Planning a trip can be a drag!It's very time consuming and takes a lot of energy all in hopes of getting a good deal. Who has time for that!??
Well... NOW you do! I thought I would take the time to share a few of my AWESOME FAVs that I use to prepare for my travels. Of course, I use waaay more websites and apps than I list, but I narrowed it down so you can take advantage of some good deals too. Just using these FAVs have made my search much easier and allowed me more time to plan other adventures. Hopefully they will become useful to you for your travels.
FAV Site- Toss-up
I mean what can’t Google do? Google flights is hand down the easiest way to begin the search. This simple search engine is very intuitive and seems to carry a lot of the normal deals. Plug in your information and view the months to see when the best time to fly is. It even provides the airlines with the best rate and in just of a click you are off to the site to purchase.
Once I narrow it down I hop on other sites like Airfarewatchdog. Airfarewatchdog is a constant updated site that gives you deals from every place you can imagine. It breaks downs deals for domestic and international giving you plenty of opportunity to save a few coins. The only thing about this site is that the deals you find are for more upcoming trips. I don’t find the site useful if I’m planning further out in advance past 3 months, but with the notification feature, I receive emails of all deals in my given time frame. Once I receive any notification of a deal, I click to make sure it fits my budget and see if I need to change my dates by a day or 2 to get a better deal.
FAV App- Hopper
Due to lack of space on my phone (well... I had a few water incidents with the other iPhones so this is my punishment), space on my phone is limited. The only travel app I have on my phone is the Hopper app. I live by this app because of the Notification feature. Whatever future trip I have planned, I set it up, and have the app watch the flight for the best time to buy. It notifies me if the price drops and tells me if I should buy or keep waiting. Takes the load off and saves time so I don’t have to keep looking. The price prediction feature lets you know not only when to buy, but when to expect an increase or decrease. They even provide an estimated amount it’s expected to rise and how much you would save if you you’d change your date or airport.
I recently used this app to notify me of a cheap flight to Cabo for Thanksgiving. One Saturday it popped up the flight dropped to $230 and it was the best time to buy. Seeing that the app didn’t think the price would drop any lower, I decided to go on the app to book.
FAV Email Marketing- secretflying.com
I signed up for many flight deal sites for notifications of the top deals. Out of all of them, I tend to purchase more from this flight deal email. There are many out there like this one, but I have remained faithful to this site for one reason only. The deals have always worked. Fair and simple. Oh, and the pictures of the advertised flights might help with the persuasion.
I recently received the email with a great deal for Amsterdam. With the emailed deal I got a Roundtrip deal from Newark to Amsterdam for $360!! That’s really cheap considering I’m leaving on a Friday.
FAV Hotel Site- Booking.com
I tend to toggle a lot between Travel Advisor and Booking.com, but I always seem to go to Booking.com first. I like this site not only because it's easy to use and offers great prices, I like it for the 'Pay later' and 'Free Cancellation' options. With these options, I am able to book multiple hotels to reserve the rates as I work on my budget and tweak my itinerary. Also, the site is very user-friendly and offers extra discounts after booking 5 hotels. They even offer hostel, rental properties, and more. I use Trip Advisor site more so for the reviews and to see if any other site is offering the hotel cheaper than Booking.com. Sometimes, even if they are a little cheaper, after you add up the fees and having to get use to a new site, I find myself right back on Booking.com.
Hope me sharing a few of my FAVs become a good source for you. Until next time!
Happy Travels, XOXO