The Best Websites On The Internet For Travel Planning
By Zeke Quezada
Travel planning can be stressful and it can be time consuming, isn’t that why travel agents were created? The internet and Smartphone apps are supposed to make everything easier but is it safe to say that things get more complicated with all of the resources at our disposal?
Take a look at a few of these travel website resources to help you narrow down your travel planning and help you focus on a vacation. Once you get the airfare and hotel out of the way you can focus on the food, wine and fun that is why you went on vacation in the first place.
Travel Planning Made Easy
Scott’s Cheap Flights
https://scottscheapflights.com/
This service finds great deals for you in the airline industry. You’ll get an email with what they have found and all you have to do is follow a link to the right source. They offer a subscription service as well with even deeper discounts on flights. Their website has the details on how to sign up for their travel alerts.
Google Flights
https://www.google.com/flights/
Most people know about using Google to help find flights and flight prices but this second link helps you narrow down your search and find available routes and options while being much more specific about destinations and dates. Use Google.com/flights to research routes by clicking on “explore destinations” and you’ll discover places you never thought you knew you wanted to go to. http://matrix.itasoftware.com/#search:research=
Airfare Watchdog
https://www.airfarewatchdog.com/
If you have a flight in mind punch in the dates and the route and this travel website will keep an eye out for you. If prices drop you will receive an email with an alert. There are deals on hotels and flights on this page as well as featured cities.
The Flight Deal
https://www.theflightdeal.com/
This site seeks outthe best travel deals on the web and then gives you an option to book the through their affiliate partners. They also offer some travel tips and itinerary ideas. You might be able to score upgrade and luxury travel ideas on this site as well.
VRBO
This website allows you to rent a vacation home from an owner or an agency and usually gives you more flexibility when looking for specific accommodations. If you need a full kitchen they can find it for you. If you need 4 bedrooms, you’ll find it on VRBO. VRBO is an acronym for Vacation Rental By Owner however, there are quite a few rental agencies on this site now. That should give you some confidence when you know you can find an actual office to call if you have questions.
Kayak.com / Expedia.com/ Trip Advisor
These online inat make packaging trip an ease. They do collect fares and packaged prices from various sources on the web and put them in one place. They do not always have the best price for single products such as just airfare or just a hotel room but when combined with rental cars and attractions their prices are very competitive.
FlightAware
This website and App gives you real time in formation flights as well as historical in formation on routes and airlines. If you need to know the fastest way to get to a destination and want to see if that flight is usually on time this works. If you just want to track a flight to make sure someone is getting to a destination it works well as that type of tool as well.
The Apps
Hopper
This app allows you to book flights as well as get an idea of what the pricing is today , tom orrow or in the future. It gives you advice on the best time to buy and helps you save money on purchasing the flight you need for your vacation.
Hotel Tonight
Need a room tonight. This App find rooms that are currently available for same day arrival and gets you a good deal from the hotel’s actual inventory.
Skyscanner
One stop travel shopping is made easy with Skyscanner as it gives you a multitude of options for hotels, flights and car rentals around the world. The search engine is quick and can sort your results in enough different ways to get you close to what you want. This app finds prices on other sites and apps so you will leave to make an actual booking. It is an aggregator so there is always a good chance that you will find a better price elsewhere but you might not find the number of options on other apps.
HostelWorld
This app makes booking very convenient if you are looking for low priced, cheap accommodations. The app gives you options that range from hostels to campsites to apartments. The reviews are adequate and the booking engine is a click away.
Download the app at Hostelworld.com https://www.hostelworld.com/mobile-app
