Discount Travel 365

Caribbean Remains Top Cruise Destination

discounttravel365@gmail.com — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 12:14:25 PST

Caribbean cruises remain a top destination among cruisers according to a new survey by the Cruise Lines International Association.

Save Money On All Your Travel Destinations Including Your Caribbean Cruise - Click Here

While the economy is having an impact, Caribbean cruises are still on the itinerary. Consumer interest in Caribbean cruising remains strong, according to the CLIA, with 55 percent of vacationers who have never taken a cruise intending to do so in the next three years.

Since the money is tighter for many Caribbean cruisers, many cruisers are watching their spending on the boat, says Brown, cutting back on onboard spending, planning independent short excursions and choosing a cruise near a home port to avoid having to fly to meet the ship.

That means the Caribbean is rebounding and the Mediterranean is losing out, says Brown. So much that Carnival is pulling Carnival Freedom from its previously announced 2009 summer itineraries in the Mediterranean and positioning it year-round in the Caribbean, she says.

The Caribbean cruise is traditionally cheaper than other cruises, because it is a year-round destination and people don't have to travel far to catch the ship. Other cruise regions are seasonal: Canada/New England and Alaska are only accessible via cruise ship in warm months, she says.

"With the Caribbean cruise, one of the biggest advantages is there's simply more choice and it's a much more flexible option," she says, adding that cruisers will have the most choices in terms of a ship from the winter holidays to mid-April. "During times of the year when there's more variety, pricing will be more competitive as well."

While vacationers, including cruisers, generally travel in pairs, family travel is exploding, says Brown. In 2008, 25 percent of cruisers traveled with kids under age 18, compared to 13 percent in 2002, according to CLIA.

The increase may be responsible for bringing the median age of a cruiser down to 46 in 2008 from 49 in 2006.

Brown compares today's Caribbean cruises to camps, ships retrofitted with science labs, teen lounges with video games, plasma TVs and dance floors. There's rock climbing, surfing and miniature golf. Some cruises even offer teens their own place to sunbathe and special mom and teen spa packages.

Caribbean cruises are also a superior economic value for families you can have as much as you want to eat and children have plenty of activities.

Even with no clear end in sight to rising gas prices, cruising is not expected to decline, says Allison-Shane. The overall satisfaction ratings for cruises are high: 95 percent of all cruisers rate their experience as satisfying and more than three-fourths of past cruisers plan to take another cruise within three years.

Brown says some of the most exciting cruise ships have yet to set sail. The new Celebrity Solstice has a freshly manicured lawn on the highest deck and Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas will be the largest cruise ship in the world when it launches next year.

Save Money On All Your Travel Destinations Including Your Caribbean Cruise - Click Here

Preparing to Travel the World

discounttravel365@gmail.com — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:31:12 PDT

This post is the first installment in Discount Travel's "how to travel the world" series, which will periodically be posted here at Discount Travel 365.

The toughest thing about traveling around the world is not the logistics but motivating yourself to get on the road. However, once you have made the decision to travel, you have to figure out the logistics. Most travelers are overwhelmed by this. They don’t know where to begin or what to do. Don’t worry though- they aren’t as hard as you might think. In fact, once you put everything on paper, it’s quite easy. This three part series will take you through the logistics and steps needed to travel the world from beginning, middle, and end.

Pre-Trip Planning

Over the years, you’ve accumulated lots of stuff that needs to be dealt with. What are you going to do with all your things? Your apartment? How will you pay your bills? Car? How do you handle money? There are many things that need to be done before taking off around the world but not as many as you might think:

Money

Bank Accounts- It’s important to get your finances in order before you go away. Beyond just having money to travel with, it’s important that you organize it properly. Before you leave you should set up two ATM ready accounts and one savings account. Why two? Because in case one card gets lost or stolen, you’ll want to have a back up. Moreover, pick global banks. You want to minimize the number of fees you have to pay abroad. You don’t want to be paying $10 dollars every time you need money. Additionally, find banks with partnerships agreements and visit those ATMs as it is another way to reduce fees. HSBC is a good bank as they have branches all over the world. Moreover, they use a four digit pin and, in many parts of the world, machines don’t except a pin larger than four digits. Use the savings account (internet accounts pay the best) as a way to transfer money between checking accounts and as a way to earn some interest while you are gone.

Credit Cards- Once you have made the decision to go, picking the right credit card for you so you can start getting some travel freebies, either its cash back, airline miles, or hotel points. It will help save money on the road. While traveling, get a credit card that do not charge foreign transaction fees. Most credit cards charge a 3% fee for use overseas. However, Capital One and Discover do not charge this fee and also use an exchange closer to the market rate meaning you will get more for your money without having to pay for it. Make sure to get two so you have a backup!

Bills- You don’t want to have to worry about mailing in checks or checking ten different online accounts while away. Automate all your payments and put them on one card. (Use an existing card that you won’t travel with so you don’t have more on the card than you can afford.) It is much easier and quicker to log in and pay one card then log in and pay ten.

Wills/Insurance- If you are older, married, and have assets, make sure that you write a will and get proper life insurance. If something were to happen to you on the road, it is important that your family will not have any problems taking care of you or your assets. You don’t want them dealing with a legal limbo.

Planning to travel the world

Airplanes- Airline tickets are a long topic and I have delved into them in greater detail here on how to find a cheap flight. However, the cliff notes version is that if you are doing a simple route and have no airline miles, get a Round The World (RTW) ticket. If you are planning a complicated route, are unsure how long you want to be somewhere, and have a few airline miles, it is better to pay as you go. That way you can take advantage of air deals, low cost regional carriers, and your airline miles.

Insurance- Travel insurance is something you will need on the road. You never know what could happen and most insurance plans won’t cover you overseas. Check your health care provider to see if you are covered. If you are not, you should get travel insurance. One of the best insurance companies is World Nomads. They are very reputable and claims are quickly and fairly processed. When deciding what insurance company to get, consider the following: 1. their costs, 2. how much will they insure you for, 3. do they have medivac?, 4. do they cover lost or stolen goods?, and 5. Will they cover trip interruptions?

Route- Everyone has different places they want to go but there is still some advice to be given in determing how to tackle those places. Pick a route that follows one direction. This will cut down on travel expenses and doubling back. Moreover, many travelers love to see as much as they can in a short amount of time. Three days there, two days here. They try to see it all. It is easy to see why people want to do this (they might not get another chance) but in travel less is more. Slow travel allows you to drink deep the culture you are in and really get to understand a place. Travel isn’t a check list. Most experienced travelers will tell you the same thing- slow down. The more you rush, they less you will actually see.

Discount Travel Cards- There are a number of travel discount cards available to travelers. If you are eligible for any or all of them, get them before you go. These cards can save a lot of money on tours, hostels, and transportation. Sometimes even restaurants will give you a discount. The major travel discount cards are: ISIC (student card), YHA (hostel card), HI (hostel card), VIP (general purpose card- used in Australia and NZ). You can check them out at STA Travel, where they are sold for around $20 dollars.

Your stuff, while traveling the world

Selling Your Stuff- Get rid of it all -- or at least some of it! When you come back you’ll find you have a new appreciation for simplicity and you’ll be amazed at how much stuff you had that you didn’t really need so sell everything. Many times people go away and end up staying away. Better to get rid of what you can than worry about. A garage sale, or sites like Craigslist and Gumtree can help facilitate that process. Many stores by old electronics- check your local yellow pages for such companies. You don’t want to be in Nepal and thinking “I hope my TV is ok.”

Choosing the Right Backpack- It’s important to choose the right backpack. You’ll want a backpack with straps, padding, an internal frame, and that is prportional to you. See the link for more information.

Packing- Pack as little as possible. You only need half as much as you think (but double the money!). The bigger the pack you buy the more you will be temped to fill it. Before buying a backpack, write down what you’ll need to bring. Surprisingly you will find it is very little. Essentials to pack: Toothbrush, razor, shaving cream, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, sun tan cream, any medicines you need, jeans, shorts, a few pairs of underwear, a long sleeve t-shirt, socks, flip flops, shoes, a bathing suit, a jacket, and a handful of t-shirts.

Mail- Everyone gets mail and if you are away for a long time, it will start to pile up. You certainly don’t want to come home to a small Mt. Everest of mail on your doorstep. There are a few options to think about: automatic bill pay, send it home, or a mail service, such as Earth Class Mail. Automatic bill pay is the easiest. Not only do you save some trees, but you save hours opening envelopes when you return home. Since you may not want mom seeing your credit card statement or want to deal with receiving mail, I strongly advocate the first option.

One last thing, make sure you makes copies of EVERYTHING before you start traveling around the world. Give your family a copy of your passport, airline tickets, insurance, and whatever other documents you might have. Keep two copies of everything, You never know what might happen on the road and it is always better to be safe than sorry.

As you can see, there isn’t too much to do before you go travel the world. Just a few days of solid work

Bargain Discount Travel Opportunities

discounttravel365@gmail.com — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 21:08:55 PDT

Discount travel opportunities abound!

With the US currency weakening due to the our nation's current economic circumstances, many of Americans' favorite travel destinations are becoming increasingly unaffordable. Still, there are some steeply discounted travel bargains to be had, even ones to exotic locations, if the potential traveler is willing to consider locations that don't typically come up in conversation. Below are a number of vacation destinations that will allow the savvy vacationer to travel at a discount (at least compared to his neighbor down the street who decides to visit Europe or the Caribbean!).

Malaysia is one of the more westernized of Asia's many bargain travel destinations. Besides a lovely climate, lush vegetation, and a fascinating culture, travelers can be assured of safe drinking water in most developed areas, a variety of local cuisines, and relative safety for their families and children. Travelers to Malaysia enjoy tropical jungles, beautiful beaches, and colorful ancient temples. Public transportation in the form of cozy trains and well-equipped buses is also readily available in most areas. What's best about this Asian gem is that a small bamboo bungalow, decent meals, and snorkeling equipment can be had for as little as $30 a day in the country and about twice that in the city.

Peru is well know for its ruins of Machu Picchu, but travelers willing to explore the rest of the country are likely to find some significant discounts. Wonderful meals in local restaurants can often be purchased for as little as $2, and midrange lodging in the large cities of Lima and Cuzco can be found for as little as $60-$70 a night. The traveler willing to look elsewhere can find comfortable lodging for far less than that. Beyond its famous ruins, Peru offers a number of colonial cities, untouched stretches of the Amazon rainforest, rugged whitewater rafting, and mountain hiking and climbing.

Thailand, while less developed than its Asian counterpart Malaysia, still offers a variety of beautiful sites and engaging activities -- and for even less money. Comfortable beachfront bungalows are as cheap as $20 a night, and luxurious 5-star suites are routinely only about $300 a night. Even better, raiding the couch back home for change will likely result in enough money for more than one meal of some of the best Thai food you've ever eaten. A number of discount travel packages are available online to Thailand which include visit pristine beaches, taking elephant rides, sailing on the ocean, exploring holy shrines and temples, shopping at floating exotic fruit markets, and touring all manner of historic sites. Snorkeling and diving are a must, too!

Discount Travel Vacation to the Village Green at Stowe Vermont

discounttravel365@gmail.com — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:23:14 PDT

Attention all Skiers and Snowboarders...(and anyone else who simply loves the snow)!!

Save tons of money by being a Global Resorts Network member.

Take a discount travel vacation package to the Village Green at Stowe in Vermont. The Village Green at Stowe is an award winning Townhouse Condominium resort, located in the heart of this 19th century village. Nestled in the valley on 40 acres of beautiful land, the Village Green is surrounded by majestic mountain ranges and beautiful scenery.

Mount Mansfield (Vermont's tallest mountain) not only provides great skiing in the Winter, but also a never ending display of beauty from its early morning sunrise
to its spectacular sunsets. While this is a fantastic summer resort as well,
membership is offering one of the "greatest ski weeks of the year" (Feb. 28 - Mar. 7th) for immediate purchase.

In fact, we couldn't find any availability online at this resort for this time of year. After calling the resort directly, we were told this size unit (2 bedroom), and this week (listed above) was over $300 per night totaling $2,310.00 for the week.

Right now, you can grab this 2 bedroom, highly desired ski season week for only $689. That's over a $1,600.00 savings on this one week alone.

This type of peak season, VIP access and savings, are available exclusively to our members.

The Week's Discount Travel Deals

discounttravel365@gmail.com — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 09:37:41 PDT

Graceful bridges leap the Moldau River in Prague.

EUROPE ON A SHOESTRING

Austrian Airlines has released its Winter City Steals packages to Vienna, Austria; Prague; or Budapest. Pricing varies by city and hotel and applies to stays Nov. 1-Dec. 10 and Jan. 4-March 25. Info: 800-790-4682.

Travel at a Discount to the Grand Cayman Islands

discounttravel365@gmail.com — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 09:37:41 PDT

Discount Travel Information. The Cayman Islands are crawling with a fun-loving mix of deal-cutting bankers with briefcases and cell phones, scuba divers in neon-hued wetsuits and English folk checking the cricket scores over a tipple. The islands vibrate with colour: coral reefs, bright orange frogfish, sociable stingrays and reggae beats on the street.
Thanks to a thriving tourism and cruise-ship industry, resorts and condos have sprung up all over, and you can count on every convenience, from air-con and cold beer to swanky shopping and ESPN. But if you want to get away from it all, it's easy to escape satellite dishes and slickness, not least of them underwater.
You can be assured that the Caymans, nestled between Cuba and Jamaica, are as Caribbean as a steel drum. From mid-December to mid-April temperatures average a pleasant 75°F (23.9°C) during the day and 68°F (20°C) during the night and humidity is at its lowest. During the off-season, temperatures average 83°F (28.3°C). Rainfall is highest from mid-May through to October, with frequent afternoon showers that clear as quickly as they arrive.
Mid-December to mid-April (winter) is the peak tourist season, when hotel rates are substantially higher and beaches and lodgings more crowded. As such, summer is a great time to come discount travel. The weather's warm, accommodation cheaper (down by as much as 40%) and the crowds thinner. There is more rain in summer, but it tends to come in downpours that clear as quickly as they arrive. Nervous Nellies will rightly tell you that this is hurricane season, but the chances that you'll get swept up in the big one are slim. Even so, it's best to keep an eye on the weather reports in the days before your arrival

Diving in the Cayman Islands attracts lot of tourists. Whether you're a pro or beginner, the experiance is invigorating. Some of the places to see underwater are:

Orange Canyon
Although a deep dive, this is a popular site thanks to the vivid beauty of the area. Huge elephant ear sponges can be found on this healthy and active reef. Fish life is also very good - lots of blue chromis, Creole wrasse schools, turtles and eagle rays. The site is full of deep crevices and many swim-throughs. The wall is apparent at around 100ft, where it drops off into the blue under sea world.

Sunset Reef & L.C.M. David Nicholson
This site is the house reef for Sunset House hotel, with a small fee to dive here and use their pier facilities. Tanks and weight can be rented right at the dive window near the pier. Entry is easy and there are a couple of good photo opportunities at the site, including the statue of the Mermaid Amphitrite and the shipwreck LCM David Nicholson. Both can be visited in the same dive. This is also a great night and dusk dive, so come here before sunset to watch the hamlets do their mating rituals. Once they start circling one another they don't seem to care if the camera is flashing away - shameless!

Oro Verde
This wreck has been pretty much broken up by storms over the years, but its proximity to Peter's Reef in the shallows above it and the fact that it still provides a lot of habitat for the fish and small creatures in the area makes it an interesting dive site. Its depth is also attractive as a nice long dive can be made on the ship and the reefs nearby. Don't be surprised if you're greeted by French angels on descent. While fish feeding isn't practiced all that much in the Caymans away from Stingray City, dive masters sometimes take a bit of fruit, such as orange pulp, down with them to entice fish close to divers. The angels seem to like this and it seems pretty harmless. It certainly makes it great for photography.

Turtle Farm Reef
A snorkel and dive site, this can be done by boat and walk-in and has a great tarpon cave. It's about a 50-yard swim over a flat reef top to a vertical mini-wall. Elephant ear, tube and vase sponges adorn the wall, as well as gorgonian fans and curious gray and queen angels. The sandy area below has southern rays and nicely patterned little lemon rays, and eagle rays are often reported here as well. To get to the tarpon cave, take a right and swim along the wall until you reach the obvious cave area on the left.

Politicians on vacation: the sun, the sea, the gaffes

discounttravel365@gmail.com — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 09:37:41 PDT

Discount Travel News. Waves wind, a beautiful island, crystalline skies: For you and me, the elements of a perfect vacation. But as Barack Obama might recall as he heads to Hawaii for a vacation later this month, for the last Democratic presidential nominee, these have been the harbingers of political disaster.
If there had been steady rain that week in August 2004, perhaps Senator John F. Kerry would never have ventured into Nantucket Sound with his windsurfing board, thus depriving his Republican foes of the chance to make one of the most devastating ads of the campaign - a spot showing Kerry tacking back and forth as a narrator accused him of voting "whichever way the wind blows" on the Iraq war.
Vacations have provided some of the most enduring images of American presidents and presidential candidates: Ronald Reagan chopping wood on his Santa Barbara ranch, John F. Kennedy sailing off Hyannis Port, Dwight D. Eisenhower golfing at Augusta National. In an arena dominated by personality-stifling suits and cookie-cutter rallies, vacations are colorful departures from the everyday and a window into our leaders' hearts, showing us what they find beautiful and relaxing, the people and places they value most.
But a vacation is also a prime setting for a political fiasco, a kaleidoscope of dorky outfits, unplanned digressions, and luxurious backdrops that can look (always in hindsight) awfully inappropriate during times of economic hardship. For Kerry, what might have seemed like an impressively athletic activity for a man in late middle age morphed into the perfect visual metaphor for his opponents' case against him.
Vacations are "fraught with danger because the media covers them so aggressively, and there's nothing going on," said David Carney, former political director for President George H.W. Bush. "They always sound great in the conference room, but it's where the sandals meet the sand - the execution is always very difficult."
Both major presidential candidates this time have avoided vacation gaffes. When Obama went to Hawaii early last year just before announcing his presidential bid, People magazine published photos of him on the beach looking buff. His Republican rival, John McCain, prefers to relax at his ranch near Sedona, Ariz., a private enclave hidden from the prying eyes of the press.
Both men are planning some time off this month before their party conventions and the final, exhausting stretch to Election Day on Nov. 4. McCain is expected to spend weekends at home.
The presidential campaign trail is littered with vacation mishaps. Dayton Duncan, deputy press secretary to Walter Mondale, the Democratic nominee in 1984, and press secretary for Michael Dukakis, the party's nominee in 1988, said Mondale took time off after the Democratic convention to go fishing in northern Minnesota because he needed a break. Four years later, Duncan said, the Dukakis team decided Mondale's holiday had cost him valuable time. So Dukakis spent a working vacation in Boston doing low-key gubernatorial events. "That was a huge mistake," he said. "Basically he was going and dedicating new tollbooths on the Mass. Turnpike, which hardly looked presidential."
In what became a symbol of his poll-driven presidency, in 1995 and 1996 President Clinton famously replaced his beloved annual sojourn to Martha's Vineyard with a trip to another tourist mecca, Jackson, Wyo., after his pollster, Dick Morris, insisted swing voters prefer hiking, according to Morris's memoir, "Behind the Oval Office." The president, Morris wrote, unhappily obliged, though he spent as much time as possible on the golf course.
And in 1992, President George H. W. Bush, who at one point tried to cultivate a taste for pork rinds to endear himself to everyday voters, learned the hard way that cigarette boats and golf carts are sorry accessories for a recession-era president - particularly one who is up for reelection.
"There are two ways vacations can mess you up: Number one, choice of location, and number two, of course, is what you do when you get there," said Robert J. Thompson, founder of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University.
No presidential candidate suffered more on the second count than Kerry. His love of snowboarding, windsurfing, and cycling helped Republicans paint him as an elitist. His apparel became fodder for comics and critics, from his "silly little bicycle pants," as Zell Miller, then a senator, described Kerry's swim trunks, to the elaborate hunting gear he broke out for a staged duck-hunting expedition shortly before Election Day. Being himself or faking it, he just couldn't win.
Presidential vacations have occasionally proved politically beneficial. Historian Richard Norton Smith said President Coolidge's retreats to the family homestead in Vermont, which had no electricity or running water, appealed to nostalgic Americans during the "bacchanalia" of the Roaring Twenties. "He became a symbol of a simpler, seemingly more virtuous America," he said.
Context is all. For the first five years of his presidency, nobody seemed to mind Eisenhower's obsession with golf vacations, said David Sowell, author of "Eisenhower and Golf: A President at Play." When rival Adlai Stevenson made a crack about the getaways during the 1956 race, Sowell said, the New York Daily News retorted that Stevenson "takes as much risk sneering at baseball, baby, mother, the flag, the home or the dog."
That changed after the Soviets' launch of Sputnik and an economic downturn, Sowell said. By the 1960 election, Eisenhower's excursions had become the butt of jokes for the Kennedy campaign. Kennedy, an avid golfer himself, kept his love of golf a secret, refusing to allow himself to be photographed on the putting green after he took office.
Length of stay can also be an issue, though, by necessity, less for candidates than presidents, particularly President Bush's retreats to his estate in Crawford, Texas. "Bush woke up this morning, saw his shadow and - six more weeks of vacation," comedian Jay Leno cracked in 2005.
In this year of the "staycation" - the result of high gas prices and a sour economy - and at a time when Republicans are trying to paint Obama as out of touch with ordinary Americans, Hawaii could be a risky venue. But most political analysts said Obama's family connections to the islands will compensate.
More worrisome is lack of privacy - unlike McCain and Bush, he does not own his vacation retreat. And omnipresent cellphone cameras and YouTube mean even semiprivate settings could become public.
In March, the Obamas took a short trip to the Virgin Islands, where a family of tourists prodded him into posing with their daughter. The girl's mother gave the photo to Fox News Channel.
Political observers say the Obamas should observe the same rules they follow on the campaign trail, with some variation. "Stay away from Hawaiian prints that are too funky," advised Doug Hattaway, a former spokesman for former presidential candidate and Vice President Al Gore. Thompson suggested Obama steer clear of Speedo swimwear. "I think that's actually a good life rule in general," he said.
This is a reprint of an article in the Boston Globe written by By Lisa Wangsness Globe Staff.

Travel Survey Finds Pursuing Personal Interests Drives Discount Travel Despite Current Economic Conditions

discounttravel365@gmail.com — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 09:37:41 PDT

Discount Travel News. From Food to Music to Sporting Events, 87% of Respondents Indicate that Discount Travel Involving Personal Interests Will Remain the Same or Increase Over the Next Two Years.
From jetting overseas for a culinary experience to a desire to learn life-enriching skills while on vacation, travelers are intent on continuing to pursue discount travel experiences that allow them to indulge in their personal interests despite the softening economy, according to a recent survey of 501 U.S. adults by American Express Travel. Indeed, 87% of respondents indicated that the number of discount vacations involving one or more personal "passions" would either remain the same or increase over the next two years; of those, 28% indicated that they expect the number to increase.
These findings may come as somewhat of a surprise in light of the fact that 90% of respondents indicated that they feel the US economy is currently in or edging toward a recession. But at least 60% of respondents say that it's because discount travel is so important to their mental health and lifestyle that they have not let economic concerns impact their plans. Although these travelers are not immune to the softening economy, they are still moving ahead with their vacation plans but acting more resourceful in their planning. Most are looking for travel discounts. Taking savvy approaches to travel, 66% of respondents are tapping into rewards points or miles earned to offset costs, 58% are visiting more affordable destinations, and 24% are taking shorter vacations.
"Given the uncertain economy, we wanted to see how people's passions drive behavior when it comes to travel," says Audrey Hendley, vice president of marketing, American Express Travel. "The survey results overwhelmingly show that people whose vacations are tied to personal interests intend to continue to discount travel by taking advantage of money-saving resources, such as rewards programs."
The Purpose-Driven Vacation
From cooking and fitness to theatre and the arts to fashion and spectator sports, the survey found that personal interests are key drivers in vacation decisions. A few interesting facts:
-- 87% of travelers indicate that personal interests drive the majority of their vacation plans
-- 60%* of travelers say the stronger they feel about a passion, the further they've traveled for it
-- 57%* of respondents are willing to travel any distance to explore their personal interests
-- 36% of those surveyed said they wouldn't consider a vacation destination that doesn't help them fulfill at least one personal passion
-- 71%* of respondents have discovered a "new passion" while on vacation
-- 34% of vacationers have discovered a passion on vacation and incorporated it into their home life

ROME - If You Want To! Fly Round-Trip From $761 on American Airlines! > Expires 8/7/2008

Discount Travel - 7 Sizzling Summer Vacation Spots for Last Minute Beach Getaways

discounttravel365@gmail.com — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 09:37:41 PDT

Heading into the dog days of summer, discount travelers who put off plans for a summer vacation due to high travel prices and rising energy costs are now suffering in the heat at home. With August around the corner, find discount travel packages to beat the heat by escaping to the beach. You can also stretch your summer vacation into September, discount travel opportunities are available with average nightly rates lower than peak season, vacation homes and condo rentals are a better value than hotels in these popular discount vacation destinations.

Discount travel Late Summer Beach Vacation Spots

Manasota Key, Florida - The best reason to visit Englewood, Florida is the discount travel opportunity. This strip of land overlooks the clear waters of Florida's Gulf Coast, and you can find yourself with an oceanview or bayfront condo that overlooks your boat slip.
Fripp Island, South Carolina - Save money traveling to Hilton Head's sister island to the north, has the same laid back feel and beautiful beaches on the Atlantic Ocean.
Harwich Port, Massachusetts - The quintessential New England getaway. Escape to the cape this summer and enjoy cool ocean breezes from your porch or from the top deck on a whale watching cruise. Find a discounted Cape Cod vacation home rental, and plan a last minute family reunion at discounted travel prices.
Lincoln City, Oregon - Lincoln Beach is a sleepy little spot with amazing Pacific Ocean views and seven miles of sandy beaches surrounded by Oregon's lush landscape. If you have never been to the Oregon coast, you're missing out. Now is the time save money with a discount travel package.
Galveston Island, Texas - Save money and hop over the seawall to lay on Galveston's gorgeous beaches, or head to the world famous Schlitterbahn Water Park to cool off.
St. Simons Island, Georgia - Southern hospitality and charm lives on St. Simons Island. Tree lined streets, quaint village shops and cozy beach cottages are all part of the appeal and can be experienced traveling at a huge discount.
Kiawah Island, South Carolina - Close to historic Charleston, the island features 10 miles of pristine, sun-swept beach and oceanfront, luxury vacation homes. Take guided nature walks, go kayaking and canoeing, and spot a variety of wildlife. Why spend all the money. Travel at a discount.