There are several tricks to finding a cheap flight. Gain airfare savings by traveling during the week. Tuesday or Wednesday are often the cheapest days for flying. Book a flight between 90 and 21 days before a flight, according to Cosmopolitan, because this is when the airline is looking to fill seats. Use a travel search aggregator such as Kayak (kayak.com) or FareCompare (farecompare.com) to compare flight prices across websites. Then check discount airlines such as Southwest (southwest.com), which are not included in aggregators. Explore airports in your surrounding area to compare prices. Sign up for travel alerts from air carriers and through travel search sites such as Bing (bing.com), which will send alerts when prices drop.
Join hotel discount clubs such as Tablet (tablethotels.com), Jetsetter (jetsetter.com) and Snique Away (sniqueaway.com) to find sales at luxury hotels. Join a hotel chain rewards program to gain savings after frequent stays. Accumulate savings by booking hotels with necessities included, such as breakfast or parking. Stay in a vacation home, rented directly from the owner, which is often available at much lower prices than those for rent by a Realtor, according to Kristin McKee and Chrissy Pate, the authors of "Be Centsable." They also recommend renting vacation club or timeshare points through websites such as Red Week (redweek.com).
There are other opens for cheap or free accommodations. Stay in a hostel, which can offer clean accommodations without frills. Bring a tent and stay at a campsite. Stay with a stranger by couch surfing (couchsurfing.org), a way to find hospitable homes at your travel destination. Apartment swap through websites such as Digsville (digsville.com) or Home Exchange (homeexchange.com).
Join a rewards program to reap the benefits of free travel and discounts. Gain frequent-flier miles from flights and from purchases from airline partners. Join a rental car program to gain benefits from frequent car rentals. Amtrak (amtrak.com) offers a frequent-traveler program for its train riders. There are also rewards programs for restaurants, such as Open Table (opentable.com), Upromise's Dining Rewards Nework (upromise.com) or Rewards Network (rewardsnetwork.com).
Seasoned travel guides can tell tips you'd never learn elsewhere. Rick Steves' (ricksteves.com) resources help European travelers save money on hotels, food and transportation. The Let's Go (letsgo.com) guides tout themselves as "the leader in budget travel." Lonely Planet's (lonelyplanet.com) website hosts more than 300 articles about free things to do in locations around the world. Use budget travel guides to get the most for your money.
Cruise the Internet for vacation specials and deals. New deals pop up daily. Sometimes these deals include airfare, accommodations, meals and tours for a fraction of the price it would cost to arrange them separately. For example, Budget Travel (budgettravel.com) lists vacation deals on its website. Another resource for airfare, transportation, hotel and vacation package deals is Independent Traveler (independenttraveler.com).
Travel hacking is doing Internet research beyond a simple flight price search to find big savings on airfare. It also involves earning frequent-flier miles using unconventional methods. Chris Guillebeau is this trend's spokesperson, and he's published guides to earning travel discounts, Frequent Flyer Master and Travel Ninja, through Unconventional Guides (unconventionalguides.com). He's also behind the Travel Hacking Cartel (travelhacking.org), a membership service that helps travelers find discounts.
During the time commonly known as "shoulder season," usually the months of May or September, resorts may offer lower prices or discounts to attract travelers, according to Cosmopolitan. Research a region's off-season to find the lowest prices when attractions and restaurants are still open. Off-season varies by destination. For example, Disneyland's website (disneyland.disney.go.com) lists specific weeks of expected low crowds, while beach destinations, such as Cancun, Mexico, is in the off-season during summer months.
There are other places to find travel savings and coupons. Kristin McKee and Chrissy Pate recommend buying discount amusement park tickets at wholesale clubs such as Sam's (samsclub.com) or Cosco (costco.com). They also say to find discount tickets to attractions by purchasing a multi-attraction city pass, where available, such as Go City Cards or Explorer Passes (smartdestinations.com). Join an association network, groups of attractions connected by partnerships, to gain free or discounted entry within the network. Find coupons in an entertainment book for your destination.
