$1 per day Car Rentals

Just found this superb deal on one-way car rentals.

~ $1 per day car rentals from Thrifty for one-way travel
~ pick up in Seattle, Portland or Boise
~ return to major airports in California, Arizona and Las Vegas
~ rent (pickup and return) between September 21 and October 31
~ more details: http://bit.ly/cOau9X

8 Ways to Get Free Lodging in New York City

Tomorrow I (and many others) begin a month of travel using JetBlue's All-You-Can-Fly pass. One destination I want to visit is New York City. That is convenient, since New York's JFK airport is a JetBlue hub and their HQ.

Some say New York City is the greatest city in the world. I recently saw Travel and Leisure's ratings of the world's top ten cities: New York City was number 10. It was the #1 city in the United States; San Francisco was #2.

I have already planned a couple of day trips to the Big Apple. It is an easy flight to and from my home airport. However, I do not plan to spend a night in the city that never sleeps. I would like to but have not found a place to stay. OK, my budget is very, very tight and I am looking for free or cheap lodging. Here is my process. Perhaps it will help others:

1. Have a friend living in the city

I will start with the obvious. Knowing someone in New York City or even close would be ideal. I do not. Strike one.

2. Have a friend of a friend in the city

I even put out a feeler on Facebook and LinkedIn for a friend or a friend of a friend. I must know someone or know someone that knows someone there. OK, I can certainly try harder but I have not. Strike two (let's call it a check swing).

3. Anonymous "friends"

There are places to find people with a spare bed, couch or floor space for a night. I have not tried couchsurfing.com, servas, craigslist (shiver) or others. There must be dozens or hundreds. Again, I could spend some time trying to find a place or a host. Do I want to? I am pretty comfortable flying up in the morning and flying home 8 to 10 hours later--and even repeating the process the next day. I know that I could try alumni groups and even travel contacts. Hey, Donald Trump might be in Chicago or Palos Verdes during my visit. Even if he is in town, there would be plenty of room. So, Mr. Trump, have your people call my people. OK, I have no people. Darn. Strike three (looking).

OK, so the nearly passive approach will not work for me. What else can I do? I struck out but I am still in the game...

4. Make a new friend during my trips

Indeed, I will attend the JetBlue AYCJ kick off celebration in Terminal 5 tomorrow. Perhaps I can sweet talk my way into some free floor space in one of the boroughs. Yes, Upper East Side is preferred but anywhere is a short subway ride from anywhere. Right? OK, this idea has merit. Also, I will be on probably a dozen flights during the first two weeks. There will probably be over 2,000 potential people that live in New York City or know someone that lives there. On the other hand, I am not much for in-person networking. Plus, is the allure of a free place to stay worth the potential risk? I am not Monk from USA Network but, still, many people are scary.

5. Sleep? I don't need no stinking sleep

I can book a morning flight to New York City and return home the next morning. Sure, I can stay up all night and see what the fuss is all about in this city. When it gets to be 3am, I just have to stay awake until my flight in the morning.

6. Ride the rails

Researching ground transportation options from JFK airport to Manhattan and around New York City, I learned that the subway operates 24 hours. Sweet! I can ride the rails when I get tired. Oh, yeah, there are the muggings on the subway. I cannot realistically do this, can I?

7. Sneak a snooze

Then there are hotel lobbies, all night diners (like on Seinfeld), theaters, train/bus stations and parks. Again, scary people and the mugging factor. Perhaps the JetBlue terminal would be a safe haven. I can book an early morning flight from JFK, play in the city all night and when I get tired, take the subway/train to JFK and snooze before the flight.

8. JetBlue Flights

I can keep doing what I already have planned. Visit New York City between morning and evening flights. Take an evening flight home and then fly back to New York City in the morning. Honestly, I live close enough to do this and it will be fun. If I did not, I would consider flying to another city to stay the night and then return the next morning. JetBlue has tons of flights from JFK and there must be many evening flights to destinations with less expensive lodging. For instance, there is a 10:3oPM flight to Portland, Maine. Perhaps there are even red-eye, overnight transcontinental flights (there are from the West coast to the East coast).

So, there you have my 8 Ways list. What do you think? Any additions? More importantly, can you spare a spot for me in the next month? Especially anyone from the Trump camp.

Happy Travels.

©2010, Charles McCool

JetBlue's All You Can Jet deal

OK, JetBlue is doing it again. They are selling a pass for unlimited travel during a one month period. It costs as little as $499, to be able to fly on Monday - Thursday and Saturday. To fly every day, the pass will cost $699. The period of travel, incidentally, is from September 7 through October 6. They call it the All You Can Jet pass.

I just purchased mine but ran into one snag. The website initially said that no more passes were available. I was crushed. Instead, I opened another browser and, voila, I bought a pass. Perhaps what they say about airlines and internet cookies is true.

Let me know if you buy a pass. Perhaps we can meet along the road, er, sky, somewhere.

Ritz-Carlton Discounts

The best hotel rates (for most chains and properties) are usually accompanied by a special rate code. You never know where you will find that rate code so keep your options open. I consider the AAA rate as my baseline amount and try to find lower rates than that.

Recently, I was looking up college football 2010 schedules. On the website with the University of Miami schedule, there is a link to "travel and leisure partners." I clicked the link and checked out some of the hotels. One of the offerings is the Ritz-Carlton in Coconut Grove. I looked at sample rates for a weekend in October. Here are the results:

$189 - University of Miami rate
$269 - AAA rate
$299 - regular rate (corporate rate)
$299 - hotels.com (Best Rate Guaranteed, ha!)

I would check a few other online booking sites, but, in this case, I would also call the headquarters (800-542-8680) and the property directly (305-644-4680) to see if they have any weekend specials, visitor rates, etc. (I love to find discounts).

Just spending a couple of minutes (and knowing the secret, negotiated code) saved me $110 PER NIGHT (or $80 per night off my AAA baseline rate). Places to find these magic codes include FlyerTalk.com, magazines, e-mail subscriptions, your company's HR department, and so on. Any other suggestions?

Happy travels. Incorporate this strategy into your travel skill arsenal and save big money on lodging this summer.

©2010, Charles McCool

Cheap Rental Car Rates from Florida

It is that time of year again. The rental car companies need their cars to leave Florida for other parts of the United States. They are offering low, low daily rates for one-way rentals.

Hertz, for instance, has rates as low as $3 per day for rentals in March. For April, I just booked a week's rental for $30 and am also considering upgrading to a RAV for an extra $10 a day ($100 total).

National has a similar promotion for $10 a day.

If you are planning a trip between now and Labor Day, consider driving one of these cars out of Florida to another state. You can easily fly one-way into Florida. For instance, flights between Dulles and Ft. Lauderdale on JetBlue are only $74.

JetSetter.com Exclusive Luxury Travel Discounts

Jetsetter.com is a website that offers private (not available to the public) luxury travel discounts. Membership is free but you have to be invited by another jetsetter member.

The good news is that you can join through my Travel Skills exclusive link.

Again, this is a free membership but you cannot just simply register through the website. You must be invited by another jetsetter.com member (me!).

Happy 2010 Travels.

travel contests

Happy New Year. Hope you have a happy and healthy 2010.

I just found out about this great contest. Check it out:

Things You Should Do is celebrating their 1,000,000th visitor with a fantastic travel contest. You can win overnight stays at some of America’s top hotels, plus tours, meals & activities. Visit website for details.

my book - Winning the Airfare Game - on eBay and Amazon

Just found a listing for my book, Winning the Airfare Game, on eBay. Actually, I do see it listed every once in awhile (I receive alerts from eBay). http://cgi.ebay.com/Winning-the-Airfare-Game-Save-Money-and-Stress-on-Eve_W0QQitemZ270504825407QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Nonfiction_Book?hash=item3efb58123f

If you want to buy a copy directly from me--a brand new fresh never been read copy-- buy it at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0970511922/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&qid=1262062815&sr=8-1&condition=new. The seller "lowerairfaresdotcom" is me. I am redesigning LowerAirfares.com and am not currently selling copies there.

8 Steps to Getting Lower Airfares

This is my article published many years ago in the Baltimore Sun and other newspapers. I have been involved recently in many research projects. I will continue to re-publish favorite travel skills articles. Let me know what topics are of interest to you.

Be Flexible The most important factor for getting lower airfares is flexibility. When possible, check alternate airports, a range of days and times, other carriers, and various routings. Opportunities for lower airfares increase when you have more options.

Buy Early Most discounted airfares must be purchased several days before the flight­­—usually 21 or 14 for the biggest discounts. However, the lowest prices are offered during fare wars (sales), which may be several months before you want to fly. For instance, the cheapest summer flights to Europe are traditionally sold between the previous Thanksgiving and Christmas. One way to discover fare wars is to use a customized homepage (such as My Yahoo!) and continually check fares for your favorite routes. Investigate whether a sale is in progress when prices suddenly change. Many web sites, including airline and booking web sites, notify subscribers by e-mail when fares drop.

Buy Late Many airlines offer distressed inventory as last-minute airfares. They rarely match the lowest airfares offered during fare sales, but last-minute airfares can be great deals for emergency flights or impulse trips. Airlines release last-minute airfares each week around Wednesday morning for flights that weekend. However, a recent trend is to offer “last-minute” fares for flights more than one week into the future. Sign up to receive e-mail notification from each airline or SmarterLiving.com, who compiles the information from all airlines for most cities.

Surf for Lower Airfares Compare fares offered by major booking web sites to fares listed on the airline’s web site. The airline’s price may be lower or they may offer bonus frequent flyer points. Booking web sites do not include Southwest Airlines, so visit Southwest’s web site to find their fares.

Use a Travel Agent Travel agents usually save you time and stress and often save you money. For instance, they may have preferred discounts with certain airlines and can offer lower airfares than you can find. They can also sell consolidator fares and charter flights that are not available to consumers.

Book Direct Call airlines directly to book bereavement or compassion fares. Some web sites do not offer senior, children, or group discounts. Keep in mind Step 1, Be Flexible, when calling airlines for fare quotes.

Get More, Pay Less Look for packages—lodging, rental car, and/or meals in addition to the flight—that cost a little more or even LESS than the airfare alone. Each winter, packages (including seven nights lodging and rental car) to Australia and other South Pacific destinations cost only $100 more than the airfare. Prices do not increase as the departure date approaches and a Saturday night stay is not required, making packages ideal for last-minute travelers.

Airfare Ploys Big savings can result from splitting long flights into two separate round-trip flights. You can even create a stopover and use different airlines, if you choose. Lower airfares or more convenient flights may be found when using co-terminals, which are different airports in the same city or area. Open jaw, charter, courier, consolidator, or round-the-world flights result in lower airfares in some situations.

Charles McCool is a travel consultant specializing in helping consumers and businesses save money, time, and stress on all aspects of travel. He is the author of Winning the Airfare Game and operates http://lowerairfares.com/.

travel deals on Twitter revisited

Well, I did not get much reaction to my blog post about Twitter not being great for travel deals. I will assume, then, that it is still true.

In the October issue of Conde Nast Traveler magazine, Wendy Perrin wrote an article titled, "How to Tweet Your Way to Amazing Travel Deals," with a sidebar article to 21 Twitterers to Follow. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Thank you.
© 2009, Charles McCool

$163 cross-country flights

There are only a couple of hours left in this sale (expires 7 am Pacific time, September 22). Virgin America is having a business special for last minute travel. I combined these low almost-walk up fares with my promo code (for Elevate members, 20% off, sent by e-mail on Sept 3) to get this wonderful roundtrip fare.

Travel Book Special for 09/09/09 ONLY!

*** SORRY, Deal has expired ***

LowerAirfares.com and Charles McCool (author of Winning the Airfare Game) have a very special deal for travel consumers to celebrate September 9, 2009 (09/09/09).

Less than 100 mint condition copies of Winning the Airfare Game remain in our inventory. For one day only, we are offering one copy of our book PLUS a free gift, along with FREE shipping--all for a low price of $9.99 (local pickup from Northern Virginia ZIPCODE=20191, otherwise add $4 shipping).

Your free gift will be your choice of a current travel guide (including Zagats and other travel reference books), older travel guides, or a collection of travel magazines (current year, local pickup only for magazines). The free gifts will be first come, first served. I will send the updated list of available titles to buyers in chronological order, according to when payment is received by PayPal.

Each bonus travel book costs over $10. Retail value of Winning the Airfare Game is $13.95. With today's special, you get two travel books (worth over $20) for only $9.99. You will dave at least 50%. PLUS, I always guarantee that you will be learn to save money, time, and stress from my book. If you are not completely satisfied, return your order for a complete refund.

Please select the appropriate option from the drop-down list below and click the Buy Now button. Credit cards are accepted and your financial data is confidential. PayPal payments are completely safe and secure. If you wish to pick up your copy of Winning the Airfare Game and your bonus travel guide (or collection of current year travel magazines), select "Local pickup." If you want your two books mailed to you (for only $4!), select "Ship It!"

Please note that I have limited supply and this offer will expire prior to midnight on September 9, 2009, if enough orders are received. If too many orders have been received and I have not had a chance to update this web page, I will issue an immediate PayPal refund (sorry, I do not have a real-time automated inventory tracking system). Act early to get best choice of BONUS travel guides.

** SORRY, Deal has expired ***

Global Top 5 Under $5 Must Eat Dishes

In the September 2009 issue of Travel & Leisure, there is an article called, "30 Dishes Worth Traveling For." Of course you would have to be a hypertraveler to have tried more than a few of them.

What particularly caught me attention was the sidebar that they called Global Top 5 Under $5. Here they are:

* Duck-fat fries at Hot Doug's, Chicago
* Soup noodles with braised brisket at Kau Kee, Hong Kong
* Custard tart at Pastéis de Belém, Lisbon
* Poutine at La Banquise, Montreal
* Soup dumplings at Nanxiang Mantou Dian, Shanghai

Sorry, no mention of In & Out or Five Guys.

Has anyone tried any of these dishes? Are they worthy of inclusion? What are your top 5 under $5?

Thank you.

© 2009, Charles McCool

Is Twitter all that?

Is anyone reading this?

I am on Twitter (CharlesMcCool), use Twitter, but am not that impressed. Am I wrong?

Sure there is a lot of "social networking"--"follow me," "I'll follow you," "here is an article I found (probably written by one of your Twitter BFFs)," "ooh, look at me retweet someone's link to another article."

Most (if not all) of the information I find on Twitter is also posted elsewhere. Do you find it quicker on Twitter? If anything, it is more difficult to find worthwhile information on Twitter with all of the crud.

The most valuable and recent news item I remember finding on Twitter before anywhere else was jetBlue's All You Can Travel promotion. I happen to be on Twitter when jetBlue's tweet popped onto my screen. I was likely the first person (out of millions, it seems) to retweet the news. This promotion even spawned a Twitter acronym (Trending Topic) and accounts dedicated to the trip.

Sure, that is all entertaining but not informative.

So, what travel skills can be gained from Twitter?

:: cricket, cricket ::

Enlighten me, will ya, if there is some value for DIY travelers using Twitter. I have seen a couple of hotel properties list special rates and jetbluecheeps lists rock-bottom, last-minute fares (essentially useless since they are valid for just one day). Other than that, Twitter is not "all that." If it IS all that to you, please let me know what I am missing and who you are following.

Thank you.

© 2009, Charles McCool

European Hostel Tips

I just finished reading Rick Steve's article about hostels in the latest issue of International Travel News. Of course you should read the entire article but here are some quick tips I got from it:

• stay in Northern Europe hostels (much less expensive than standard lodging)
• skip hostels in Southern Europe (budget lodging is plentiful)
• city and on-the-Eurail-path hostels are overrun with younger travellers
• rural and off-the-train-path hostels are more quiet with mature travellers

I must admit that I have only stayed in hostels in Anchorage and Cairns. I have seen my share of budget lodging in Europe (rooms, inns, the car) but have not tried any of their hostels. Next trip...

© 2009, Charles McCool

Quantity Discounts - NOT

You would think that by buying more of a product that you would get a price break. Sure, that works in practically every industry, except travel. What can you do about it?

First, let me explain a bit. You should already know, if you are a loyal reader or just a common sense travel consumer, that travel suppliers charge more when there is higher demand. Rates (airfares, cruise prices, lodging, car rentals) are at their peak, for instance, during the New Year's break in the Caribbean and many destinations. Makes sense, right? On a micro level, airlines charge more when capacity is fillings and hotels charge more during the week than on weekends.

Let's say that you are a group of four travelers. There are only two seats on a flight at the lowest price. However, when making your reservation (whatever source you use), the airline will charge the higher price times four. Hotels do the same thing. The weekend rate is substantially lower than the weekday rate but the property will charge you the weekday rate for each day; or they will charge you less each weekend day but not as low as the available weekend rate. I have seen it time and time and time again.

What can consumers do?

For the airfare situation, I will find out what the price is for one passenger (then two, then three, until I find the "magic" price break point). Many times, I have broken the group reservation into two separate itineraries to save money. For example, if two seats are available at $100 but the next two are $150, then I will buy 2 @ $100 and 2 @ $150, instead of 4 @ $150 (and save $100).

A similar process works for lodging and rental cars. I will find out the rate for each day and for each set of days. Similarly, I can make separate reservations at the same property for consecutive days in order to save money. For example, their weekend rate is $99 (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) and their weekday rate is $199. For an entire week, they may quote $199 for each day or perhaps $199 each weekday plus a "discounted rate" for $159 for the weekend. By booking separate weekday and weekend stays, I would save $180 ($60 for each of the three nights).

Add this strategy to your travel planning arsenal and save money on your next--and EVERY--trip.

© 2009, Charles McCool

Hertz Florida car exodus part 2

In June, I rented a RAV4 from Hertz in Orlando and returned it to a location in Virginia. The excellent one-way rate was indeed only $100, as I mentioned in a previous post.

Just a quick note to let you know that my rate was further discounted 15% because I always use my AAA discount for all of my Hertz rentals. I was pleasantly surprised to get a rate of $85 for that weekly rental.

© 2009, Charles McCool

finding travel deals departing FROM your home airport

It is annoying, and not productive or efficient, to visit websites that do not sort their travel deal listings. That is, many websites just list a bunch of "special" rates or fares, but do not filter based on a departure city. A relatively unknown website that shows travel specials from your home airport is voyij.com.

Check it out and let me know what you think.

© 2009, Charles McCool

Road Trip Cost Cutting Tips

Rental car rates can vary much even at locations in the same geographic area. You can save money by shopping around.

A recent example. I am planning a trip to visit Little Rock, Tuscaloosa, and parts between and around. It does not matter where I fly into. In fact, I redeemed a frequent flyer award (more below). Since I am using a frequent flyer award and visiting several areas, I have the flexibility to fly into any area airport. I researched flights and rental car rates at most locations between Tulsa, Memphis, Huntsville, Mobile, and Houston.

Checking around, rental car rates were relatively expensive from Little Rock, Memphis, Birmingham, and others; mostly in the $250 to $300 a week range. One location was much less expensive than the others. Drum roll.... It was Shreveport, about $150 with Hertz. So, I booked my frequent flyer flight to Shreveport which would have cost $536.

I considered driving instead of flying. It would have been about 2,000 miles just getting there and back, plus another 1,000 miles in the area. I used Cost2Drive to calculate fuel usage and carbon output. That certainly helped me decide to fly, although I put the true cost of driving my own vehicle at about 50 cents per mile including wear and tear, etc. I also realized that about three days would have been burned driving there and back, leaving me less time to research and explore.

© 2009, Charles McCool

Twitter Me for Travel Deals

OK, I mentioned that my next post would be about travel reference books. I will get back to that soon. This post is a recap of this blog's purpose and some quick announcements.

This blog's purpose is to teach readers skills to save money, time, and stress on all aspects of travel. By following this blog and incorporating the skills into your travel planning process, you will become better at planning travel and finding deals. I appreciate hearing from readers. Instead of sending e-mail to me, please post comments so that everyone can learn from your suggestions and experiences. I approve comments and only post those that are appropriate and useful. I have not approved some that are spam or ads. Thank you.

I do post individual travel deals on Twitter. Click here to follow me on Twitter and read my travel deal (and other) twits. Check out the people I am following; many post their own travel deals.

© 2009, Charles McCool