TOP TRAVEL WEBSITES
AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET
Transitions Abroad: This travel website provides some of the best information on ways to travel cheaply abroad. It is an excellent resource to begin any search for inexpensive travel information on air fares, car rentals, bus, ferry and rail transportation, as well as cheap hotel rates, volunteering, working and studying abroad, and relevant health and safety issues. The site also provides helpful links to worldwide airport guides, budget airlines which do not show up in most search engine results, as well as offering travel forums, travel blogs, maps and information on immersion travel. This site provides links to information on senior travel, advice for women traveling solo, country info, disability travel, family travel, as well as links to information on Embassies, and obtaining Visa and Work Permits worldwide. See website for details: http://www.transitionsabroad.com/navpages/links/besttransportation.shtml
Expedia: This is a well known and reliable website portal where you can purchase airline tickets, vacation packages, make hotel and car rental reservations, as well as find cruise line travel deals. Using their web tools, you can easily book one way, round trip or multiple city destination trips, and receive discounts for booking your flight, hotel, and car rental as a package. See website for details: http://www.expedia.com/
Travelocity: Another popular and reliable travel search engine which allows you to easily book flights, hotels, cruises, and car rental reservations. The site also offers special discounts on last minute travel packages, and has sister website portals in Europe. One way, round trip, and multi-destination search options are also provided. See website for details: http://www.travelocity.com/
Sidestep: This website is a top notch flight aggregator which compares airfares from over 600 airlines by comparing pricing on over 200 travel websites. By checking a box on the site, you can also search multiple travel sites to obtain hotel price comparisons. The website offers a series of newsletters which provide information so that you can get the best rates on an ongoing basis. There are newsletters for the USA, UK, weekly travel deals, travel alerts, and last minute offers provided by travel companies that need to sell deals quickly. See website for details: http://www.sidestep.com/
Orbitz: A popular travel search engine where you can make reservations for discounted business, leisure, and last minute travel. The site regularly features travel deals for students, cruises, and on last minute travel opportunities. See website for details: http://www.orbitz.com/
Kayak: This site instantly compares prices for cheap airline tickets, hotel rooms, vacations, and car rentals. It searches over 140 travel sites for the best prices. Its aggregating search checks prices for 159,000 hotels worldwide, and new features let you sort listings by location utilizing Google Maps to view pictures. There are also links to special deals on cruises, special events and vacation packages. Kayak provides an email newsletter sign up window as well as giving tips on ways to get the best prices such as using alternate airports, avoiding peak travel seasons, and having flexible travel dates and departure/arrival times. See website for details: http://www.kayak.com/
Farecast: This travel site helps you decide whether you should buy your ticket now or wait until prices come down. The website utilizes historical price data to forecast whether a particular fare is likely to go up or down during the next 7 days. Farecast monitors prices in over 75 cities throughout the USA. See website for details: http://farecast.live.com/?
Lastminutetravel: This site is an excellent source for last minute travel deals. The caveat here is that your travel plans must fit within the date vendors are offering. Trips usually include airfare, hotel and car rentals, however, other options are offered such as trips combining just your flight and car rental or flight and hotel. Discounts offered can be substantial but you may have to click through many offers to find a deal which meets your criteria. See website for details: http://www.lastminutetravel.com/PageDefault.aspx
Seatguru: This website allows you to preview airline seat maps for 73 models of aircraft on almost 40 airlines. The site allows you to access information detailing which seats have the most legroom, which seats to avoid, and where bathrooms and power outlets are located. Color coding makes this site easy to use. See website for details: http://www.seatguru.com/
Chowhound: This site if for people who take serious pleasure in the act of eating. The website features volumes of information on the culture of food around the world as well as tips on local culinary delicacies and customs. Video reviews by food experts are also provided. See website for details: http://chowhound.chow.com/
Priceline: This is a unique travel search engine which allows you to either book regularly or name your own price for travel to get a better deal. Priceline mainly offers the best deals when you combine airfare, hotel and car rental as a package. Also, should you be extremely flexible with your travel dates/times, Priceline affers some hard to beat bargains. For example, recently you could purchased a roundtrip airline ticket from JFK to San Francisco including 2 night hotel stay (2 Stars) for a price of $260 USD including all taxes and fees. Priceline does not charge booking fees, and they offer the option of speaking to a live operator to book your travel package. The primary disadvantage of using Priceline is that should you offer a low ball price for any trip, the site will not allow you to go back and make another attempt, unless you change either your dates or city of departure. See website for details: http://www.priceline.com/
Homeandabroad: This website allows you to plan detailed trips for over 100 destinations. The site covers all travel essentials such as hotels, restaurants, and attractions as well as giving you helpful advice on what to read about your destinations before you take off. Sample itineraries are provided for dream and fantasy trips or you can just browse to see where other travelers have gone. See website for details: http://www.homeandabroad.com/bootStrap.ha
Hotels: This website scours prices to over 80,000 hotels worldwide and does not charge cancellation nor change fees. There are links to special offers, condos, and bed and breakfasts. There are also links to other helpful websites such as CitySearch. See website for details: http://www.hotels.com/
CarRentals: This car rental site handles all the major companies plus lesser known rental brands such as Fox, Payless, SIXT, and U-SAVE. Daily rates start as low as $8.99/day. See website for details: http://www.carrentals.com/
CheapTickets: This website is a major airline consolidator which has expanded its offerings over the years. The site has links for student travel, train travel, and hot travel deals. There is also a travel blog which gives tips on ways to save money with links to flights under $200 USD and vacations packages less than $500 USD. When you scroll down, you can visit links to cheap hotels in many American cities, plus find deals on cruises and inexpensive Caribbean vacation packages. See website for details: http://www.cheaptickets.com/
TripAdvisor: This website presents helpful reviews from a community of over 20,000,000 travelers from over 190 countries. There are reviews for hotels, airlines, car rental companies, cruise lines, etc. Traveler reviews range from glowing to down right awful: “Most enchanting hotel I’ve ever stay at, with an attentive staff which pampered me no end” to “Nasty hotel which the largest roaches and mice infestations I’ve ever seen….Never again”! There is a heavily used travel blog where users can post their photos. TripAdvisor is relied upon by large segments of the business and leisure traveling public. Many travelers make this site one of their first stops to glean information about which hotels to stay in or which are best to avoid. Importantly, reading reviews in a comprehensive fashion for a particular destination can tip you off on whether a hotel is under renovation i.e. lots of unexpected noise, whether your superior balcony view is “obstructed” or faces a wall or garbage dump, and tell you whether the area your hotel is located in is safe, accessible to public transportation or even whether the local taxi drivers regularly attempt to overcharge tourists for cab rides to and from the airport. See website for details: http://www.tripadvisor.com/
Hotwire: This website offers discounted prices for flights, hotels, car rentals, etc. The catch here is that you won’t know the actual name of your airline, hotel or car rental company until after your credit card has been charged. Importantly, once you have paid, you cannot change your dates or travel nor receive any type of refund under any circumstances. Hotwire also offers a low price guarantee. Discounted rates can represent substantial savings – as much as 75% off of official rack rates. There are also helpful links for vacation package and last minute travel deals. See website for details: http://www.hotwire.com/
BookingBuddy: This is a United Kingdom based search engine portal which allows you to search multiple travel portals simultaneously. The site has portal links for well known travel search engines such as Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, Farecast, and Priceline.com as well as portals for lesser known sites such as CheapOaair.com, CheapAir.com, One Travel, cFares and Mobissimo travel search engines. Having access to multiple travel portals is a super time saver since you can easily do price comparisons for hotels, airfares, vacation packages and car rentals. See website for details: http://producttrendsmagazine.com/wordpress/
HostelWorld: This is a site where you can research and book hostel accommodations worldwide. The website has listings for over 17,000 hostels in 168 countries. There is a Route Planner where you can easily map out your trip as well as reviews from over 1,000,000 customers of their hostel stays. HostelWorld also maintains a travel blog, podcasts and has links for budget ski vacations. See website for details: http://www.hostelworld.com/
Justfares: This search engine provides an easy to use slew of travel options: international travel, round the world travel, group travel, adventure travel, business class travel, and circle the Pacific travel. There is a travel blog as well as information on various types of European and British Rail Passes and links to side trip excursions and travel gear. See website for details: http://www.justfares.com/
CruiseCritic: This website has extensive reviews of cruise operators worldwide There are easy to use links for the latest cruise industry news, hot cruise deals, and last minute cruise deals. CruiseCritic also gives sneak previews of brand new cruise ships under construction and has a photo gallery where you can upload photos of your cruise. There are links to river cruises, profiles of ships and recommendations on the best ships to have a wedding. See website for details: http://www.cruisecritic.com/
TOP TRAVEL WEBSITES
AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET
Transitions Abroad: This travel website provides some of the best information on ways to travel cheaply abroad. It is an excellent resource to begin any search for inexpensive travel information on air fares, car rentals, bus, ferry and rail transportation, as well as cheap hotel rates, volunteering, working and studying abroad, and relevant health and safety issues. The site also provides helpful links to worldwide airport guides, budget airlines which do not show up in most search engine results, as well as offering travel forums, travel blogs, maps and information on immersion travel. This site provides links to information on senior travel, advice for women traveling solo, country info, disability travel, family travel, as well as links to information on Embassies, and obtaining Visa and Work Permits worldwide. See website for details: http://www.transitionsabroad.com/navpages/links/besttransportation.shtml
Expedia: This is a well known and reliable website portal where you can purchase airline tickets, vacation packages, make hotel and car rental reservations, as well as find cruise line travel deals. Using their web tools, you can easily book one way, round trip or multiple city destination trips, and receive discounts for booking your flight, hotel, and car rental as a package. See website for details: http://www.expedia.com/
Travelocity: Another popular and reliable travel search engine which allows you to easily book flights, hotels, cruises, and car rental reservations. The site also offers special discounts on last minute travel packages, and has sister website portals in Europe. One way, round trip, and multi-destination search options are also provided. See website for details: http://www.travelocity.com/
Sidestep: This website is a top notch flight aggregator which compares airfares from over 600 airlines by comparing pricing on over 200 travel websites. By checking a box on the site, you can also search multiple travel sites to obtain hotel price comparisons. The website offers a series of newsletters which provide information so that you can get the best rates on an ongoing basis. There are newsletters for the USA, UK, weekly travel deals, travel alerts, and last minute offers provided by travel companies that need to sell deals quickly. See website for details: http://www.sidestep.com/
Orbitz: A popular travel search engine where you can make reservations for discounted business, leisure, and last minute travel. The site regularly features travel deals for students, cruises, and on last minute travel opportunities. See website for details: http://www.orbitz.com/
Kayak: This site instantly compares prices for cheap airline tickets, hotel rooms, vacations, and car rentals. It searches over 140 travel sites for the best prices. Its aggregating search checks prices for 159,000 hotels worldwide, and new features let you sort listings by location utilizing Google Maps to view pictures. There are also links to special deals on cruises, special events and vacation packages. Kayak provides an email newsletter sign up window as well as giving tips on ways to get the best prices such as using alternate airports, avoiding peak travel seasons, and having flexible travel dates and departure/arrival times. See website for details: http://www.kayak.com/
Farecast: This travel site helps you decide whether you should buy your ticket now or wait until prices come down. The website utilizes historical price data to forecast whether a particular fare is likely to go up or down during the next 7 days. Farecast monitors prices in over 75 cities throughout the USA. See website for details: http://farecast.live.com/?
Lastminutetravel: This site is an excellent source for last minute travel deals. The caveat here is that your travel plans must fit within the date vendors are offering. Trips usually include airfare, hotel and car rentals, however, other options are offered such as trips combining just your flight and car rental or flight and hotel. Discounts offered can be substantial but you may have to click through many offers to find a deal which meets your criteria. See website for details: http://www.lastminutetravel.com/PageDefault.aspx
Seatguru: This website allows you to preview airline seat maps for 73 models of aircraft on almost 40 airlines. The site allows you to access information detailing which seats have the most legroom, which seats to avoid, and where bathrooms and power outlets are located. Color coding makes this site easy to use. See website for details: http://www.seatguru.com/
Chowhound: This site if for people who take serious pleasure in the act of eating. The website features volumes of information on the culture of food around the world as well as tips on local culinary delicacies and customs. Video reviews by food experts are also provided. See website for details: http://chowhound.chow.com/
Priceline: This is a unique travel search engine which allows you to either book regularly or name your own price for travel to get a better deal. Priceline mainly offers the best deals when you combine airfare, hotel and car rental as a package. Also, should you be extremely flexible with your travel dates/times, Priceline affers some hard to beat bargains. For example, recently you could purchased a roundtrip airline ticket from JFK to San Francisco including 2 night hotel stay (2 Stars) for a price of $260 USD including all taxes and fees. Priceline does not charge booking fees, and they offer the option of speaking to a live operator to book your travel package. The primary disadvantage of using Priceline is that should you offer a low ball price for any trip, the site will not allow you to go back and make another attempt, unless you change either your dates or city of departure. See website for details: http://www.priceline.com/
Homeandabroad: This website allows you to plan detailed trips for over 100 destinations. The site covers all travel essentials such as hotels, restaurants, and attractions as well as giving you helpful advice on what to read about your destinations before you take off. Sample itineraries are provided for dream and fantasy trips or you can just browse to see where other travelers have gone. See website for details: http://www.homeandabroad.com/bootStrap.ha
Hotels: This website scours prices to over 80,000 hotels worldwide and does not charge cancellation nor change fees. There are links to special offers, condos, and bed and breakfasts. There are also links to other helpful websites such as CitySearch. See website for details: http://www.hotels.com/
CarRentals: This car rental site handles all the major companies plus lesser known rental brands such as Fox, Payless, SIXT, and U-SAVE. Daily rates start as low as $8.99/day. See website for details: http://www.carrentals.com/
CheapTickets: This website is a major airline consolidator which has expanded its offerings over the years. The site has links for student travel, train travel, and hot travel deals. There is also a travel blog which gives tips on ways to save money with links to flights under $200 USD and vacations packages less than $500 USD. When you scroll down, you can visit links to cheap hotels in many American cities, plus find deals on cruises and inexpensive Caribbean vacation packages. See website for details: http://www.cheaptickets.com/
TripAdvisor: This website presents helpful reviews from a community of over 20,000,000 travelers from over 190 countries. There are reviews for hotels, airlines, car rental companies, cruise lines, etc. Traveler reviews range from glowing to down right awful: “Most enchanting hotel I’ve ever stay at, with an attentive staff which pampered me no end” to “Nasty hotel which the largest roaches and mice infestations I’ve ever seen….Never again”! There is a heavily used travel blog where users can post their photos. TripAdvisor is relied upon by large segments of the business and leisure traveling public. Many travelers make this site one of their first stops to glean information about which hotels to stay in or which are best to avoid. Importantly, reading reviews in a comprehensive fashion for a particular destination can tip you off on whether a hotel is under renovation i.e. lots of unexpected noise, whether your superior balcony view is “obstructed” or faces a wall or garbage dump, and tell you whether the area your hotel is located in is safe, accessible to public transportation or even whether the local taxi drivers regularly attempt to overcharge tourists for cab rides to and from the airport. See website for details: http://www.tripadvisor.com/
Hotwire: This website offers discounted prices for flights, hotels, car rentals, etc. The catch here is that you won’t know the actual name of your airline, hotel or car rental company until after your credit card has been charged. Importantly, once you have paid, you cannot change your dates or travel nor receive any type of refund under any circumstances. Hotwire also offers a low price guarantee. Discounted rates can represent substantial savings – as much as 75% off of official rack rates. There are also helpful links for vacation package and last minute travel deals. See website for details: http://www.hotwire.com/
BookingBuddy: This is a United Kingdom based search engine portal which allows you to search multiple travel portals simultaneously. The site has portal links for well known travel search engines such as Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, Farecast, and Priceline.com as well as portals for lesser known sites such as CheapOaair.com, CheapAir.com, One Travel, cFares and Mobissimo travel search engines. Having access to multiple travel portals is a super time saver since you can easily do price comparisons for hotels, airfares, vacation packages and car rentals. See website for details: http://producttrendsmagazine.com/wordpress/
HostelWorld: This is a site where you can research and book hostel accommodations worldwide. The website has listings for over 17,000 hostels in 168 countries. There is a Route Planner where you can easily map out your trip as well as reviews from over 1,000,000 customers of their hostel stays. HostelWorld also maintains a travel blog, podcasts and has links for budget ski vacations. See website for details: http://www.hostelworld.com/
Justfares: This search engine provides an easy to use slew of travel options: international travel, round the world travel, group travel, adventure travel, business class travel, and circle the Pacific travel. There is a travel blog as well as information on various types of European and British Rail Passes and links to side trip excursions and travel gear. See website for details: http://www.justfares.com/
CruiseCritic: This website has extensive reviews of cruise operators worldwide There are easy to use links for the latest cruise industry news, hot cruise deals, and last minute cruise deals. CruiseCritic also gives sneak previews of brand new cruise ships under construction and has a photo gallery where you can upload photos of your cruise. There are links to river cruises, profiles of ships and recommendations on the best ships to have a wedding. See website for details: http://www.cruisecritic.com/