Monday, November 21, 2011

Three Simple Suggestions to Save Money When Booking Your Next Trip

By Eric Williams


In the past century, it has become much easier to travel. There are roads, planes, boats, trains and other forms of transportation that allow us to get to virtually anywhere our hearts desire. For most people the biggest limiting factor in the amount of travel they can do is money. In this article I'm going to show you different ways to save money on booking travel so you can do more of it.

The first thing that can save you money on your next trip is to get free information online. You can get this free information before you leave on your trip, or while you're travelling by using your smart phone or an internet cafe. I suggest looking up popular attractions and restaurants where you're going on Google then typing in the words "coupon" or "discount" after the name. Many times you'll be able to save a good amount of money at these places by using coupons or by booking a ticket in advance. You might even be able to find some local promotions for free stuff in the area! In some cases, you may find a lot of bad reviews on the attraction and decide to skip visiting it altogether (which saves you time and money)!

Since you now know the spot where you would like to go you need to work out how you'll get there. For flights, I might suggest beginning by doing a flight query on Kayak.com. Once you enter your departure and arrival locations you will see a calendar appear with prices for several days. If you're travel dates are flexible select the ones which are cheapest (and then click "My dates are flexible" to evaluate rates over multiple days). The best flight deals will most likely be near the middle of the week. Then, try a search on Hotwire.com with the dates you wish to fly so if one of the major airlines has unsold seats for those days you might be able to find up to 40% off. If there's no need to fly to your destination, make sure you try a search for bus routes or trains that could take you there. For short trips it is possible to sometimes saves a lot of money by using a bus or train as opposed to flying.

The final part to complete is locating a place to stay. You can start by doing another Kayak search with the dates and destination for the trip. Also, try Hotwire again and find out whether they can offer any big discounts on unsold rooms. Now that you know what a hotel room for the trip will set you back you're ready to take a look at other available choices. Couchsurfing.org is a good option to meet people while you are travelling and you may usually locate a free place to stay so long as you don't mind staying in someone's home (it may be inside a guest room, on the pullout couch, or on an air bed). Take your time to explore the profiles before submitting a couch request, and check for positive references and somebody who has been vouched for to be safe. If you aren't confident couchsurfing, Airbnb is a popular new website which allows you to reserve holiday rentals or private rooms from individuals around the globe. This website connects those who have space to spare with individuals who are searching for a place to stay, and enables you to spend less money over booking expensive hotels.

By simply following these easy steps you could save lots of money booking your holiday. Check out local spots first, find low cost flights or different kinds of transportation, and check out cheap hotels or places it is possible to stay with locals. These tips will definitely save some money and enable you to travel more in the near future .




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