Smart Spending

Save Money By Planning Christmas Travel Now

As fall picks up speed people are beginning to prepare for the winter season.  A huge part of that season is preparing for Christmas travel.  While there are a lot of people that stay home for the holidays, there are a great number that decide to travel.  They pack up and head across the country or around the world to spend the time with people they love.  Unfortunately, when travel picks up, so do the costs of that travel.  You can save money by planning your trip well in advance.

Everyone knows that waiting until the last minute to buy your airline ticket is the most expensive way to do it.  If you know that you will be traveling, the best time to purchase airline tickets is when you first make the travel plans.  Very rarely do ticket prices go down in price, and even if they do, some websites will refund the difference in price.  If you do notice that the price for your ticket goes down after you buy it, you can call the airline and request a refund for the difference.  In order to find the best deals I like to use Kayak.com.  This site will search many other airfare sites and sort them for you.  But there are airlines, such as Allegiant, that save money by not being listed on sites like Orbitz or Travelocity.  In order to check with them you will need to visit their site directly.

If you are saving money by driving instead of flying, there are ways to save even more money.  For those longer trips you will need to get a room at a hotel.  You can use a travel planning site, like Orbitz or Travelocity, or you can call the hotel directly.  Simply asking for an early booking discount can land you some good deals.  The catch is you usually have to pay in full at the time of making the reservation.  If your travel plans are set, this shouldn’t be a problem.

When taking a long road trip those hours of sitting in the car are enough to drive most people mad.  The best way to alleviate stress and irritation is to have a well mapped out route.  Schedule your stops, find restaurants in advance, and have everything planned.  That way you will waste as little time as possible, you will have your research done on the best places to eat, and your itinerary will help to keep you on track to arrive in the shortest amount of time possible.

The bottom line is to have everything planned and organized well in advance.  Knowing what is coming up, and having as much paid for in advance will not only help you save money, it will also help keep stress levels to a minimum.  When stress is down you not only will enjoy your trip more, but you will also make fewer impulse purchases.   Last minute planning causes us to forget necessary items.  Buying them on the road can be expensive.  Being unorganized can lead to buying things on a whim just to get the trip back moving.  Book your trip now, plan your vacation in advance, and you can save quite a bit on your next Christmas travel.

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