I'm the kind of person who will spend an hour looking for Promo codes online in order to get free shipping for a clearance-priced bra I'm buying on Victoriassecret.com. Why? Because I'm cheap. But you can reap the benefits at what I've been practicing for the past 10 years in the following paragraphs. On any given day, you'll find me searching travel websites, specifically my favorite, sidestep.com. I am obsessed with that site. It searches all of the other travel search engines, like orbitz.com and individual airline sites (including Jet Blue). The only time I go to orbitz directly is if my dates are really flexible-it's the best place to find out which weekend is the best one of the month to visit.
Just today I bought a ticket to Florida for $150 instead of $600 by flying to Philadelphia on the way home. It's mildly inconvenient, but the difference is half my rent.
One more search engine of note is letsgopets.com, which I recommend if the stress of smuggling your dog past the front desk in a tote bag gets to be too much. (I once tried to sneak a rescued greyhound into the bedroom of my apartment without attracting the notice of my roommate. If the barking doesn't get you, the skeetering will.) Kimpton Boutique hotels make a big fuss over dogs and give them little treats. (I recently saw a Golden Retriever living very high on the hog at the Hotel Vintage Plaza in Portland, Ore.) I think W hotels cosset animals, too.
Now, I don't want to sound like a corporate shill, but you really should sign up for all the frequent flyer programs you can. They're free, you get better treatment and sometimes you can bypass lines. Memberships can also help you get discounts and upgrades on things like car rentals. If you're calling an airline and at the end of your conversation they offer to transfer you to a car rental company, you might as well say yes, because you can automatically get 10 to 20 percent off.
When it comes to hotels, I like singular places. I also really love hotels--it's the single most important part of the travel experience, if you ask me. In Salt Lake City, for example, I like the Old Salt City Jail, where every room is a built-out stage set installation--like Egypt, with waterfalls. I stayed in a bed that was also a stage coach, but I wanted to stay in the log cabin, complete with rockers on the front porch. The point is, you can find indie places at sites like inns.com and bedandbreakfast.com.
I've also had pretty good luck googling "boutique hotel" + the location. HotelBook.com is another independent search engine, but their selection often seems pretty thin. The most beautiful hotels I've ever seen are listed at Chicretreats.com.
Once you find your desired hotel, either call the hotel yourself directly or use a travel agent to make the reservation. Travel agents are free, and they can put special notes in your reservation like, "Madame X prefers a high floor, with a view. The best available, please." Hotels are notorious for treating people who book through websites like second class citizens. And you can have the travel agent do the dirty work, if you're too shy to ask if there's anything else you can do to get a better rate.
Happy travels.
--Katy
