GENERAL THOUGHTS AND TRAVEL LINKS
FLASH YOUR AAA CARD WHEREVER YOU GO! You would be surprised. I saved a $1.00 at Johnson Space Center by whipping it out. Same goes for hotels, restaurants, museums, most anything.
Pay with a credit card whenever possible for merchandise. If it’s defective or junk you have recourse through your card company.
There are numerous sites on the internet that will make your travel planning as effortless as possible. A few of my favorites:
www.flyertalk.com: simply the best site to ask questions and travel and vacations. Its most vocal members are hardcore travelers and road warriors.
www.expedia.com: highly recommended
www.travelocity.com: poor interface compared to expedia
www.11thhourvacations.com - just what it says
www.courier.org - fly for a courier
www.airhitch.com - great for student travel
www.bestfares.com - costs about 60 bucks a year
www.crazydogtravel.com - a backpacker’s dream site
www.stretcher.com/stories/970525a.cfm - lists free things to do in the cities you travel to
www.hostels.com - no frills and low cost
I subscribed to Travel Confidential (passengerrights.com) magazine and Consumer Reports travel letter. Both are mostly uneventful and geared towards the casual traveller looking for short term deals that expire soon after the magazine arrives in the mailbox. Surfing the internet you will find 90% of these magazines' content. Neither of them arrive consistently ie at a certain time of the month. I recommend not wasting your $$ on these. You can read flyertalk.com for free and people there post most all of the deals that you find in those mags anyway.
The NUMBER ONE rule: ASK QUESTIONS. Don’t take anything at face value. Ask ‘What else is available? What else can you do?"