When you go away on holiday, the last thing you want to do is think, or concentrate, or have to remember anything other than how to say, 'Make mine a double' in the native language of your destination of choice.

This would explain the appeal of the charter holiday with a tour operator, because it allows you to effectively outsource your brain to someone else.

That's where the holiday rep comes in, the local man or woman on the ground who will point you in all the right directions and basically hold your hand, wipe the spittle from your mouth, and burp you over their knee so that you holiday with the minimum amount of fuss.

Which is all great for the holiday maker, but what about the rep? To get the bottom of that question, I took on the admittedly gruelling task of shadowing a rep in the popular holiday resort of Lake Garda in northern Italy.

I set off on a Topflight charter from Dublin Airport early on a rainy Saturday morning, and touch down in 30-plus degree heat some three hours later. Saturday is the busiest day for the operator because it's when all the charters come out and have to be collected on buses and ferried to their different hotels.

Understandably, this takes time, and any normal person would run screaming for the hills, but the greeting rep, Fabio, is unflappable. Once my bus sets off, he takes to the microphone at the top, easing us in, making jokes, and announcing that he has beer in a cooler if we would like a can. This guy knows his audience.

Sunday is the day that the reps hold introductory meetings at all of the hotels and campsites where their customers are staying. This gives people the chance to find out all the local information, as well as plan day excursions, and generally ask any questions -- or air any complaints -- they might have.

At 8.30am on the Sunday, I take the short boat-ride from my hotel in Limone to Malcesine to meet Laura Watson, a freelance holiday rep, originally from Birmingham, but resident in Lake Garda for two years. Laura has worked as a rep for Topflight and other companies for nearly 13 years, so there isn't much about the job that she doesn't know at this stage.

For one thing, she knows the hours can be very long. "Yesterday, I did a double transfer from the airport," she explains. "So I was up at 5.30am, did the pick-ups at the resorts, got them to the airport, collected the new arrivals, and delivered them to their resorts. I got home at around midnight."

She laughs when I ask her what kind of questions she's asked by tourists. "Everything. I think the most random was, 'What do they do with the sewerage in Venice?' I gave the classic rep response to that one: 'I don't know, but I'll ask so we both know in future'."

Because she works for Topflight, Laura's customers in Lake Garda are predominately Irish. "I'm not just saying this, but the Irish are fabulous to work with," she states. "They very rarely complain. British people complain far more often. I think it's a cultural thing."

The majority of people are a breeze to deal with, but inevitably there are always problems.

"As reps, we do have to deal with hostility sometimes," Laura admits. "People can scream and shout, but there's no point responding that way.

"For instance, lost luggage is always tricky. If it's a woman's bag, forget it; it's the end of the world. The rep needs to console, make queries about insurance, and constantly liaise with the airline to get the bag found."

A lost bag is nothing compared to dealing with accidents and even fatalities on a holiday. "In a previous repping job, I had a death in my group," Laura says. "That's very tough, but there's a lot of support for the rep in head office, and with embassies and consulates.

"Other families had to get home to sick relatives, and I even had domestics where couples or family members had a falling out and didn't want to share accommodation any more. As a rep you could end up being a tour guide, diplomat, counsellor and therapist."

Laura has meetings at six different resorts that day, ranging in size from two people in one hotel, to 20-30 in a large campsite. As we drive to the first hotel, a text message comes through from an Irish family saying: 'Laura, where can we watch the Man Utd vs Birmingham game today, and what time is it on?' Laura laughs, and texts her brother at home in the UK to find out the fixtures.

"I'm asked about bars that show GAA games all the time," she says with a smile. "I'd be lost without Setanta."

Reps are, essentially, on call 24 hours a day. "I've got text messages at 2am from customers asking me for luggage tags," she reveals. "Another time, a man called me because his air conditioner kept beeping.

"Tuesday is normally my day off, so I head to the beach, but bring my rooming lists and departure times with me so I can reply to calls and texts."

The people for the first meeting don't turn up, so we leave a note for them, and move on to the second meet in Garda itself. There are two couples, so Laura takes them through everything from day trip options to explaining the initially impenetrable Italian transport timetables.

One of the women has the most important question of all, however: how to get to a massive shoe outlet store that someone had recommended. Much to the husband's relief, Laura explains that it's simply too inconvenient to reach.

The next few meetings involve dropping off a route planner to a family who are driving to Florence, delivering opera tickets to two ladies who had arrived the week before, and helping a family who wanted to switch to another apartment that didn't involve so many steps.

There's also the urgent matter of explaining to the management of one hotel that a customer isn't entirely happy with the size of the coffee pot she gets with breakfast.

It's lunchtime before we know it, but we eat on the go to keep on schedule. We arrive in the campsite in Peschiera, which houses some 8,000 people. This is the largest meeting of the day, with about 30 people, mainly parents and young kids, turning up.

Laura is joined by her colleague Gianfranco, and it takes nearly two hours, between explaining timetables, giving directions to local attractions, and taking bookings for day trips to Verona and Venice. As Laura explains, it's important to maintain good relationships with all the local hotels and operators.

"That rapport is crucial," she says. "That way, if you need them to help you out, they're more likely to oblige if they know and like you. Your word and reputation is everything."

At last, we make our way to the last meeting of the day: a couple from the North who want to book a day trip. We chat away for about 40 minutes, but all the way through I could see the woman itching to ask Laura a question. Eventually, she nervously pipes up.

"Laura, I don't mean to be rude, and I don't want to offend anyone," she begins. We edge in closer, waiting for the big reveal. "But would I upset anyone if I were to bring down my own teabags with me to the restaurant in the morning?"

Laura stays professional to the end, and soberly replies: "That should be fine."

With that, my day as a rep is drawing to a close so Laura and I wind down with a cocktail by the lake in Malcesine. Suddenly Laura's phone beeps; the rep equivalent of the Bat Signal. As I board my ferry, she heads off in the Rep-mobile. After all, when it comes to queries and problems, tourists never take a holiday.

- Declan Cashin