Where to find cheap flights

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Cheap flights are available from many vendors and there are a few options to search for these. We all want a bargain flight and with a lot of research on the Internet, you might just be lucky.

So, one of the first things to do after you have decided that it is time to take that next trip is to book your flight. As this often is one of the more expensive parts of travelling, it is important to find a good deal. Where would you buy your tickets? Do shop around but more often than not the following conclusions are worth taking into consideration so that you don't have to spend too long finding that bargain.

1. If you are travelling within Europe andRyanair will take you to your destination, it is without a doubt the cheapest option to book with them directly. That is if you buy your ticket well in advance, mind you not too far away though as that can prove expensive too, don't travel with baggage and hold a VISA Electron. Travelling with Ryanair deserves a few blogs on its own so I will return to the subject.

2. If you are planning a trip further afield, then it will be cheaper to go trough brokers or travel agents rather than buying directly with the airlines. Shop around little but as there aren't that many good cheap sites out there, it won't be too much work. The standard brokers that I would use are Expedia, Ebookers, Lastminute and Gohop. There is one Irish agent however that always come up trumps for me and that is Travelpaths. I have booked many of my flights with them simply because they offer me value for money.

3. There is a 3rd option to consider if you don't mind being kept in the dark about the flight operator etc and that is to go and check out Hotwire. Hotwire provides flights, hotels and car rentals cheap but the snag is that you don't find out all the details until you have actually paid. I haven't yet tried it for flights but the hotel option works brilliantly.

Do you have any other recommendations? I would love to find out...

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Where to find a good car rental

The expression; it is a jungle out there fits perfectly when it comes to car rentals. It doesn’t matter if you are renting from a company themselves or through an online broker. It is hard and difficult to fully understand the prices and what you get for your money. When it comes to renting a car you need to know so much more than what kind of car you will be picking up. You need to make sure that you have all the relevant insurances, otherwise the rental if you have an accident will prove very expensive indeed.

The best option is probably to first familiarize yourself with the main car rental companies. There are a few big ones out there such as AVIS, Hertz, Dollar, Budget and Alamo. See what they offer in terms of cars, insurance policies, free mileages and any extras and what they do charge you. Once you know what you ought to get and how much it costs, then you can go on to the online broker sites and see if you can get a better offer.

There are even more brokers out there than you can imagine. Type in cheap car rental and you will have no trouble finding websites to visit. Are they all the same you might wonder? Of course not, they vary. I have only ever used one online broker, Autoeurope, and I can say that I have been happy with them so far. Perhaps you can give some tips as to other ones?

There are of course other ways of renting a car a bit cheaper. Do a combo for instance, when you book your flight or hotel, book your car rental then too. More often than not you will then be able to get a good package deal rate. Especially if you are using a broker site like Expedia or Ebookers.

I will get back to Autoeurope and their car rentals in more details later on. In the meantime, has anyone ever had trouble with them?

Related posts:

• Where to find cheap flights
• Have you heard of Hotwire?
• Budget airlines; Ryanair the European low-cost carrier.