Where to look for Travel bargains…

Want to save money for that summer trip? Use the Internet to find your travel bargains. Check out more than one travel site. Each site usually maintains slightly different inventories. Some great sites to check out are:
http://www.expedia.com/, http://www.orbitz.com/ , http://www.travelocity.com/ - These are the most well known. A couple of other places that scour many other sites including consolidators and discounters are: http://www.bookingbuddy.com/ , http://www.sidestep.com/ and www.tripmania.com . These sites should give you the lowest prices available. If your traveling dates are flexible you might want to check out http://www.hotwire.com/ , http://www.lastminutedealfinder.com/ , http://www.lastminutetravel.com/ , http://www.site59.com/ . One of my favorite travel sites is http://www.smartertravel.com/ . Two years ago we got a deal from Houston to West Palm Beach for $ 99.00 each round trip. Four of us traveled to Florida to see the Grandparents right before the start of school. It was a great trip. The way Smarter Travel works is: You go to their webpage and sign up for the weekly Last Minute Travel news letter. Type in the city you live in and they will send you a newsletter every Wednesday for last minute travel on the coming weekend. You have until Friday at midnight to book your travel. You will fly on Saturday and come home either Monday or Tuesday. It’s as simple as that. A new site that I found just a few days ago is http://www.skyauction.com/ . They have trips up for auction and you bid for your travel with other bidders. Check it out.

Most of the major sites will also offer discount rates for car rentals and hotels. A few sites to check out here are: http://www.hotels.com/ , http://www.lodging.com/ ,and http://www.roomsearch.com/ . If you have an Entertainment book you can also look for great hotel deals there.

Want to take a cruise? Look for discounts at: http://www.vacationstogo.com

Want to know what to do when you get there? Check out http://www.citysearch.com/ for information about the city you are traveling to. They have info on tickets and events, and where to eat out. Need dinner reservations, check out http://www.opentable.com/ for info on 3,000 restaurants across the country.

Check out http://www.travel.yahoo.com/ for travel guides for everything you need to know about your travel. For other travel guides, go to: http://www.frommers.com/ , http://www.foders.com/ , http://www.tripadvisor.com/
After your trip is booked, you may want to check out a few other sites.
If you plan to travel abroad, check out: http://www.travel.state.gov/ for information on visas, travel advisories and what to do incase of an emergency in a foreign land. If you visit http://www.currencysource.com/ it lets you purchase foreign currency with your credit card so that you have local bills in hand when you land at an unfamiliar destination. Finally, visit http://www.weather.com/ for a 10-day forecast so you know what to wear.
Some of these website have come from an article in the Parade magazine and others I know from personal experience. Use these sites to keep your travel within your budget and have a good time.
I'm adding another site: www.travelzoo.com/top20
If any of you know of any other sites, please list them in the comment section so that we can all save on our travel.