July 27th, 2008 
Vijaianand This year seems to be an expensive vacationing year for me inspite of price increases all over the board. First Mexico cruise, second Chicago Road Trip and now 5 day trip to LA&LV. I guess, I am one of those country men who is really helping the economy by spending as our President wished.
What can I say? Sometimes things just happen in auto pilot mode and we don’t have any control over it. Fortunately, my short term savings funds is really came in handy to bail me out. I am not here to talk about Short Term savings plans at this time.
I also don’t want to bore with you all with detail trip report like usual. I decided to give a shorter version by listing some important tips and tricks for getaway planning.
A month ago, we went to multi-city vacation from Houston to LA – LV – Grand Canyon. This one was a planned to entertain my in-laws who came long way from India for couple of months. I booked the tickets way in advance(3 months ago) before the oil prices started sky-rocketing pushing the air ticket price way high. Thats were advance planning always helps out.
Here is my list of pointers which will surely makes some money sense for your vacation plans.
1. Multi-City Vacation Planning
Many of you know that planning a mulati-city getaway is a tricky one. There is a great deal of complexity on booking air tickets and car rentals. I still tried (only orbitz.com has this functionality)starting the vacation from (LA) one place and leaving another (LV). It not only costed little more and didn’t really work out. So I dropped that plan and started out to do the usual way of starting and ending at same place and rented the car to travel to places.
I need to pick the right starting point comparing the mileages and days spent in each place. I started at LA (2days), gone to LV(2 days) and travelled to Grand canyon from there for a day to LV and then back to LA to board the flight. I picked LA starting point because I got a better air ticket deal compared to Las vegas. You need to figure out which is a best way to do it in your case.
** – Plan your multi-city vacation by taking the air ticket deals and mileage into account. Be flexible to change your plans.
2. Use Credit Card Points As I mentioned, I booked the tickets way in advance before the airlines started charging for baggages and increase fuel surcharges. I got cool deal of $284 round trip. I also combined my free ticket which I bought using my credit card score points savings my ticket charges ($300). Thats always a good thing.
Many of my friends travel a lot for their projects. I always envyed them for racking up their sky miles which gives out free air tickets all the time. But I was able to do with my DCU visa card only after 5-6 years accumulating points to get to 40,000 to buy a free roundtrip ticket.
My price, $823.50 for 4 people including a free infant on lap and free ticket using credit card points.
**- Do check your credit card points if you are not a frequent flyer. Use them and save money during tough times. Don’t just use points to buy unwanted/small things and try to store up for big items.
3. Look out for Hotel deals
Once you booked your air tickets, next big item in the list is to book lodging. Try to check out for package deals or cheap week days prices. Most of time, if you book 3 days together you will be able to save good money. Also I use to save money by staying away from the hot spots. Now with high gas price you really need to compare how much you are saving by staying away and how much gas expense.
Also you will find good cheaper Studio Rooms during the weekends and may be during week days. You might not get free continental breakfast but you can eat better breakfast from the money you save on deals.
The best website, I would recommend is Hotels.com It is far better than other sites with lot more deals, cheaper compared to Orbitz, hotwire or Priceline. It also has got lot more options to compare and check reviews before you make your decision.
My price $110 for 2 days for 4 people in LA, $135 for 3 days for 4 people in LV – average $250/5 days for 4 people.
** Do check different website for deals, compare the rates&reviews before making the decision. Don’t just book if you see cheaper hotels, they might not be really good.
I will continue the rest of my tips and tricks in my next blog, until then have a great week!!
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