Travel

Discount travel sites

There are many discount internet travel sites out there.  Some offer basic flights and transportation arrangements, while others offer package deals.  Cheaptickets, Travelocity, Expedia, Orbitz, Hotwire, Smarter Living and TheTrip all offer users the ability to search for and find the lowest airfares, car rentals and also offer some other vacation package ideas.  Priceline allows users to name their airline ticket price and see if a supplier will bite.  However, with Priceline, once you submit your bid, you can't change your mind.  This experimental site ITA allows for a detailed search for low cost airfare but is not part of a larger travel site.

The following sites provide some good package deals online: Go-Today, OffPeakTraveler.com, Gate1 Travel, Friendly Planet, and Site 59. 

Airlines

I list the airline homepages alphabetically.  Aer Lingus, Air Canada, Air France (and US page), Alaska, Alitalia, America West, American, British Airways, Continental, Delta, Frontier, Icelandair, Northwest, Southwest, Swissair, United, US Air, and Vanguard.

Trains, Buses and Rental Cars

Information about rail travel is available from Amtrak (for USA), VIA Rail (for Canada), Britrail or Britain On Track (for Britain), and Eurail or Europrail International (for Europe).

For bus travel, visit the Greyhound (for the USA) or Greyhound Canada sites.

An excellent central linking site to regional transit systems is American Public Transportation Association.

There are many rental car companies out there.  Some of the bigger ones are Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Hertz and National.  I have found that the best prices depend on where you are renting and the company.  One company is not necessarily the cheapest overall, but may be consistently least expensive in any given area.

Maps and Routing Help

Using these services can show you the best route to take between your starting point and destination and show you the distance and time it will take.  For North America you can use these sites: Delorme Earthamaps, MapBlast, Expedia, and MapQuest.  For Europe, you can use Euroshell's route planner.  An excellent collection of international country and city maps can be found at About's World Atlas.

Currency Exchange

There are many quick currency exchange calculators to give you an idea as to what the exchange rates are.  Some such sites include Yahoo, TheTrip, X-Rates and Oanda's FX Converter. 

Travel Information

There are several general travel information sites, including the following travel book publishers that have web sites: Dorling Kinderlsy, Lonely Planet, Frommer's Budget Travel, Fodors, and Let's Go.  I have found all of the above travel guides helpful at time.

For very general world information, the CIA World Factbook, updated annually, is an excellent source.  Dorling Kindersly's World Desk Reference provides similar information.

Following is a quick listing of the official tourist information sites of some of my favorite destinations.  For Britain and Ireland, the official tourist sites are Visit Britain, Visit Scotland, the Northern Ireland Tourist Board site, and the Irish Tourist Board site.

Accommodations

This is a very sketchy list of some budget accommodations and directories of inns, B & B's and the like.  

The International Youth Hostel Federation is the international umbrella group for the national hostelling organizations.  Links to the national hostel home pages can be found at the IYHF's worldwide hostels directory.

There are many sites on the internet that can link you to B & B's or small inns.  They include BedandBreakfast.com, Inns.com, and InnAccess (for California).