Travel Tips I Must Remember to Follow

Kayak.com, Hipmunk, Momondo, Onthefly and Skyscanner are a few sites to begin my search for airfares. Aggregators work efficiently to provide fares on most airlines, then send me to the individual site for purchase. Consolidator CheapOAir sells directly; not many sites carry China Southern but I found a great price for a Taipei-Kathmandu flight. Google for local airlines flying to my destination’s airports as many aggregators do not cover these foreign airlines. I track fares using Airfare Watchdog and Kayak; check Bing for buying advice, and Seat Guru for seating suggestions. When I see the flight, convenience and price I want – book it. Period. I lost a great direct flight to Taipei by puttzing around waiting for something better.

Before I purchase my airfare, I either clear my cookies or use a second browser to check on the airfare. Airlines have been known to track the traveler and charge accordingly. I don’t want to pay more for a ticket because I search on a Mac.

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CREATING YOUR OWN TRAVEL EBOOK

Creating a personal travel guidebook is relatively easy and free. If you research and plan your itinerary, destinations and attractions, then creating an eBook of your research is a way to leave behind all those weighty travel books (or tearing them apart for the few pertinent chapters). There exist online services to do this for you but it is not personal and their information comes from the same web sites you will use. I am creating my project on a Mac but this can be done on Windows using MS Word.

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