Category Archives: Travel

How To Find Cheap Airfare Deals

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Let’s face it, prices on air travel have increased dramatically. Use these ten simple tips and save a lot of money.

Learn how to search out the best airfare deals. It’s certainly worth a few hours of your time to save anywhere from 20% to 85% off “retail” prices.

1. Subscribe to several of the e-newsletters that track airfare specials. You just might have some dream airfare deal pop right into your email. At the least, you’ll get a feel for what a great price is for your destination.

Here are a couple of links to get you started. There are many other excellent newsletters online.

bt-store.com
sidestep.com/

2. Book your reservation well in advance. Start looking a month in advance, if possible. This ensures you’ll be ready to book three weeks ahead, for automatic discounts.

3. Be flexible in choosing your flight days. If you’re traveling for pleasure, it’s likely you can choose your vacation days to suit yourself. Tuesday and Thursday usually offer the best airfare deals (with the exception of holidays). Wednesday and Saturday are your next best choices. Nonstop flights are more expensive than connecting flights, but making the connection can be a giant hassle.

4. Use “outside-the-box” strategies. Instead of going to each of the big travel sites, such as Expedia, Orbitz and so on, try some of the travel search engines, which check not only travel sites, but airlines’ sites as well. Here’s a sampling.

Sidestep.com can be searched online or you can download their free software which searches a wealth of travel sites, agencies and consolidators, providing easy to compare results. Travel guides to   domestic and international destinations are posted on their site.

Cfares.com is known for terrific international airfare deals. For a reasonably-priced yearly membership fee, you can access their outrageously cheap airfare deals.

Affordabletravel.org is a membership site ($39 per year) where you’ll find free, yes free, courier airfare deals, and savings of up to 85% on tourist international flights.

Site59.com specializes in last-minute getaways. You can book just hours before flight time and save.

5. Research travel chat rooms, where you may find some good advice and tips from other travelers who’ve been to where you’re going.

6. If you’re a senior or a student, see if your airline offers discounts on this basis. Several do.

7. If you’re traveling domestically and within your region of the country, check the smaller regional airlines, often much less expensive than the major air carriers.

8. Check auction sites. You may find a bargain to your destination.

9. If you’re traveling from the U.S. to Europe, a daytime departure often yields the better airfare deal.

10.If your destination is a major city, check prices to smaller nearby cities for substantial savings. For example, if your destination is Washington, D.C., check fares to Baltimore (about 39 miles away).

These ten easy tips and a few hours of your time will save you a bundle!

 

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How To Find The Current Money Exchange Rates

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When going on vacation to a distant country, you have to worry about how you are going to carry your money, and you also have to learn about money exchange rates. The currency in each country is remarkable different from your own, and this fluctuates on a daily basis.

Even though Canadian currency is found in the United States quite often, many people will not accept it. This is because the value of a Canadian quarter is not the same as the value of an American quarter.

When traveling, you have a few options. You can almost always find a place at the airport to exchange your currency for that of the country you are entering. Due to the fluctuations in money exchange rates, the amount you got for five hundred US dollars the year before may not match what you are offered today.

You can get a general idea by searching the web for money exchange rates, and you can find a calculator to help you convert your currency into another one, but this will only give you the rate at that particular moment.

Quite often, when you exchange your money for another currency at a bank or airport, you will be charged a fee for the service. Many people skip this fee by using credit and debit cards when overseas. The only problem with this is that you may not find an automatic teller machine that will accept your card. Before you leave, talk with your bank about your trip, and they should be able to find out if you can find ATMs in your point of destination or not.

Another consideration when using another currency on vacation is the huge difference in value. Yen and pounds are vastly different than the US dollar, and it may be very easy for you to become confused. Add the constant flux of money exchange rates, and you double your confusion. Pay attention to the value of the money you are receiving as it relates to your own currency, so you have a general idea of what things should cost, and when you are being ripped off.

Even making purchases online can be tricky. If you are ordering merchandise from another country, you will have to worry about money exchange rates. This is important if you are using an international money order. In this case, you must figure out the exchange rate before you buy, and hope it hasn’t fluctuated too much before the payment arrives. Many people will not accept international money orders for this reason, and also because there may be a huge fee involved for them when they cash it in.

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