PLANNING - Europe On a Budget - page 27

ITA Matrix Search ( matrix.itasotware.com ) is the industry standard flight search engine.
It is super powerful and it allows you to do extremely complex itinerary searches. The main
drawback is that you can't actually make bookings though the site.
Hipmunk.com utilizes the ITA Matrix software and it allows to you book flights. Hipmunk
has a few cool booking features and does a really good job at finding cheap fares.
Google.com/lights is another site that uses the ITA Matrix software—which was actually
purchased by Google a few years ago.
STATravel.com and StudentUniverse.com both offer discounted tickets specifically for
students and people under age twenty-six. These sites are definitely worth checking out as you
can sometimes find a good deal.
Momondo.com and Mobissimo.com are two other relatively new booking sites that have
started to grow in popularity. Both are worth checking out.
Adioso.com is a great option for flexible travelers. You just type in “New York to Europe”
and then choose a time period and trip length. Then it shows the cheapest option based on
your search.
Airfarewatchdog.com will send you weekly email price alerts on specific routes that you
choose. It gathers many otherwise unadvertised flight deals and cheap fares. FareCom-
pare.com , TripAdvisor.com , and other major booking sites all have email alerts.
You can search the major booking sites like Orbitz.com , Expedia.com , Travelocity.com ,
Priceline.com , and CheapTickets.com , but I rarely find the best deals on those sites. Other
booking sites are Vayama.com , and CheapOAir.com
You can often find good deals directly from the airline's website so don't forget about
them. Sign up for email alerts for all major airlines as they sometimes have short-term deals
on airfare that are only advertised through their email list.
Worried that the price of your flight will drop after you purchase it? Yapta.com will track
your ticket and send you an email if the fare drops. Some airlines will issue you a refund on
the difference. Or, if nothing else, you can wallow in agony knowing that you could have paid
less for your ticket.
Best Travel Guide Books and Online Resources
Traditionally, guidebooks have been the traveler's bible, but over the past few years the pro-
liferation of online travel resources has greatly reduced the usefulness of the trusty guide-
book. And it's no surprise because the Internet solves many of the inherent flaws of traditional
guidebooks.
For starters, it takes months to compile a guidebook, so by the time the topic is in your
hands, much of the information is already two or three years old. During that time businesses