TripHip - Travel Tips and Advice for Traveling on a Budget

This used to be a great tip for saving money while traveling, but is no longer a sure thing. Still worth checking out, if you ask me.

It used to be, that if you booked round-trip ticket, that had you departing and returning within the same week (in other words, the entire trip included no weekends), you would often get charged more because you would be considered a business traveler. So it was smart to have your trip include at least one weekend day to help keep the rate lower.

These days, travel fares aren't quite so black and white, so you might not save anything. But if you are browsing around a site like Expedia anyway, see if your flight costs changes when you adjust the dates to include a weekend.

When you are researching things to see and do for your vacation, don't just read about all the regular attractions. Check on schedules for annual events as well. They're not always listed along with the typical tourist spots, so can easily be missed (especially when browsing on websites).

You should check for 2 reasons. The first is that you don't want to miss a chance to attend something you might really enjoy. Especially if its something you could have easily adjusted your schedule for.

Secondly, you still need to watch for major events that you *don't* want to go to. Small towns can be inundated with people if there is something going on, and you might want to avoid visiting during those times if you hate crowds. In some cases, hotel rates may actually be higher anyway.