Travel Tip #1: Do your homework.

Kicking of Tip Tuesdays with my first travel tip.  This one seems obvious and also stupid, but very important--but do you travel homework!  Get familiar with travel sites and other travel resources to see where you can get the best bang for your buck.  Don't just stick to one website for all your hotel and flight bookings, shop around.  Compare and contrast differences or if you have a price assurance booking with them.  With our tight economy, every cent counts that you will save.

Last minute trip?  Well this still applies!  Chances are you've gone to a particular place before, but you and your friends or family decide in rather short notice you want to go for a quick weekend trip.  Jog your memory, think back to where you have stayed before--was it affordable?  fitting?  If yes, you should have no problem staying there again.  You should have a few days to still book a room or a flight if not driving, give yourself at least 2 days to look over different hotels, offers, and combination flight and hotel packages.

Check travel sites more than once a day, and not always on weekends.  Travel sites work exactly how the cost of flights and hotels work, they go up and down in price depending on time of day and what day of the week.  If you check earlier in the morning, flights may actually be a little cheaper as to trying to book a flight later in the day.  It makes sense though--most people sleep in, work, or have class to tend to which means less traffic on the site for booking flights.  Less traffic equals lower prices.  Later in the day when people have more time to check out prices for flights and lodging, prices may go up since there will be a lot more traffic than before having a potential for a higher profit.  Now with hotels that may differ a bit, since they are usually at a flat rate--but travel sites and other travel resources offer discounts now and then, so keep your eyes pealed and remember where you saw the savings!

There really isn't must more to the tip than I have already stated.  Take some time to research all the possibilities out there to get your vacations affordable as possible.  Wake up 30 minutes earlier to check out travel sites, you may find a hot deal early in the morning.  And it never hurts to just check out sites for fun to get pricing ideas, even if you aren't planning a vacation in the near future.  Remember this tip, and plan yourself a great, affordable getaway!