I've been looking around at all my favourite discount travel sites lately. Not for myself, but for any friend who asks. I'm happy to do this. I'm certainly not a travel agent, but I have had a pretty wide variety of travel experiences and adventures in the last 10 years.
We have managed to tote our kids to Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Florida, Minnesota, North Dakota, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, The Turks & Caicos, The Bahamas and Hawaii. We've travelled by passenger train, car, plane and cruise ship.
We've gone hiking, skiing, swimming, surfing, shopping, to amusement parks and more. It's felt a little crazy at times, but it's been good. I have no regrets at all.
My hubby and I also do the classic couples' getaway to Vegas every now and again. Personally, I love Vegas. I'd go anytime. I think one of the things I like so much about Vegas is the nightlife. It's the opposite of my hometown. My hometown exists, Monday to Friday, from 9AM -9PM. After that, the place shuts down and seems like a sleepy hollow. So, to have concerts and plays and people out enjoying life after dark seems exciting. I like the change of pace.
But I'm not ready or able to plan another family vacation. Not yet anyway. As I stated last week, I seem to have lost my spark. Though, I am genuinely ok with researching on behalf of friends.
There are lots of amazing bargains out there right now. 5* golf vacations to california for about $700 including taxes, hotel and airfare. Cheap jaunts to Cuba at under $1000. Luxury caribbean cruises around $800 (Airfare extra). Lots of bargains to Florida & Arizona. Vegas is always cheap in the first part of December & the last part of January.
I priced out one golf vacation during the 3rd week of January at $800. The identical trip in late February is sitting around $1700. So yeah, that's what I consider a bargain. 5* trip, at 3* price. But truly, it's about getting the type of vacation that works for your family, at a time that's convenient, at a price you can afford. I would caution to never ever take a vacation that the only thing that interests you is the price. If you go somewhere you hate, it's truly no bargain.
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Travel sites I like:
www.itravel2000.com
www.redtag.ca
www.yqrdeals.ca www.yegdeals.ca www.ywgdeals.ca (Deals specific to your local airport)
www.aircanadavacations.com (Check out their last minute specials.)
Both Redtag and Itravel2000 will chart the vacations days before and after your selected date and show you a grid of the varied prices. This is an amazing feature, as sometimes a day can make a $500 difference, and you'd never know unless you see this comparison. Each site also searches all the package providers for you. It will show you if Westjet has a better price than Air Canada on the nearly identical vacation.
The craziest thing I ever brought home was a garden gnome. I was on a sports trip to Florida and fell in love with the goofy little statue in the window. I had to have him. After all, that trip was booked with Travelocity.ca And like they say, you should "never gnome alone." After I bought it, I took the little statue out of his box and shoved him into my backpack. It was the only item I carried on that trip. So, when I got to security, my gnome got the attention of the security screeners. It looked like a little person stuffed inside my backpack. Ok, not at all like a real person, but he did garner enough attention to get re-run through the scanner and pointed out for other security guards. They pointed and snickered, as did I.
