Flight Search Tips & Travel Deals

Many people want to travel, but in today's time, you want to find the most affordable way to see the world! I am here to help you with traveling and getting the best deal for your money!!

• The best way to fly is to be flexible with travel dates, then you can get a pretty sweet deal. If you really want to save money fly out on Tuesday or Wednesday. I like to think of it as this way. Monday's are for the working class and Thurs-Sun are the weekenders. We want to be vacationers. If you can stay during the week that is a better time. So you will not have to pay for more expensive prices for rooms on the weekends.
• Big City Flights are Cheaper, I will fly PDX Rather than EUG because I can get a better deal. For one person 100.00 the 3 1/2 hour drive, might not matter but for 4 people 400.00 matters. If you are willing to drive to the nearest big city you can save a lot on a family vacation.
• When you combine flights and hotels with a package, it is a better way to plan. Sometimes you can get up to 100-200 dollars off of your package for booking flights and hotels together and free upgrades. For a family, booking six months ahead is a cheaper way to plan.
• If you have children in school its hard because you have to go when children get out of school, but if you travel during the week. Travel the first week they get out of school or the last week before school starts before Labor Day weekend, you might get a better deal.
• Don't fly during spring break they hike prices up enormously. Unless you are planning to go in a big group rate deal or some hotel has a spring break special.
• Traveling in a group can save your money, a group of four is optimum. Four people that can share double or queen beds. My sisters & Mom traveled that way to Hawaii and we only paid 650.00 per person, we stayed in a very nice hotel only steps to the beach. If you are willing to share a bed with old sis, it might be worth saving the extra 200.00 bucks to go on a snorkeling adventure or Luau.
• Some travel agencies give you free accommodations for groups of ten.
• For cruises think about flying, or driving to the closest big city, then take a last minute cruise. You will want to search for up to 90 days prior to your departure date, because most people can cancel their cruise reservation up to that time without penalties.

• Groupon.com is a easy way to catch some great deals. I have booked a lot of my local vacations through groupon
• Kayak.com is a great site to compare flight prices.
• Tripadvisor.com a great site to explore before you go too.
• Priceline.com sometimes you can get a good deal with priceline
• Expedia.com is my favorite for package deals
• Triptuner.com is a site to look for places according to activities you want to do.
• Skypicker.com you can pick flights according to your buget.
• Staydu.com is essentially a site, for people who want to get close to farm life/work and stay for cheap.
• Trivago.com is a new travel search site

• Book a group trip of 10 or more and get your free flight. With select companies

Times of day to travel can make your flight very affordable early morning flights are cheaper than midday. Direct Flights can affect a flight price too, it might be cheaper to have more connecting flights. Be sure to give yourself an hour in between connections, as sometimes planes are late and you have no time to get to the next terminal. Sometimes the "Milk Run" will get you there cheaper. I usually travel at 6am and I only like to do two stops max, I just can't handle the ups and downs as much anymore. When traveling with little ones it is best to just have one connection max.

Travel with just a carry on bag, preferably a backpack. I can really walk faster in airports with just my backpack to catch the connecting flight. Also you save time and money without having to check your bags and wait in a long line for checked baggage. Sad story but true, only to find out later, they lost your bags. Carry on is great for one week trips and remember you are saving 50.00 for baggage fees, so you can buy a few t-shirts while you are there!! You can also send your purchases by mail to your home address while you are on vacation, so you do not have to haul it all back with you.