Fly into fall with some more Thrifty Thursday Fares.

1. Burbank (BUR) – Charlotte (CLT) -$198

When: Oct. 15-Summer 2010

Airline: US Airways

2.  Kansas City (MCI) – Durango (DRO) -$210

When:  Oct. 13-Mar. 10 return/depart Tues, Wed, Sat

Airline:  United, Frontier, US Airways

3. Austin (AUS) – Denver (DEN) -$150

When:  Oct. 17-Nov.26

Airline:  US Airways

4. Baltimore (BWI) – Las Vegas (LAS) -$188

When:  Oct. 15-Summer 2010

Airline:  Continental

5.  Boston (BOS) – New Orleans (MSY) -$178

When:  Nov. 1-Summer 2010

Airline:  Continental

Bonus for my hometowners:

San Angelo (SJT) – Dallas (DFW) -$159

When:  Oct. 22-Mar. 12

Airline:  American

Visit Priceline.com to book. All fares listed are roundtrip and include all taxes & fees.

Search Hotel Prices on Over 30 Sites at Once! Many previous domestic flight deals are still available as well.

Disclaimer: Fares were good at time of posting, not all travel dates apply, and seats may fill quickly.

[photo by: Wonderlane]

There aren’t many cheap flights this season to interior Europe. All the deals are either far west, or 2 hours inward to Italy. But hey, I’ll take any deal I can get and Dublin is a city worth seeing. US Airways will take you from Chi-town (ORD) to Dublin (DUB) for $511, taxes and fees included.

Dates Available: Dec. 1 – Feb.
Price:  $511 taxes & fees included, some dates are an additional $20
Comments:  depart/return Sun.-Thurs. (some dates blacked out)
To Book:

To find hostels in Madrid use Hostelbookers.com. For the best rates on hotels head to Dublin Hotel Deals.

If you have any tips for Dublin let us know in the comments below.

[photo by: etrusia_uk]

Simply put, this should be your first stop in any city you visit. They’re located downtown in the city center and easy to find. The offices are loaded with coupons, guides, bus/subway routes, and maps. Most of this stuff is free as well. The attendants usually speak English (at least a little) and can offer advice.

This is a good spot to learn about any festivals, concerts, or big parties going on in the city during your visit. Many major attraction’s entry fees are expensive, these offices usually have discounts for them. They also have racks of brochures that offer discounts on everything from restaurants to tours.

Whether you’ve planned every intricacy of your trip or just landed their by mistake, it’s worth it to visit the local tourist office.

[photo by: David Boyle]

I’d file this deal in the “oh, that’s not bad” category. It isn’t smoking hot, but it is pretty good for a west coast flight. Delta will take you from Los Angeles (LAX) to Madrid (MAD) for low $600s. Go forth and party with the Spaniards. Their everyday lives are the definition of vacation, up at noon, dinner at 10, and the parties go ’til sunrise.

Dates Available: Oct. 25 – Feb. 10
Price:  $605, some dates are an additional $15
Comments:  depart/return Mon.-Thurs. (some dates blacked out)
To Book:

To find hostels in Madrid use Hostelbookers.com. For the best rates on hotels head to Madrid Hotel Deals.

Madrid also makes for a good jumping off point for the rest of Europe. Use my guide to budget airlines in Europe to find cheap flights to other destinations.

If you have any tips or must-sees for Madrid let us know in the comments below.

[photo by: Martius]

Hostels get a bad rap. Experienced travelers know they are great money savers and social hubs. Inexperienced travelers just have visions of getting tortured ala the  movie Hostel. I reckon 9 out of 10 people who have little travel experience will mention something from that movie anytime a hostel is brought up in conversation.

I’ve been wanting to write an in-depth guide for those new to hostelling for awhile now. I don’t have quite enough experience with them to do that so I’ll just point you in the direction of people that do.

Hostel Overviews

Hostels 101 at studenttravel.about.com. Gives you a general overview of all the aspects of hostels. If you aren’t familiar with hostels and how they work head here for a basic understanding

Why Stay In A Hostel, Not A Hotel? from blog.hostelbookers.com. Article about the advantages of staying in hostels rather than hotels.

A Guide To Sleeping In Hostels [Part 1] and [Part 2] from foXnoMad.com. Basic guide to staying in hostels.

Insider Tips

How To Find The Best Hostels from TravMonkey.com. Explains how to book hostels in advance or on the road.

How to Have Sex in Hostels from NomadicMatt.com. The title pretty much says it all.

Boutique Hostels: The New Breed from MatadorTrips.com. A step up from the regular hostel world.

If you’re looking for hostel reviews or bookings I recommend Hostelbookers.com.

[photo by: MmMmMmMatt]

Time for another Thrifty Thursday. Here’s this weeks fares.

1. Seattle (SEA) – San Francisco (SFO) -$115

When:  Sept. 23-Feb. 10

Airline:  Virgin America

2.  Atlanta (ATL) – Miami (MIA) -$109

When:  Oct. 13-Oct. 28 (price goes to $138 after that)

Airline:  American, AirTran

3. Denver (DEN) – Orlando (MCO) -$191

When:  Oct. 6-Nov. 18

Airline:  AirTran

4. Miami (MIA) – Toronto (YTO) -$221

When:  Sept. 24-Oct. 24

Airline:  Northwest

5.  Milwaukee (MKE) – Ft. Myers, FL (FMY) -$178

When:  Oct. 1-Apr. 28

Airline:  Delta, Northwest

Bonus for my hometowners:

San Angelo (SJT) – Minneapolis/St. Paul (MSP) -$233

When:  Oct. 20-Dec. 16

Airline:  American

Visit Priceline.com to book. All fares listed are roundtrip and include all taxes & fees.

Search Hotel Prices on Over 30 Sites at Once! Many previous domestic flight deals are still available as well.

Disclaimer: Fares were good at time of posting, not all travel dates apply, and seats may fill quickly.

[photo by: Ivan M]

Turkish Airlines has some cheap fares from Chicago (ORD) to Cairo (CAI) from now until March. On select dates the fare is as low as $680, all taxes and fees included. Other dates are available at $700. This flight is normally around $1,000. This is the cooler season in Egypt so now is a perfect time to visit.

Your best bet on this one is to head to ITA’s site and do a month long search to find the lowest fare. Then head over to your favorite travel booking site to book your ticket. Just double check that the fare matches ITA’s listing.

Other cheap fares are available from Chicago to Jordan, Lebanon, Romania, U.A.E., Turkey, and Albania. They’re all $770 or less.

For hostels in Cairo head over to Hostelbookers.com.

For hotels try hotelscombined.com and Priceline.com Hotels.

If you have any tips for heading to Cairo let us know in the comments below.

When most people look for a flight they just head to Priceline, Orbitz, or one of the other major travel sites. What they don’t know is that there are a number of other sites out there search all those sites and more. These are called search aggregates and they search the big sites, airline’s websites, and the lesser known travel search sites.

I’ll break down the top 4 that you should be using to find the best deals.

FareCompare

They call themselves an independent airfare shopping site. This is the site I use the most often. An airfare search on FareCompare will search a host of sites and airlines to find you the best deal. One of my favorite features of the site is the deals from your home airport. Type in your airport and you’ll get a list of the best fares flying to different destinations. You can also break these destinations down into US/Canada, Europe, Caribbean, and many others. You can also follow them on twitter for real-time tweets about deals from your home airport.

Rarely, you will find the listed fare doesn’t match the actual price but you’re not buying anything from FareCompare so you’re not getting duped. Just double check your dates with priceline.com and make sure the price matches. FareCompare.com

AirfareWatchdog

This site more or less just shows some of the cheapest flights available. I visit this site for the top 50 fares list, the fare of the day, and to read the blog. They usually find some pretty impressive deals here. Another neat thing on this site is the ability to search for cheap flights to a certain destination from various airports. You can also search for deals from your home airport.

As usual, the continuous fluctuation of airline tickets causes some of the fares listed to not match the actual price. Double0check the fare against another site to make sure that price is still available. AirfareWatchdog.com

ITA Software

This is a straight forward flight search database. This is one of the best and its the software FareCompare and other sites are powered by. You can search specific dates, weekends, or do month long searches. ITA Software

Kayak

This is the one you’ve probably heard of. It searches hundreds of different sites to find the best price. You can set up fare alerts for your home airport that will be sent to your email. It also has a fare chart tool that can be useful when planning a trip. Kayak.com

You’re best bet when searching for your next flight would be to use all these sites. They are all free tools at your disposal. Also, if you just like to travel cheaply, let the features on these sites do the work for you. Set up fare alerts for your airport and follow them on twitter to always be aware of the deals available to you.

Was one of your favorites not listed above? Let me know in the comments below.

[photo by: Mark Sebastian]

Virgin America is having a sale from now through Monday, September 21.  Flights are $99 each way.  With taxes and fees included a round trip ticket comes out to $219.20.  Let that sink in, a coast to coast flight for just over $200 on a brand new plane.  Oh that’s right, did I forget to mention that it’s a new fleet.

Taken from their site:

• Virgin America is the first U.S. airline with mood lighting.
• There are 3000 MP3s onboard every flight.
• You can plug in to 110v power at your seat.
• You can order fresh food when you want it, from the screen at your seat.
• Red, our in-flight entertainment system, has over 25 pay-per-view Hollywood movies on demand.
• Virgin America is a cashless airline. Place your order, swipe your card, and you’re done.

To see Virgin’s sale click here.

photo by crucially

photo by Joits

photo by Jun Seita

They are some sexy looking interiors from the pictures. I’ve never flown them but I’ve only heard good things. Have you flown Virgin America before and if so what did you think? Let us know in the comments below.

[photo by: crucially]

Alright, back on schedule.  Here’s this week’s flights around the US.

1. Austin (AUS) – Los Angeles (LAX) -$200

When:  Sept. 24-Dec. 16

Airline:  US Airways

2.  Chicago (ORD) – St. Louis (STL) -$98

When:  Sept. 18, 19 (price jumps to $119 through Dec. 17)

Airline:  United

3. San Francisco (SFO) – Las Vegas (LAS) -$99

When:  Sept. 18-Nov. 18

Airline:  United, Virgin America

4. Atlanta (ATL) – Miami (MIA) -$109

When:  Depart/Return Oct. 6, 7, 13, 14, 20, 21

Airline:  AirTran

5.  Manchester, NH (MHT) – Orlando (MCO) -$187

When:  Sept. 27-Jan. 27

Airline:  US Airways, Continental, Delta, Northwest

Bonus for my hometowners:

San Angelo (SJT) – Atlanta (ATL) -$253

When:  Sept. 29-Jan. 27 (return/depart Tues, Wed, Sat)

Airline:  American

Visit Priceline.com to book. All fares listed are roundtrip and include all taxes & fees.

Search Hotel Prices on Over 30 Sites at Once! Many previous domestic flight deals are still available as well.

Disclaimer: Fares were good at time of posting, not all travel dates apply, and seats may fill quickly.

[photo by: fazen]