Summer Travel Deals

If you can stand the summer heat or the threat of a hurricane, this season is generally one of the best for finding travel deals. Locations like Las Vegas, Atlanta, and Cancun and running some incredible deals.. some of which even include airfare.

Just recently my husband and I took advantage of the deals to Vegas. For two roundtrip air tickets from Birmingham and 4 days three nights at a Central Strip three star hotel we paid less than $800. Even though it was already in the 108-111 degree range during our trip, we quickly learned the ropes to stay cooler. Beacuse we went during a more "undesirable" time of the year due to the weather, we were able to secure this great deal on the 4 day 3 night vacation package through Southwest at an incredible rate.

One of the best options available to Vegas travelers now is the Monorail system that makes stops at several places along the strip. It's a much cooler and efficient option than walking -- a lesson we learned on our first day there when we thought a location looked two blocks away when it was actually five. On a day when it's 111 degrees, it wasn't a pleasant journey, especially wearing sandals with metal rings in them and the sun beating down on me. The casinos also seem to know the heat can be a deterrent and to ease this, they have mist walkways set up and alternate routes set up that would allow your journey to cut through the shopping areas of the casinos.

Another thing to consider when planning your trip to Vegas or other areas which may be hot is to find things you can do on the inside. We were able to check out the motion ride at Luxor, do the indoor Gondoloa ride at the Venetian, the roller coaster at New York New York, and tour the Bellagio Conservatory during our trip. Cirque Du Soleil's "O" at the Bellagio is NOT to be missed. It's and incredible show that is a feast for the eyes and ears. The show is dark on Mondays and Tuesdays so keep this in mind when reserving tickets.

The night time is a great time to do outdoor things like the observatory from the Eiffel Tower replica at the Paris hotel and don't miss the downtown Freemont experience. Not only did we get to enjoy the overhead light show featuring Queen music and videos but we also got to check out two talented bands and some street artists.

Some of the best places to find travel deals are on public travel forums like tripadvisor.com and Frommers. Travel Zoo and smartertravel.com are also good options to help search for travel deals. For airfare, try Kayak.com. This search engine actually searches most major airlines and other online booking agents at one time based on your query. The Internet is full of great travel deals. It's just a matter of having the patience and flexibility to be able to snag the deal. Happy traveling!