9 ways to keep your car safe on the road

Travelers put their cars to almost every use imaginable: as a place to eat meals, hide things, take shelter from the elements and even live (on a trip to Pamplona several years ago, the smallest guy in our traveling party slept in the trunk). Since your car can be almost your home away from home [...]

Mixed outlook for vacation prices

There’s good news and bad news for Americans itching for a change of scenery in 2010. Travelers tripped up by the recession are getting back in the game, and prices reflect their growing appetite in key areas. Still, rising prices for airfares and cruises probably won’t go as high as they were before the economic [...]

4 secrets for upgrading your next vacation travel

Think this is bad? It could get worse. Much worse. Travel is still at the beginning of its long descent into mediocrity. Airlines seem to invent new surcharges and passenger-hostile rules every week. Hotels aren’t far behind. Just the mention of the word “customer service” in the back office can be enough to evoke cackles [...]

9 spring travel tips: How to save money and sanity

As I write this here in the Northeast, the rodent saw his shadow, a snowfall fell the next day and we’re headed for a single-digit deep freeze this weekend — all of which are indicators that it is time to distract ourselves with dreams of spring travel. Of course, planning a trip these days can [...]

How to save on car rental in a recession

Don’t clear your wallet when car rental companies clear their lots. Much as airlines have cut back on flights and routes since the recession began, the lodging industry has, er, built a lot more hotels and added a lot of rooms?! Oops. Expansion may have seemed like a great idea at the time, but this [...]

Find a cheaper car rental away from the airport

The best rate Darren Popik could find on a weekend car rental at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport recently was $114. So he decided to look elsewhere. Popik, a Los Angeles-based blogger, widened his search to other car rental locations in the Texas capital. And he found a lower price through Enterprise Rent-a-Car. “It was a much [...]

Cash back may be better than miles programs

Now that many U.S.-based airlines are charging co-pay fees for upgrading from economy class to business or first, and considering some of the other fees you’ll now pay to use your frequent flyer miles, Airfarewatchdog suggests you think twice if you’re collecting most of your miles with a credit card. Sure, the bonus miles you [...]