Most Useful Travel Links*

 latest update: August 27, 2008

SuperStar Site means a "must have"

Pricing Sites

Monitor & Notify and predict prices

FareCompare SuperStar Site

Yapta SuperStar Site (monitor prices and get a refund or credit for tickets already purchased)

Orbitz Deal Detector (date specific, total price quoted)

Fare Watch from Kayak

TripStalker (download to monitor price changes for up to 3 flights)

FareCast

FlySpy

AirFareWatchdog

FareReport (average fares between each city, newsletter)

US departures

Kayak SuperStar Site searches many other web sites (included JetBlue & "web only" fares), also does cars & hotels.

ITA air pricing software (inventors of the matrix pricing display for airfares, engine behind Orbitz & Kayak)

Internet Air Fares Watch (what is the lowest published fare to/from any city)

Within Europe & UK

Which Budget (Which budget airline flies where in Europe)
AirTrafficEurope (Which budget airline flies where in Europe)

OpenJet

Momondo (searches major European & UK budget airlines)

SkyScanner (searches major European & UK budget airlines)

Momondo (searches major European & UK budget airlines)

DoHop (European discount carrier search engine)

Cheap0 (a very comprehensive guide to budget flying within Europe)

foundem (searches many discount airlines)

LowFareFlights (UK to/from Europe)

easyJet (England to/from Europe, like Southwest Airlines)

Ryanair

Virgin Express

TravelSupermarket

 

Air Passes

EuropeByAir

Airline Consolidators

FAQs from travel-library.com (everything you ever wanted to know about consolidators)

ASAP Tickets

Air Travel Center consolidator listings and links

Flights.com

AirFare

Consolidator listings from DMOZ (includes hotels, cars, etc.)

Cheap Seats

Cheap Tickets

Justfares consolidator

Airline Consolidator.com

Air Brokers International (specializes in Round-the-World, Circle-Pacific, and other multi-destination international flights)

 

Bids Auctions and Priceline

BiddingForTravel message board (go here first before you touch Priceline/Hotwire)

BetterBidding (another source to check for winning and losing bids)

BidOnTravel (more good advise & travel guides)

Priceline.com (you don't know the price)

Hotwire (you know the price before you buy)

eBay Travel

SkyAuction (vacation auctions, do your homework and know what the prices have been)

LuxuryLink (vacation auctions)

Site 59 (spontaneous escape and entertainment )

Air fare Specials (sign up with any major and low fare airlines serving your city)

SmarterTravel e-mail newsletter of weekend specials (air, hotel & car) by city (great web site and newsletter)

Southwest Airlines e-mail  Click 'n Save special fares (more flexible than most others')

Lodging & Food

Dine.com SuperStar Site Excellent site for restaurant reviews (US & Canada).

Travelaxe Pro SuperStar Site (hotel search engine; if there is a discount available, they'll find it)

Hotel web sites and toll-free phone numbers

Express-Reservations (specialists in NYC, Los Angeles & Chicago hotels & good local information)

Vacation Rentals By Owner SuperStar Site (excellent US & Caribbean listings + very complete "links" to others)

OwnerDirectVacationRentals (Canada, Hawaii, Florida and Italy)

HotelShark (reviews)

Quikbooks (hotel search engine)

National Parks hotel guide (US & Canada)

Vacation Rentals (worldwide properties)

Rentalo (30,000 properties)

Places to Stay  

TravelWeb

Informed Travel with reviews

Hotel Search Engine Hotel, Lodging, B&B... Guide - Directory

Last Minute hotel accommodations specializing in Australia, New Zealand and Asia (Wotif.com)

All-Inclusives message boards:

Trip Advisor

Debbie's Caribbean Resort Reviews

 

 

Car Rental & Road Trip info

Kayak

Car rental express (independent companies, many on and off airport locations, some specialty cars)

Public Transportation (US only: bus, rail, light rail, subway, ferry, to/from airports)

Mobil Travel Guide (trip planning, food, lodging, etc.)

Gemütlichkeit (The Travel Newsletter for Germany, Austria and Switzerland), good prices & service for cars

Kemwel (Europe & UK consolidator)

AutoEurope (consolidator)

easyRentacar (England & Europe)

MasterCarsDirect - (pre-paid cars, includes fees, taxes & insurance in quote, except cancellation insurance)

Car Hire 4 Less - (car rental consolidator for Alamo, Hertz, Budget, Europcar)

RentADeal Consolidator for major cities

European driving info from Michelin (directions, maps, hotels, food, etc.)

 

Maps

Univ. of Texas Library map site (check their Other Maps Sites link)

Google Maps

Google Earth

Multimap (best for Europe & the UK)

TerraFly from Florida International University

Yahoo! Maps and Driving Directions

Mappy Searchable maps and driving directions - best for France and continental Europe

MapQuest.com

Research

Message Boards, Forums and Clubs

Free Traveling (pricing mistakes)

Fodors.com Forums SuperStar Site

Trip Advisor SuperStar Site

TripIt SuperStar Site (very handy to print a complete itinerary)

IgoUgo (good comments & reviews)

BoardReader (reads many message boards, but not all)

Virtual Tourist (reviews and comments)

Frommers Travel Message Boards

European guide info & links for independent travel (excellent links and book)

Guide for Europe with message boards

Yahoo! Clubs and RecreationTravel

Travelocity Destination Guide (Message boards)

Caribbean Travel forums by island

National Geographic Travel Web site (great info + a newsletter)

About.com   travel

Concierge.com Forums

Travel.Org -Pick Your Destination!

Outdoor & Cultural Travel for Women over 40 by Debbie Jacobs (also publishes a newsletter)

Rick Steves European vacations (good messages & tips)

TravelTalk on-line (Caribbean forums)

Caribbean On Line forums

Hawaii (local links)

Travel Channel -- Home Page

Tourism Offices Worldwide Directory

Epinions.com - Travel (find out about any negative reports before you buy)

PlanetFeedback (look for bad reviews of airlines, cruises, hotels, etc.)

Newspapers, Magazines & News Groups

The Paper Boy (world wide newspaper links)

Newspaper sites from AJR Newslink

Travel Magazines by AJR Newslink

OnLineNewspapers

NewsDirectory

WorldNews

Kiosken 

Cruises (all have good message boards, forums or reviews)

CruiseOpinion reviews

CruiseCritic (go to their boards and reviews, includes singles section)

Cruisemates.com  (section for singles)

CruiseCompete (have travel agents bid for your business)

CruisePage

Cruise Talk Forums from TravelPage.com

TravelPage.com  directory of cruises, etc.

CRUISE @DDICTS

Ship health inspection reports (Vessel Sanitation reports from CDC)

Phone, electrical & mailing list info

Phone and electrical guides from Steve Kropla
mailing list removal (from the Direct Marketing Association)
 

Links & Other Stuff

SeatGURU SuperStar Site (honest seating charts and excellent advise about what seats to get and to avoid)

Women's Travel Club

UpgradeSuccess (what are your chances for upgrades)

MileMaven (every possible way to maximize your frequent flyer miles)

WebFlyer (frequent flyer seat success or failure rates for each airline)

FlyerTalk SuperStar Site (Randy Peterson's excellent message board web site about frequent flyer programs)

Johnny Jet

Airport & Airline links worldwide (Aviationworld)

TRAVEL LINKS

Links, tools & tips for Business Trips (Biz Trips)

Flight Tracker from Flight View (neat graphics)

FAA flight info (updated every 5 minutes for most major US hub airports)

Train Travel in all parts of the world from "seat 61"

SmarterTravel (excellent e-newsletter)

MyBusinessTravel (by the SmarterTravel folks)

TravelScience Worldwide Languages: free, commercial and on-line resources

TravelProblem (resources to resolve travel problems)

CDC Travelers' Health requirements

Would you like to add your site?  Please tell me what makes your site unique and offers wide appeal.  I check out all suggestions.  While most sites are very good, they may be too narrow or specialized.  Not being included is not a criticism, but perhaps another site already covers the topic better or wider.  If your site is better than one already on the list, tell me what it does better and why it should replace another site.

* I'm always adding (and removing) sites from this page.  If you have a suggested addition or criticism about any site, I'd greatly appreciate it.