” she said. “My dad had his business there from the late 1950s to when he retired in 1988. It’s been a rental property since.”

A fire destroyed the last building on the property, so Signal Travels’ new headquarters has been built from scratch.

Boyd said her current office was too big for the in-house staff she had. She said that the expansion of internet and wireless networks allowed some travel agents who wanted to work from home to do so.

The internet has made an impact on the travel industry in other ways, too, but Boyd said her company has adapted to the changing times while sticking to its core beliefs: the power of human connection, networking and knowledge.

“What we are finding is that everybody thought the internet was going to be the answer to all,” she said, “but what people realize now is that the younger generation, more than any generation, is understanding the value of their time and how important it is to have a travel professional involved in their travel. Not only does it save them time, they will get a better value.”

While the internet can provide general answers to travel inquiries, a travel agent can help in the moment when unexpected situations arise, Boyd said.

“We all have hiccups in travel plans, one time or another, but if you have somebody to go back and fight for you, that is what you need,” she said.

Boyd said agents can also get lower prices on things like tickets and tours because of the connections the service touts, and agents can use their traveling and travel industry knowledge to help travelers work out the best plan.

“You don’t want to go on vacation and work twice as hard at being on vacation as you did at home,” she said. “You want to be able to enjoy the destination. … You go to look at the whole picture, and that’s what we help people with.”

Whether a prospective customer enters the office with specific travel goals or none at all, whether a foreign restaurant reservation is booked or a bus tour scheduled, Boyd said there is no cost. The business collects a commission from the travel businesses it connects its customers with. Only plane tickets have a fee.

Signal Travels will celebrate its move and its Oct. 1 anniversary with a Greater Niles Chamber of Commerce reception in early October, Boyd said.

In the meantime, she said she encourages everyone to travel abroad, regardless of the budget they can afford.

“It broadens your perspective,” she said. “It makes you realize that there are a lot more people in this world that have not only our interests at heart, but their interests.”