Travel Like a Rockstar on a BUDGET Part I

One of my splurges in life has always been traveling. Whether it is a trip to a nearby city like Chicago or a trip to Vegas, I like to stretch my money as far as it can go.  With this economy and recession, it pays to do your research ahead of time.  There are few mandatory items that comes to mind when you plan for a trip.

• Flight/Trip Accommodations
• Hotel Accommodations
• Eats
• Things to do

 Remember this saying. THE INTERNET is YOUR BEST FRIEND. OK, so I didn't have to capitalize that whole sentence because I am sure you already know this by now.  There are a few blog/sites that I frequent everyday and mainly, its to look for deals.  One of my favorite sites that I use to check prices of airline tickets is www.kayak.com  (I am no way endorsing or work for this site so please don't hold me accountable :) )  Kayak is a free websites that makes their profits based on clicks.  In Kayak, you can search multiple airlines at once to see the best price available for your travel dates. There are a few pros and some cons to using Kayak.

Pros:

• User Friendly
• Fast
• Easy to modify search options
• No additional booking fees!

Cons:

• Not all airlines participates in Kayak such as Southwest Airlines, Direct Air, Allegiant Air, etc.  

Once I get an idea on the price range, I GO directly to the airline website to book my ticket. I get to play around with the flights and find the time that fits best with my schedule. Many times, the airline website has a better user interface and gives you more flexibility to search for time and dates that fits your time line needs. I tend to look for shortest flights or layovers since I don't want to spend all my vacation time at the airport! The last thing I do before I book that ticket is to look for additional promo code and coupons to apply to it. Often times, Delta, Spirit, and American Airlines may offer some code to make that deal a little sweeter. Again, use google and pray and hope that a coupon is available out there. If you can't find one, at least you tried!

On to the next travel accommodation! I tend to book a rental car on my trips.  Especially when you need some means of getting around visiting the city.  Some vacation spots don't require a rental car. It would be ridiculous to rent a car in NYC unless you are brave enough to battle the crazy drivers there. (Why drive when there is the subway right?)  For car rentals, there are a few sites that I look to before I book the rental car.  For starters, www.carrentals.com is a good place to get an idea what the rates are currently going for.  Majority of my trips, car rentals are booked through www.priceline.com.

Source

Yup, I said it, I use Priceline and bid for my rental cars. Rental cars, in my opinion, are all the same, made by the same manufacturer and are not much different from one rental company to the other.  Moving on, once I determine the price, I visit two other sites to determine what price I should start bidding for.

1. www.biddingfortravel.com
2. www.betterbidding.com

These two forums has real users posting their bidding price and their auction results.  I have use these site many times to get a car rental for my Vegas trips for $11 dollars a day. That's right, a weekend car rental for Vegas would cost me about $45 dollars all inclusive of tax. If you didn't know, a taxi ride in Vegas from your hotel to another hotel could easier cost you $20 - $40 round trip.  Back to the subject at hand, once I get a feel for the starting price of the car rental choice I want to book, I start my bidding at www.priceline.com.  I usually book the economy and compact vehicle and use a price that I feel comfortable with.  If my bid is rejected, I will bump it by $1-2 dollars max.  I may also change the vehicle size on the next bid if I don't want to change my bidding price.  You have three opportunity to bid. If your offer isn't accepted, patience my friend, close your browser and start over the next day.  You could also restart this bid offer if you clear the cache memory in your browser and use a different credit card.  This way, you can increase your price and try the bidding war all over again.

If you were successful in acquiring your airlien tickets and car rental through these suggestions, you are closer to completing your vacation plans! Now pat yourself on the back and wait til the next series of Travel Like a Rockstar on a BUDGET and learn how to get the best price for your hotel accommodation for your trip.