Money-Saving Travel Tips

I love to travel, but I hate the ever-escalating prices. Worse yet, the fees!

Fortunately, there are ways to save money this summer if you’ve decided not to “staycation” this year. If you’re flying, schedule your time off when others are working. According to Rick Seaney of FareCompare.com, cheaper times to travel are early spring and late summer. Also, pick a weekday to fly. Most people want to fly on Saturday or Sunday and fares reflect that demand. If you fly into and out of major airports – the big cities with the most competition among carriers – you are more likely to bring down the price.

My husband and I are planning a trip to Europe in late summer. We purchased tickets six weeks ago and have watched as fares have risen since then. I feel lucky, but the reality is that the fares could just as easily come down later this summer as the airlines try to fill empty seats. It’s always a crapshoot when to book your summer vacation, but one way to game the system is to use websites like Kayak.com that will give you advice on whether they believe, based on their data, fares will go up in the next week.

If you are flying domestically, the good news is this: Travelocity reports that prices are down for Memorial Day weekend. The average price of a domestic ticket is $341, down $6 from last year.

Not everybody will fly to their summer vacation destination. Some of us will drive. One app that can help you with that is 'Waze,' which gives you free GPS navigation turn by turn – plus, it tells you where you’ll encounter traffic backups and even speeding traps! It relies on community participation, so you may find the bigger cities have the most robust reporting of traffic issues.

Getting away is essential and getting a good price on your days away is not that hard