Most Useful Travel Links*

latest update: January 08, 2007

SuperStar Site means a "must have"

Pricing Sites

Monitor & Notify and predict prices

FareCompare SuperStar Site (up to 5 cities plus "near-by" cities)
Orbitz Deal Detector (date specific, total price quoted)
Fare Watch from Kayak
TripStalker (download to monitor air fares, hotels & cars)
FareCast
FlySpy
AirFareWatchdog
FareReport (average fares between each city, newsletter)

US departures

ITA air pricing software SuperStar Site (inventors of the matrix pricing display for airfares, engine behind Orbitz & Kayak)
Kayak searches many other web sites (included JetBlue & "web only" fares), also does cars & hotels.
Orbitz
Internet Air Fares Watch (what is the lowest published fare to/from any city)

Within Europe & UK

OpenJet
SkyScanner (searches major European & UK budget airlines)
Momondo (searches major European & UK budget airlines)
DoHop (European discount carrier search engine)
Cheap0 (a very comprehensive guide to budget flying within Europe)
foundem (searches many discount airlines)
LowFareFlights (UK to/from Europe)
easyJet (England to/from Europe, like Southwest Airlines)
Ryanair
Virgin Express
TravelSupermarket
Which Budget (Which budget airline flies where in Europe)

Air Passes

EuropeByAir

Airline Consolidators

FAQs from travel-library.com (everything you ever wanted to know about consolidators)
ASAP Tickets
Air Travel Center consolidator listings and links
Flights.com
AirFare
Consolidator listings from DMOZ (includes hotels, cars, etc.)
Cheap Seats
Cheap Tickets
Justfares consolidator
Airline Consolidator.com
Air Brokers International (specializes in Round-the-World, Circle-Pacific, and other multi-destination international flights)

Bids Auctions and Priceline

BiddingForTravel message board (go here first before you touch Priceline/Hotwire)
BetterBidding (another source to check for winning and losing bids)
BidOnTravel (more good advise & travel guides)
Priceline.com (you don't know the price)
Hotwire (you know the price before you buy)
eBay Travel
SkyAuction (vacation auctions, do your homework and know what the prices have been)
LuxuryLink (vacation auctions)
Site 59 (spontaneous escape and entertainment )

Air fare Specials (sign up with any major and low fare airlines serving your city)

SmarterTravel e-mail newsletter of weekend specials (air, hotel & car) by city (great web site and newsletter)
Southwest Airlines e-mail Click 'n Save special fares (more flexible than most others')

Lodging & Food

Dine.com SuperStar Site Excellent site for restaurant reviews (US & Canada).
Travelaxe SuperStar Site (hotel search engine; if there is a discount available, they'll find it)
Hotel web sites and toll-free phone numbers
Express-Reservations (specialists in NYC, Los Angeles & Chicago hotels & good local information)
Vacation Rentals By Owner SuperStar Site (excellent US & Caribbean listings + very complete "links" to others)
OwnerDirectVacationRentals (Canada, Hawaii, Florida and Italy)
HotelShark (reviews)
Quikbooks (hotel search engine)
National Parks hotel guide (US & Canada)
Vacation Rentals (worldwide properties)
Rentalo (30,000 properties)
Places to Stay
TravelWeb
Informed Travel with reviews
Hotel Search Engine Hotel, Lodging, B&B... Guide - Directory

Last Minute hotel accommodations specializing in Australia, New Zealand and Asia (Wotif.com)

All-Inclusives message boards:

Trip Advisor

Debbie's Caribbean Resort Reviews

Car Rental & Road Trip info (in addition to the standard Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity)

Kayak
Travelocity
Car rental express (independent companies, many on and off airport locations, some specialty cars)
Mobil Travel Guide (trip planning, food, lodging, etc.)
Gemütlichkeit (The Travel Newsletter for Germany, Austria and Switzerland), good prices & service for cars
RentalCars (quick comparison of 5 rental companies, major US & Canadian cities only)
Kemwel (Europe & UK consolidator)
AutoEurope (consolidator)
easyRentacar (England & Europe)
MasterCarsDirect - (pre-paid cars, includes fees, taxes & insurance in quote, except cancellation insurance)

Car Hire 4 Less - (car rental consolidator for Alamo, Hertz, Budget, Europcar)

RentADeal Consolidator for major cities

European driving info from Michelin (directions, maps, hotels, food, etc.)

Maps

Univ. of Texas Library map site SuperStar Site (check their Other Maps Sites link)
Google Maps
Google Earth
Multimap (best for Europe & the UK)
TerraFly from Florida International University
Yahoo! Maps and Driving Directions
Mappy Searchable maps and driving directions - best for France and continental Europe

MapQuest.com

Research

Message Boards, Forums and Clubs

Free Traveling (pricing mistakes)
Digital City - Travel (great info for most US cities) SuperStar Site
Fodors.com Forums
Trip Advisor
IgoUgo (good comments & reviews)
BoardReader (reads many message boards, but not all)
Virtual Tourist (reviews and comments)
Frommers Travel Message Boards
European guide info & links for independent travel (excellent links and book)
Guide for Europe with message boards
Yahoo! Clubs and RecreationTravel
Travelocity Destination Guide (Message boards)
Caribbean Travel forums by island
National Geographic Travel Web site (great info + a newsletter)
About.com travel
Concierge.com Forums
Travel.Org -Pick Your Destination!
Outdoor & Cultural Travel for Women over 40 by Debbie Jacobs (also publishes a newsletter)
Rick Steves European vacations (good messages & tips)
TravelTalk on-line (Caribbean forums)
Caribbean On Line forums
Hawaii (local links)
Travel Channel -- Home Page
Tourism Offices Worldwide Directory
Epinions.com - Travel (find out about any negative reports before you buy)
PlanetFeedback (look for bad reviews of airlines, cruises, hotels, etc.)

Newspapers, Magazines & News Groups

USA Today's daily travel section (plus e-mail newsletter)
The Paper Boy (world wide newspaper links)
Newspaper sites from AJR Newslink
Travel Magazines by AJR Newslink
OnLineNewspapers
NewsDirectory
NewsDirectory of Travel magazines worldwide
WorldNews
Kiosken
Google.com News Group
you can track the history of someone who posts messages by following the author across all messages posted (in Advanced Groups Search)

Cruises (all have good message boards, forums or reviews)

CruiseOpinion reviews
CruiseCritic (go to their boards and reviews, includes singles section)
Cruisemates.com (section for singles)
CruiseCompete (have travel agents bid for your business)
CruisePage
Cruise Talk Forums from TravelPage.com
TravelPage.com directory of cruises, etc.
CRUISE @DDICTS
Ship health inspection reports (Vessel Sanitation reports from CDC)

Phone, electrical & mailing list info

Phone and electrical guides from Steve Kropla
mailing list removal (from the Direct Marketing Association)

Links & Other Stuff

SeatGURU SuperStar Site (honest seating charts and excellent advise about what seats to get and to avoid)
UpgradeSuccess (what are your chances for upgrades)
MileMaven (every possible way to maximize your frequent flyer miles)
WebFlyer (frequent flyer seat success or failure rates for each airline)
FlyerTalk SuperStar Site (Randy Peterson's excellent message board web site about frequent flyer programs)
Johnny Jet (excellent links, fun weekly newsletter)
Airport & Airline links worldwide (Aviationworld)
TRAVEL LINKS
Links, tools & tips for Business Trips (Biz Trips)
Flight Tracker from Flight View (neat graphics)
FAA flight info (updated every 5 minutes for most major US hub airports)
Train Travel in all parts of the world from "seat 61"
SmarterTravel (excellent e-newsletter)
MyBusinessTravel (by the SmarterTravel folks)
TravelScience Worldwide Languages: free, commercial and on-line resources

TravelProblem (resources to resolve travel problems)

CDC Travelers' Health requirements

Bob Cowen's web site, class info, speaking

Bob Cowen's web travel site

Would you like to add your site? Please tell me what makes your site unique and offers wide appeal. I check out all suggestions. While most sites are very good, they may be too narrow or specialized. Not being included is not a criticism, but perhaps another site already covers the topic better or wider. If your site is better than one already on the list, tell me what it does better and why it should replace another site.

* I'm always adding (and removing) sites from this page. If you have a suggested addition or criticism about any site, I'd greatly appreciate it.