Travel Planning: The Where, What and How
A note: There is much more knowledge to be added to this page in the coming weeks. Please check back for useful info.
Flights:
My definitive go to website for flight bookings is https://matrix.itasoftware.com/.
However, this website has been purchased by Google, and since then, I have seen some shortcomings in it. For that reason, more recently, I have been using https://www.google.ie/flights.
The limitation on ITA Software is that you cannot book from this website. It is merely for research only. However, its search capabilities, across airlines, allows for you to truly find the best deal on airfare if you have some flexibility- in dates, travel length, airport, etc…. Another limitation is that it does not seem to show results for ALL deeply discounted carriers (i.e. Ryanair).
Google Flights, on the contrary, does appear to show all carriers; however, researching in a flexible manner is more difficult. It does though, with some digging, allow you to search for a magnitude of flexible airfare options allowing you to find the best deals. Another plus is that, once you have found the flight combination you desire, it links you to the carrier’s website. However, if you have a multi-carrier ticket, it will NOT link you to a purchasing tool whereby you could purchase that (i.e. kayak.com). It will force you to buy each leg of the journey, from each carrier’s website, separately. My suggestion would be that if you find a multi-carrier ticket that you desire to purchase, take down the details and then navigate to kayak.com or expedia.com manually to book.
Tips for booking airfare:
Cheapest Days to Fly are typically Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
If you can be flexible in your travel plans, when conducting research using the tools above, you will find that significant money can be saved. If you provide finite search options (i.e. you must depart on Monday and back on Friday), you are less likely to realize savings.
Discounts are typically given for staying over a Saturday night.
You will typically encounter less hassle booking directly on a carrier’s website. Booking through a third-party agent or website could cause issues in the event that your ticket needs to be changed or cancelled.
Lastly, I can honestly say, using the tools and tips above. that I have NEVER found a travel agent that could beat the pricing I have found on my own. That is not to throw any shame or negativity in the face of travel agents, but if you are a savvy traveler, and you would like to save some funds, and you don’t mind spending a little time in planning, YOU can plan the trips of which you dream!
Hotels:
I always start with Trip Advisor, because I am a little bit of a hotel snob. I can “rough it” but when doing so, prefer to be backpacking or camping. If I have the fortunate pleasure of staying in a hotel, then I like to do it right. It’s important to note on TA that sometimes the best traveler ranked hotels are not always the most luxurious. This is great because there are top-ranked offerings to suit any monetary level.
I go from top to bottom with the traveler ranked hotels and find the one highest to the top that fits my budget. You can use their “Map View” and this allows you to search rankings and cost while considering location. You can also add “Restaurants” and “Things to Do” to this Map View so that you can search the area around your chosen hotel.
TA also gives you links to purchase through their site, but I only do this as a last resort. I do however pick up any discount code noted on the TA listing because this can typically be used on the hotels site directly. I navigate to the hotel’s website to book directly. There are, in most cases, further discounts for doing this. I also highly recommend Hotels.com, as you can qualify for free nights once you have stayed a minimum amount. I book here sometimes, if it is not a major chain (where you could have a login and be accessing loyalty points). Beware though on these sites (hotels.com, expedia.com, orbitz.com, ebookers.com, etc…), because sometimes the price comes up higher, sometimes lower, sometimes availability varies. It just pays to shop direct vs. these sites because apparently their algorithm can yield some wacky results. I utilize these sites as validation.