When planning on taking a vacation to your dream location, cost is always a factor. There are so many things to consider: travel, hotel, rental car, gas, food, attraction fees, souvenirs, etc. You can search holiday homes all over the world these days, so the choices are near endless, which means that you can go anywhere you want. However, a lot of the times, when booking travel-related expenses, options can be overwhelming! That’s where KAYAK comes in! This website is awesome! Not only can you book flights, car rentals, and packages, you can bundle everything together! KAYAK was definitely a lifesaver while I was booking my trip to Hawaii this past summer, while saving me time and money.
My friend recently booked a trip to Australia, using KAYAK. She told me how easy it was to book her flight, hotel, and car rental all in one place. Using the app on her phone, she was able to check all of her reservations and have everything in one spot. Convenience will traveling is always of the upmost importance, and streamlining all of your travel plans helps to save time and money!
Booking Flights
When looking for flights, KAYAK has been my go-to website for years. Being able to search hundreds of websites at once is a time saver and really helps you to save money by finding the best deal. While searching for flights to Hawaii and California, I was able to see prices from all the different carriers at once, as well as different “hacks” that use different carriers for each leg of your journey.
For our purposes, we chose “multi-journey” since we were traveling to multiple cities and were able to find the best price and the best schedule that fit our itinerary. We ended up using two different airlines to complete our journey. Booking through KAYAK made this experience seamless and easy without having to worry about different logins, schedules, and payments through different websites. Another thing that I love is that you can set up alerts to ping you when your desired itinerary lowers in price. So not only do you find the best price,KAYAK does all the work for you! Save time, save money!
Booking Car Rentals
Another big cost in travel is car rental. If you are flying somewhere, you won’t have your own car! Because our hotel was not near the airport and there was no shuttle, we needed to rent a car. Same as looking for a flight, there are so many options to consider. What type of car do you need? If you’re traveling to Iceland and you plan on traversing the rugged terrain there, this question may be of great importance to you; you may wish to view Cars Iceland for appropriate vehicles for your trip. What is your budget? How long do you need transportation? Which company do you want to use? Again, KAYAK makes this super easy! After entering your pick up and drop off locations and dates needed, you can search for what cars are available. KAYAK automatically checks other websites for your, saving you time and money! It is easy to find cheap cars wherever you need them: Hawaii, the UK, or Melbourne! Some like to bring their own cars all around the world with them! One friend bought a new car through finding a great loan quote from Money Expert and took that around the world but everyone has their own preference.
On my last trip, I ended up renting a white Jeep Wrangler. Man, was this car HUGE and scary to drive, compared to my normal Prius car that I have at home. The worst part was that a bird flew right into the car grate while I was on the highway. THAT was a terrifying and sad moment 🙁 for the bird and me. Fun fact: did you know that white is the most popular color car in Hawaii? Most cars are white, and we saw so many cars that looked like ours!
Booking hotels
While I didn’t need to book a hotel while in Hawaii since I was staying at Aulani with Disney Vacation Club, I always have needs to book hotels! When we are traveling, especially on long driving trips where we need to stay overnight, checking KAYAK will show me available hotels on my route. We frequently will drive as far as our attention will handle, and then book a hotel from the car before we stop. Being able to check different sites all at once allows us to find availability at a price we can afford. Depending on traffic during our route, we might want to stop earlier or later. Not booking a hotel days in advance allows us a little more flexibility in our travels.
Of course, once we are at our location, we want to have a hotel booked and ready to go. Being able to see different options is a big draw as we choose where we want to stay. Being able to check availability, price, ratings, and reviews is always important when deciding which hotel to book.
Other Tips for Saving Time and Money While Booking Travel
You can frequently find good deals for attractions and restaurants on Groupon. A lot of places will list deals and discounts on Groupon, allowing you to find cheaper activities while you are traveling. I have also used CityPass for access to many different activities and museums. They have passes for all around the world, and are very cost effective if you plan on doing a lot of sightseeing activities with entrance fees.