Before the advent of the internet, vacations could be cumbersome. To purchase plane tickets or find hotel rooms, a person had to rely on travel agents and 1-800-numbers.
Oh, how simple and swift the information age has made trip-planning. Between apps, social media and even computer errors, there are a ton of ways to optimize your travel budget. Here are a few of our favorite money-saving travel hacks.
Couch surf
It's not just for the broke rambler anymore. With 400,000 hosts worldwide, couch-surfing has become a well-organized way to find free accommodations - and so much more. It works a lot like Airbnb, only instead of offering up a whole house, hosts provide a couch, bed or even bedroom for the 4 million "surfers" seeking an insider's view of their destination. Travelers and hosts create a profile on couchsurfing.org, a community website where they can search, message and connect with one another. After stays, they write reviews of each other. Top couch-surfing destinations include Paris, Madrid, Rome and San Francisco.
Remember the ©six blocks© rule
The six-blocks rule states that one should never eat within six blocks of a major tourist attraction. It will be twice as expensive and half as good. Review-based apps like Yelp can help guide you to a more affordable and authentic experience.
Take advantage of free stop-overs
Layovers don't have to be a headache. In fact, they can be a way to get two vacations for the price of one. Some airlines offer programs that let you extend your layover and explore new cities at no additional cost.
Icelandair lets passengers stopover in Reykjavik for up to seven nights and even offers a "stopover buddy," which is basically a tour guide, free of charge.
Air Canada will grant its passengers a free stopover in Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver if connection times between booked flights are more than six hours.
Japan Airlines lets passengers flying from North America stop- over for free in Tokyo.
Get more space
Leg room is one of modern day travel's greatest annoyances, and many passengers are willing to pay extra for more space on an airplane. But there is a way to get some wiggle room without spending more. Seatguru.com shares airline seating plans, color coding the best options in regards to leg room. Surprisingly, not all exit row seats offer optimal space - and some don't even recline. Additionally, Seatguru.com features reviews of seats and information about in-flight amenities.
Clear your cache
Some say it works; some say it's hooey. The idea is that when you search airfare, travel sites track your movements via "cookies." Then, every time you return to its site, the company increases the price by small amounts. Clearing your browser's cookies or using a different web browser could help return that airfare to the original price. Whether this is fact or fiction, it doesn't hurt to try.
Catch a pricing glitch
Nobody's perfect. Not even commercial airline giants like Delta or United. A missing zero here; a system error there. Pricing glitches are more common than one might imagine - and are often honored by the airline. In 2013, Delta let one passenger score tickets from the U.S. to Hawaii for just $7, following a bungled price tweak. Increase your odds of catching one of these lucky deals by doing the following: Sign up for FlyerTalk, a frequent-flyer forum on which most of these glitches are leaked.
Sign up for alerts from websites such as Airfarewatchdog and InsideFlyer, which send emails when a flight you follow drops in price.
If an airline suddenly begins trending on social media, take notice.
Travel in the off-season
Avoid peak-season crowds and cost by planning an off-season trip. For instance, Savannah, Georgia, is busiest in the spring and summer, but by September, the tourist numbers begin to dissipate - along with the heat and hotel prices. Meanwhile, late spring and summer are the most popular times to visit London. But if you don't mind packing a few extra sweaters, visiting London in autumn lets you take advantage of lower airfare prices.
Check out travel.usnews.com for a list of 50 off-season vacation ideas.
Drink for free
How did we not know that a number of airlines offer complimentary adult bevvies during flights? Here are a few noteworthy options. Virgin Atlantic Airways offers select alcohol drinks on both domestic and international flights.
American Airlines serves free wine on flights between the U.S. and Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and select Latin American countries.
Delta does free wine, beer and liquor on international flights, excluding Canada, and on its coast-to-coast Delta Shuttle flights.
Southwest Airlines offers free cocktails to those who fly on Halloween or Thanksgiving.v