Create Your Vacay Budget
Just like with your personal finances, it is important to set your money limits before you even start exploring where you want to go on a trip. Be sure to account for everything in your budget, such as airfares, gas, hotels, food, entertainment, activities, souveneirs, and the unexpected surprises that may spring up.

Cement Your Airfare
If your flying for your trip, start looking at rates now ad book early to get the best deals and sae the most money. Websites like kayak.com can help you narrow down the best deals in airfare and travel times. Yapta.com will alert you when the airfare drops and for $15, the website will help your fight for  a refund if you have already played for your flight.

Bargain Rooms
When you are on vacation, the chances are good that, unless you are on your honeymoon, your hotel space will be used mostly for changing, bathing, and sleeping – so why spend a ton of cash for luxury digs when you never plan to be there? Visit hotels.com or tripadvisor.com to find low cost lodging and real-life reviews from those who have stayed before you.

Rental Cars
For the best rates on rented vehicles, at your destination, plan to rent from a location outside of the airport, perhaps find one near your hotel. Check out hotwire.com for the deals and the information. You can generally save a lot of cash if you shop around.

Insure Yourself
If your trip costs more that several hundred dollars, you might want to consider travel insurance to protract you. In the event of an illness, disaster, or even if the airline loses your bags, you will be protected. Insuremytrip.com can give you the lowdown on different coverage and prices.

Seek Professional Assistance
If our trip planning is not so simple, do not hesitate to consult with a travel agent. Their experience and accessibility to exclusive deals can save you way more money than you would spend on their services fees, which generally run between $50-$200.

Vacations should be a source of relaxation and fun. Getting into debt over a trip that is supposed to relieve stress, will only add to it. Planning ahead and shopping for deals can allow you to afford a vacation. If you want to even make it easier on yourself, start saving in advance so that when the time comes to go away, you’ll have the necessary cash to pay for your vacation and leave debt behind you.

More Vacation for Less Money was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

More often than not when you stay at a hotel now, during the check-in process you will be asked for a credit card.  The hotel is keeping it on file in order to cover any incidentals you may encounter.  Incidentals include:

• phone calls made from room phone
• drinks and snacks from the room mini-bar
• internet usage
• room service
• room damages

This almost always results in a “hold” on funds available with your card.  If you were hoping to use that card for all trip expenses, you could be in trouble should you be nearing your card limit.  Here are some tips for avoiding the hidden costs on your next trip:

• When making your hotel reservation, find out how much money they place a hold on during check-in.  It probably won’t tell you this on the hotel website or when you call the 800 number to reserve- but feel free to ask customer service and they will tell you.  Knowing how much they’re going to hold will let you know how much extra to bring with you on vacation.
• Instead of using a credit card when you check in, pay with cash.  They will probably try to tell you they need a credit card, but cash is an acceptable form of payment everywhere.  Ask to speak to a manager.  You can pay for the incidental deposit using cash and be billed upon check-out for anything that doesn’t cover.
• Choose a pre-paid credit card.  There is really no way around the incidentals “holding” of funds, so one way to make sure it doesn’t distrupt your trip is to place just enough money on a pre-paid card to pay for that deposit and use other sources of payment for the rest of your trip.  If it takes the hotel a long time to refund the money they “held”, you’re trip won’t be effected because you budgeted to cover these costs and have other methods of payment for the trip.
• Instead of staying in a hotel or resort, you could choose a campground, bed and breakfast, or hostel- these accommodations are not known for placing holds on funds for incidentals.

While there may not be away around the incidentals, if you know they’re there and you’ll likely have to pay for them upfront (and be reimbursed later) at least you can plan for them they will be less likely to ruin your trip!

How to Budget for Hidden Travel Costs was created by and is property of American Consumer News.