GeekSugar

Looking to Escape? 9 Flash Sale Travel Sites With Great Deals

Emily Co — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:26:08 PST

It's a good idea to start planning your trips for the year now, so you can keep your eye out for the best deals and you won't have to resort to paying expensive last-minute prices. If you already have several destinations in mind, check out travel flash sale sites, which can save you hundreds of dollars! Here are a couple to browse through:

Groupon Getaways

Groupon partnered up with Expedia to launch a travel deals vector that features new deals every Tuesday. The deals stay live for seven days or until they run out. The site offers a good mix of national and international travel deals.

Hot recent deal: $39 for $100 toward a round-trip Virgin America flight from San Francisco to Chicago. The deal has already sold out, and over 5,000 Grouponers bought this deal.

Jetsetter

A luxury travel site that offers deals up to 50 percent off only the most luxurious and exotic hotels around the globe. Each sale lasts about five to seven days. You can pay 10 percent of the trip price to "hold" a trip for three days to decide whether to book it. If you decide not to purchase, the 10 percent becomes Jetsetter credit that never expires.

Hot recent deal: A hotel in Rome, Italy, that's going for $130 a night. This compares with the regular nightly rate of $220.

Read on for more sites.

Google Flight Search Offers New, Fast Way to Book Travel

Kelly Schwarze — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 05:31:04 PDT

Google's latest search product Google Flight Search offers another option for finding the best deals in the fast-moving world of online travel sources. Search airline ticket prices by entering the travel query in the main toolbar and clicking "flights" on the results page or access Flight Search directly.

Results based on departing city show up in near instantaneous speeds with plenty of customization available. Use the tool's calendar function to show a bar graph of pricing options to a destination of choice over the next several months. Additionally, explore travel by price tag before choosing a destination by selecting departure city and viewing the Google Map results of flight pricing to major airports. If you were choosing between a weekend getaway to New York or Chicago from Nashville, this function immediately displays which city fits in your price range. The search parameters are currently limited to a number of US cities and round-trip, economy-class flights.

See Google Flight Search in action in the official video after the break.

Website of the Day: Ruba

GeekSugar — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:30:36 PDT

There's nothing worse than being pumped for a vacation, then arriving to find your digs/guided tour/planned activities aren't as awesome as advertised. Unfortunately for some, this could totally shatter your dreams of an ideal vacay. So next time, do some extra research on a site like Ruba.

Similar to Trazzler (which I love) Ruba offers a much more personal and behind-the-scenes look at places around the globe so you can make an informed decision on where to travel next. It's a positive website, where people write about the hotels, restaurants, and landmarks they love and the things that made their trip worthwhile, so you know you're getting good advice.

Going a step farther than Trazzler though, Ruba offers city guides, tours and things to do in a particular city for the amount of time you're spending there. Have two days in Sydney? Ruba has you covered.

Have an interesting website you want to share? To learn how to post your favorite websites to our Website of the Day group,

Website of the Day: Tripeedo

GeekSugar — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 11:05:39 PDT

Another day, another travel website, except this one not only helps you search for the best hotel, flight, and car rental deals across the web, but it also allows you to share your travel plans with Facebook friends via Facebook Connect.

Making its official launch today, Tripeedo aggregates the best of the best in terms of travel sites (like Kayak, Expedia, and even brand new Bing), and equips you with one giant travel search engine to help you find the best fares.

You can also post your travel info on Facebook to let friends know about your trip, or view your friends' upcoming trips . . . all by some simple one click Facebook Connect action.

To learn how to post your favorite websites to our Website of the Day group,

read more.
I know that this long list looks scary, but trust me, once you get the hang of it, it'll be a snap the second time around.

First of all, join the Website of the Day group.
Click the pink "Share" menu on the top left side of the page.
Choose "Blog" and "Regular Post."
Give your story a "Title."
Fill in the "Body" with a link to your favorite website and the reasons why you love it.
Click "Next."
Choose the audience for your story to "Website of the Day" in the dropdown menu.
Add keyword(s) (for example mine for this photo was "Website of the Day").
Change channel to "Technology and Gadgets."
Fill in tag field with relevant tags.
Click "I’m done" to submit content.

So join the Website of the Day group and share information about all your favorite sites! Yours just might end up on the geeksugar homepage!

Website of the Day: Next Stop

GeekSugar — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 13:15:45 PDT

Are you getting tired of travel guide websites yet? Yeah, me neither. Especially when they do something useful and somewhat new, as is the case with Next Stop.

Created by a batch of former Googlers, Next Stop aims to help you find interesting things to do at your destination rather than just offer a deluge of reviews like Yelp, good and bad.

Next Stop takes all your good recommendations of cool places and amasses them on a map, but then the social networking link kicks in, and suddenly you're following people, making friends, starting lists, and uploading stuff to your Twitter. The best part is that Next Stop has all this stuff seamlessly built in, so it just happens effortlessly. And when all is said and done, you'll know exactly where to get the best hot dog in Chicago.

Have you found a cool website? Share it. To learn how to post your favorite websites to our Website of the Day group,

read more.
I know that this long list looks scary, but trust me, once you get the hang of it, it'll be a snap the second time around.

First of all, join the Website of the Day group.
Click the pink "Share" menu on the top left side of the page.
Choose "Blog" and "Regular Post."
Give your story a "Title."
Fill in the "Body" with a link to your favorite website and the reasons why you love it.
Click "Next."
Choose the audience for your story to "Website of the Day" in the dropdown menu.
Add keyword(s) (for example mine for this photo was "Website of the Day").
Change channel to "Technology and Gadgets."
Fill in tag field with relevant tags.
Click "I’m done" to submit content.

So join the Website of the Day group and share information about all your favorite sites! Yours just might end up on the geeksugar homepage!

10 Sites That Help You Plan Your Honeymoon

GeekSugar — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 05:55:55 PDT

Seriously, how much planning can one person take?! First you spent endless amounts of time planning your wedding, now you have to plan your honeymoon? Let some of these sites take a load off your checklist - not only are these sites great for planning travel, but help you in other ways too. Like making a vacation budget, giving you great suggestions about what to see, and tips on where not to go after dark! Check them out, and make your travel (and honeymoon) planning life a whole lot easier.

Source

Website of the Day: Voyij

GeekSugar — Thu, 14 May 2009 09:02:50 PDT

Finally, a site that combines two things I love so very much - traveling and deals! You all know I'm a sucker for a good travel website, and Voyij is the latest and greatest and combines all of the travel deals you see across the web in one convenient spot.

Brought to you by the same guys who launched SideStep (which was later sold to Kayak), Voyij scans hundreds of travel sites to post all of the latest deals, and it lets you customize each search to get exactly what you're looking for. Search by destination, origin, or dates and then choose from cheap flights, hotels or vacation packages for the ultimate affordable getaway!

To learn how to post your favorite websites to our Website of the Day group,

read more.
I know that this long list looks scary, but trust me, once you get the hang of it, it'll be a snap the second time around.

First of all, join the Website of the Day group.
Click the pink "Share" menu on the top left side of the page.
Choose "Blog" and "Regular Post."
Give your story a "Title."
Fill in the "Body" with a link to your favorite website and the reasons why you love it.
Click "Next."
Choose the audience for your story to "Website of the Day" in the dropdown menu.
Add keyword(s) (for example mine for this photo was "Website of the Day").
Change channel to "Technology and Gadgets."
Fill in tag field with relevant tags.
Click "I’m done" to submit content.

So join the Website of the Day group and share information about all your favorite sites! Yours just might end up on the geeksugar homepage!

What's Your Favorite Discount Travel Website?

GeekSugar — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 04:20:34 PDT

With the offensively high price of gas, and airlines beginning to charge for checked baggage, I'm almost in favor of a staycation this Summer. It's depressing really, because summertime is the best time to skip town and waste away again in Margaritaville.

If you're not going to take my prodding for a Smart Car, and you'll be flying the friendly skies, then I'm asking you as much for advice as curiosity; when you book airfare online, what's your favorite discount travel website?
Source

Gas Prices Are Up! What You Can Do to Save

Emily Co — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:20:33 PST

Unrest in the Middle East and the closing of American refineries have gas prices going up, up, and away for US consumers. Analysts are predicting that the prices may continue to rise.

But don't worry, there are a number of methods to save on refueling your car. Here are some tips:

Spend to Save: Look for deals around you that will help you save on your gas. For example, you can choose to frequent wholesale stores like Costco, which will give you a little bit of cash back on Costco gas. If you're a real gas guzzler, check out this full list of gas rebate cards on CreditCards.com.
Don't Top It Off: Topping off your gas may result in a higher gas bill, because you might be paying for gas that goes back into the station's tanks after your gas tank is full, says the Environmental Protection Agency. You can also ruin your car's vapor recovery system if there is no room for the gas to expand in your tank.
Smooth Trip: Starting and stopping excessively can shorten the life of your engine, transmission, brakes, and tires. Go easy on your braking and accelerating. Remember to also turn off your engine if you know you'll be waiting for a long while. Staying put without moving means you're getting 0 miles per gallon.

For more gas-saving tips, read on.

4 Panoramic Apps to Stretch Photos To the Limit

Kelly Schwarze — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 06:30:22 PST

Ahhh, the Grand Canyon, an awe-inspiring wonder that begs to be photographed. One problem: the whole "grand" part; there's certainly a lot of canyon to capture. Record all the majesty of nature without missing a single speck by arming your phone with a bevy of panoramic camera apps. An effect you once haphazardly stitched together in a photo editing program is now achieved in seconds with these four panorama apps you should never start a vacation without.

AutoStitch ($2) - Using the traditional format of snapping multiple photos of a space - rather than the gyroscope setting used in the below three apps - allows this app to create hi-res images up to 18 MP. Stitch up to 40 images together for a stunning final panorama.
360 Panorama ($1) - In addition to quickly stitching photos, photos on this app are automatically uploaded into a your personal account on the 360 Panorama website, making them accessible anywhere, at any time.

Discover two more