Any Traveling Advice?

Garrett

Garrett

music LOUD
Feb 4, 2008
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Does anybody have any solid information on getting cheap airfare/hotels? Any certain email lists to get on... or certain websites to trust?

I'm itching for a vacation, possibly to the Dallas Tx meetup if that ends up going on, so I'm looking at flights and all that sort of stuff - It's amazing how prices differ so wildly from airport/destination and then from site to site though. Are the typical Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity sites my best bet? ...or are there any must-read blogs for savvy traveling you could recommend?
 


kineticbug said:
Travelling guides? From Cali to Dallas?
I think you're doing it wrong.
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haha you may be right. I usually just go JetBlue within the US, but they dont fly to Texas.

I'm not looking to do a world tour right this second, just 3-4 day excursions maybe once/month. Id rather not pay $500 for a ticket, when I can get the same for $250 ya know?
 
kayak.com performs an aggregate search with several variables. it's as useful for planning US flights as it is for finding a flights within africa and asia.
 
I'm curious to try Priceline for flights. I hadn't used it in years, but yesterday I booked a hotel in Palm Springs. I put in a bid of $129 a night, and got a 4 star resort/spa where rooms are $259 a night during the week. Helluva deal if you ask me and the place looks really nice.

I'm wondering if you can save a ton of cash doing the same thing for plane tickets.
 
Just book early and check back periodically for deals, and you should find a good deal, sometimes you can stay at a 3 star hotel if you can book their suite cheap. I find expedia to have the best interface of all the travel sites, makes it easier to review were you'll actually be staying and what not. Sometimes I grab a 2 1/2 star hotel when I'm in a place that i'll be outside the whole time.
 
go with this guy, he seems legit:
Timetraveler.jpg
 
Medici said:
kayak.com performs an aggregate search with several variables. it's as useful for planning US flights as it is for finding a flights within africa and asia.
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Listen to this guy. Kayak.com is what most world travellers use, and for the most part you won't find better prices.

Also check out allegiantair.com for flights within the US, you can get some amazing deals to a few select cities.

As for hotels, you can check out hotwire.com. Basically the way it works is it enables you to choose the level of luxury of your hotel (ie. how many stars, what kind of facilities, etc..) and the location, but it will not tell you the name of the hotel until after you pay. You can get some RIDICULOUS deals using this site, the only thing is you can be extremely picky with the exact hotel you want, but you are still guaranteed your chosen level of quality.
 
I've got a lot of miles and hotel points under my belt so here's the 411 from a travel pro:

First, hit up Kayak to determine which companies provide services to your destination.
for airlines, find the itinerary you desire then hit up their direct site for purchase (I never actually purchase off of kayak) - since flying is more commodity-based, there really isn't any real deals out there unless you're talking price fluctuations based on time (ie when you book). I have found that some extremely good deals can be had inside the 2-6 day window on many flights due to the panic of airlines afraid they won't sell their seats out (the opposite is true for destinations like Hawaii, etc where you'll get screwed if you wait too long). Booking later also increases the possibility you might get dropped into a First Class seat if they don't have any more coach left to sell and FC is still under sold (never happens on week days though due to high-stroke biz travelers).

For hotels, check Google maps and Hotels.com to determine what's in the radius of your destination then go to Hotwire.com to get price ranges. Once you know what a 3-star will go for in that area (and the fact that you have a pretty good idea what hotel that may very well be) hop over to PriceLine.com and bid a small amount below the Hotwire rate. Since PriceLine and Hotwire pull from the same inventory pool, chances are you could snag yourself a sweet rate.

I've lived on the road for 6 months at a time without going home for more than a day or two using these methods.
 
Cool... thanks for the advice guys. Exactly what I wanted to hear.

I'm also thinking about cruises. Any places you'd recommend going? I'm at the point now where I need to get the fuck away from this biz once/month in order to maintain my sanity.
 
Garrett said:
Cool... thanks for the advice guys. Exactly what I wanted to hear.

I'm also thinking about cruises. Any places you'd recommend going? I'm at the point now where I need to get the fuck away from this biz once/month in order to maintain my sanity.
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Cruises, for the most part, suck ass. I would suggest just going to a beautiful beach in the caribean or mexico and staying at an all inclusive resort. If you want to get really buck wild crazy, check out Hedonism. I hear single guys fair well there, although single gals fair better. :338:
 
Garrett said:
Cool... thanks for the advice guys. Exactly what I wanted to hear.

I'm also thinking about cruises. Any places you'd recommend going? I'm at the point now where I need to get the fuck away from this biz once/month in order to maintain my sanity.
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Galveston.

Fly to Houston and go from there. For the money, you can get a sweet ride on a 7 day-er (Carnival) for cheap. I'm talking Lobster Tail every night for the price of a cheap room. Best way to go for the money. Make sure your trip includes either St Thomas (Megan's Bay FTW) or Grand Cayman (snorkeling w/stingrays).

The best is to go with a group of friends - BEST WEEK EVAR... better than any week I've spent in Vegas
 
LotsOfZeros said:
Galveston.

Fly to Houston and go from there. For the money, you can get a sweet ride on a 7 day-er (Carnival) for cheap. I'm talking Lobster Tail every night for the price of a cheap room. Best way to go for the money. Make sure your trip includes either St Thomas (Megan's Bay FTW) or Grand Cayman (snorkeling w/stingrays).

The best is to go with a group of friends - BEST WEEK EVAR... better than any week I've spent in Vegas
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Ah...Nice tips.......... I would like to follow it..........

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@LotsOfZeros:
I can see why you do take the kayak search -> direct buy route. Also, I've found that orbitz sometimes even offers cheaper rates than the airlines themselves. god knows why.

If you like to go for risky stuff, just book hotels online on the same day of your check-in. I managed to get an executive double room in NYC at some 4* hotel in midtown for $100 a night in november... and even tho the staff were a piece of shit, the room and the hotel itself was awesome.
 
Actually I have found expedia.com to have the cheapest airfares in EU. They find really cool connections which even Kayak can't find sometimes. So personally I use Kayak.com, Expedia.com and my sister (who happens to work for Air France / KLM in a very senior position) :p

For hotels I have found booking.com to be the best one if you are looking for good deals. Another thing which I do is to directly send mail to all the hotels that I can find in the area and ask them for the best price they can give me.
 
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