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How To Get The Best Travel Package For
Your Money -

By Dean Packingham,

Finding the right travel package can be a daunting task on the Internet. Often, this can mean going to countless websites trying to hunt for the perfect deal. Here are some of the methods I have been using to find travel deals. I hope you will also find them useful. Let me know if you have any other ideas that you'd like me to share with other Travel Hunters!

The Sunday Newspaper

     OK, I have to admit it - there are usually fantastic travel deals in the Sunday Newspaper. Just be sure to look at the fine print! For example, some cruise prices look terrific, but the fine print might say that Port Charges and Taxes are not included in the rate. The taxes are usually not that expensive of an add-on, but the Port Charges can run around $200. That is quite a bit more, and you may want to investigate if it truly is such a good deal. In general, if the company is reputable, and they have been advertising routinely in the travel section, they are probably OK. This is also true of travel websites.

The Travel Hunters "Top 10"

     We've created the Travel Hunters top 10 lists as a way to find a good travel deal in a relatively short period of time. If you don't like to sit in front of the computer for hours and look for travel deals, then you might find this useful! The websites listed in the "Top 10 Places to Find Travel Packages" list, located to your right, have proven to offer good to great rates on a consistent basis. This is a great place to start. You can find some incredible deals by checking out these sites! To go even further in depth, just go to our resources page and check out some of the sites we've listed there. All of the websites on our resources page routinely report good deals a well. Some of them are more specific than the ones in the top 10, such as those only offering travel to tropical destinations.

Travel Hunters Hot Deals

     Our hot deals section is where we post what we consider to be some of the best deals in effect at the time. We are constantly searching the Internet for travel deals. Our hot deals list is just a small sampling of the deals out there, and if you investigate some of the sites that we've listed on our hot deals page, you will find other wonderful deals as well. If you know of a hot deal that we aren't listing, just let us know, and we'll share it with other Travel Hunters.

Try Airline Vacation Websites

     Many of the major airlines now offer a vacation package website, in combination with their airfare. Some of the better vacation sites include Southwest Airlines Vacations and America West Vacations. The major airlines also offer some good package deals in their special offers or hot deals sections.

Sign up for Hot Deals Newsletters

     If you find a travel website that you like, you might want to sign up for their e-newsletter. I receive all the airline, hotel, and cruise line newsletters, as well as hundreds of independent travel website newsletters. I'm not saying to sign up for all of these - just the ones that pique your interest and apply to you! The good thing about the e-newsletters is that many of them offer rates EXCLUSIVELY for their subscribers.

Go to the Local Tourism Website

     Convention and Visitors Bureau websites are really starting to catch on! Many of them offer outstanding travel packages to their city or country. In the United States, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Bureau website, and the Florida website (from Visit Florida Tourism) offer great deals. If you have a destination in mind, find out if they have a central website for tourism. This not only goes for major tourist destinations in the United States, but for every country on the planet. For example, the Australia.com website offers very inexpensive rates for travel to Australia. Check out the Tourism Offices Worldwide Directory, or the Official Travel Guide.

Flexibility Can Lead to Big Bargains

     Often it is hard to be flexible with vacation times, as you try to match time off with your spouse or significant other, as well as the kids breaks from school. If you are able to be flexible, you can save some serious money.

Last minute bargains

     If you are extremely flexible, you can come up with some amazing deals on last minute travel. There are several last minute websites offering terrific deals on our travel resource page. Some of the main sites are Site59, Moments Notice and Go Today in the US and LastMinute in the UK.

Charters, Charters, Charters!

     There are some terrific charter companies that can offer amazing deals, especially on package deals to major tourist destinations, like Las Vegas and Orlando. Some of the major charter vacation companies include Apple Vacations, Funjet, Transglobal (MSP only) and Worry Free Vacations. One way to find out about the charters is to check your Sunday newspaper or call your travel agent.

Ask for Help on Our Message Board!!

     If you need help finding a good deal to somewhere, why not post your plea for help on our message board! There are many people who use the message boards who would love to help you find a good deal. Just head over to our message boards, and register or login (if you've already registered). Participation on the boards is FREE, just like everything else on Travelhunters.com!

Call Your Travel Agent

     Travel agents can come up with some miraculous travel deals. Check around with a few travel agents to see what they can come up with. You are not obligated to purchase if they work up a price for you, so why not give it a try.

Resources That May Help You

50 tips for Planning an Affordable Trip to Florida from $70 a day - a terrific article from Frommer's. Many of the techniques explained in the article apply to anywhere.

Sixty-five Tips for Planning an Affordable Trip to the Big Apple from $90 a Day - another great article from Frommer's. Again, many of these techniques can be applied elsewhere.

FlaUSA - The official planning website for the state of Florida.

Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Bureau - One of the most important places to check out before you book your Vegas hotel room. Click enter from the main page, then check out the "Great Deals" tab. Great website.

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