FrugalMonkey Discount Travel News

Tag: Travel News

  • Frugal Monkey’s Web Wrap

    When the slog of the working week gets you down, it’s easy to fantasize about getting away from it all by browsing When the slog of the working week gets you down, it’s easy to fantasize about getting away from it all by browsing through some of the best travel websites online. That’s definitely what we’ve been doing! Here are the most recent articles and blogs that have us itching to pack our bags.

    • 6 Destinations Made More Popular By Celebrities @ Gadler – You wear details of their lives in the gossip rags, now you can stay where they stay! Gadler profiles six locales that have become holiday hot spots thanks to your favorite celebrities. We can’t promise you’ll see any stars when you visit these celebrity hideaways, but it might be the closest you’ll come to living the life of George Clooney or Jay-Z!
    • Travel with a Mate – Travel bloggers and writers from all over the world come together on Travel with a Mate. The range of contributors means the post quality does vary, but it also ensures there’s a steady stream of new travel articles to enjoy.
    • Sand Boarding Namibia: Chicks Dig Scars … Right? @ Brendan’s Adventures – Call us crazy, but sand boarding in Namibia is now officially on our to-do list. Sure, blogging Brendan ended up with a row of stitches after his African adventure, but he was still keen to repeat the experience. Perhaps minus the pain!
    • Do It While You’re Young – If you’re looking for travel inspiration, this blog deserved to be bookmarked. It’s all about those dream vacations, from hitting the casinos of Las Vegas to the castles of Ireland. It’s also pretty realistic about what the Average Joe can afford too. A recent post called “Make Your Dream Vacation a Reality” is essential reading for anyone on a budget.
    • Balancing Technology and Social Experiences While Traveling Abroad @ Traveldudes – Okay, so this isn’t a post that inspires us to get away, but it’s so thought-provoking that it had to make our web roundup. As the face of travel continues to change in the digital age, this article makes some insightful points about getting the balance right.

    Girl Taking a Photo on Cell PhoneIf someone you know could use a vacation, make sure you share this post with them using our social networking buttons below!

  • Airline Industry and Travel News

    Wondering how the fall will shape up when it comes to travel deals? Well, as you may know fall is the slowest time for the airline industry. It is the time when most people stay at home since holiday travel plans are already in place, and travel has cooled off from summer. This fall, airlines have announced the lightest fall travel schedule since 2001 meaning less flights, less available seats, and likely, less travel deals. Although it will be hard to say if this lighter schedule will help to fill up a fewer available flights, last minute travel deals are likely to be more difficult to come by. As you’ve seen though, these trends are almost impossible to predict since summer travel deals are still readily available even after Labor Day.

    Stay tuned for weekly travel industry news from FrugalMonkey!


  • The Need for Travel Agents

    When the Internet first took hold of the travel industry, we were introduced to websites such as Expedia and Priceline.


    Now, the web is full of related sites, bombarding consumers with travel deals available on Travelocity, Travelzoo, Orbitz, Hotwire, CheapTickets.com, and a number of plentiful others. These travel deal websites provide consumers with enough information and travel deals from major companies that many people don’t see the need to consult travel agencies for help when booking vacations. After all, there is already plenty of information available online. For many consumers, the ease with which deals are readily available simply translates into that many more deals. There are others however, that disagree.

    It seems that there are a number of consumers growing uneasy and discontented with the way the Internet approaches travel. One savvy traveler put it, “there is more information online, but less value.” There is a growing trend among travelers to go back to relying on travel agents. While they see the online deals as helpful for some, many consumers believe it is hard to tell what options you have because there is simply such an overwhelming amount of information.

    Since this study, there has been a growing trend in the use of travel agents.


    These employees are educated on what is available and what is not, when it comes to a specific travel deal, airline, or Mexico cruise vacation. As a result a larger number of people have gone back to using travel agents instead of fighting the labyrinth of information and supposed travel “deals” available online.

    If you’re sick of trying to work your way through the maze of travel information online, you’re not alone. It seems that people want to go back to one-on-one communication with an agent, rather then 20-30 page loads and hoards of flight clicks.

    What do you think? Are you happy with your online travel needs or do you find yourself overwhelmed and not impressed?

  • Travel Industry News

    As Labor Day approaches we are left wondering if the incredible travel deals of summer will keep coming or, if we’ll see a spike in deals like the $39 each way offered by Southwest this summer.


    After a little bit of research, here is was the travel experts at FrugalMonkey have turned up:

    Fall is of course the slowest time of year for travelers, which lends itself to good upcoming travel deals. Low activity in the travel industry means airlines propose deals to increase travel among passengers. However, airlines have also just recently announced that they will be cutting back on flights in order to cut costs, which have continued to cause a loss in profits due to the recent economic slump. The result are less flights offered, which alternatively means less open seats and a loss in travel deals. Travel experts suggest however, that there will still be great deals popping up from time to time, and hotels are likely to continue offering excellent deals. However, as airlines can’t seem to recover from the recent dip in travel profits, they will be cutting flights back entirely. Stay tuned for more info and travel deals from FrugalMonkey.

  • Travel News

    Want to know what’s going on in the travel industry this week? Well, look no further. FrugalMonkey is here with all the latest information for travelers with this week’s Travel Industry News.


    Traveling With a Pet?

    As you may or may not have heard, Pet Airways is the newest airline and it’s just for pets. Owners scoot over, because the pets have taken to the skies! This new airline, which has just recently completed its first flights in the New York area, is the first and only airline for pets. Instead of seats, there are crates where dogs and cats are secured and attended to by airline staff. Pet owners can relax knowing that their pets aren’t subject to air pressure changes and other perils of having pets in the cargo area. If you want to pamper your pet, buy them a seat on this airline.

    Bing!

    Bing, is the latest discount airfare search engine and it operates a lot like FareCaster. It indicates whether flight prices are likely to go up or down and shows you when to buy the cheapest and best flights. Its new release, just a few weeks ago took the travel industry by storm, posing questions from travelers who were wondering if Bing had what it takes to please the masses. According the New York Times, Bing is better than Google and travelers seem to agree. Check it out!

    Cheap Travel

    Yes, the economy is still in a lull and yes – that means travel is still cheap.


    With all that money you’re saving on airfare dish out some cash for a new tent or backpack. Check out FrugalMonkey’s page on buying cheap travel gear.

    LOW Flights to Australia

    This one had us reeling. A year ago a flight from LAX to Brisbane would have cost you nearly $2,000 roundtrip. This year? Try $700. That’s right. Book on Qantas and save thousands on flights to Australia. Don’t forget about FrugalMonkey’s free online travel guide to Australia. It’s the only way to see the outback.

  • Travel Auction Sites Drop Booking Fees

    It seems that every week travel deals are getting better and better. Online booking services, agents, airlines, hotels and even some restaurants are trying everything they can to get people excited about travel. The result for passengers is some of the lowest travel deals and vacation packages in years. The next turn in an effort to increase travel comes from Travelocity and Orbitz. These two popular travel auction sites are dropping their booking fees which can cost customers as much as $5-$12 each time they book. Orbitz and Travelocity follow Expedia who has already foregone booking fees in hopes of roping in more travelers. This means even greater savings for travelers who use these travel auction sites and makes both international and domestic travel deals that much more attractive to people purchasing online.

    What’s the next deal in the travel world? We have our eyes peeled and will be the first to let you know.


  • New Travel Site to Find Travel Deals

    Propel Media has just launched a new travel site. What makes this new site so unique is that the content is user generated and mirrors what looks much more like a social media platform rather than a site dedicated to travel deals.

    What visitors will find on the site is the ability to post travel deals for free and receive updates from other travelers that have come across industry discounts and deals. BestTravelDeals.net is hoping that this will be the first site that provides access to travel deals, sales, promotions and coupons all in one place.

    So, the next time you’re trying to book cheap airfares, car rentals and hotels – take a look at BestTravelDeals.net and see if you can find any new travel deals and information from their network of users. We’re interested to see the types of travel deals we’ll come across!


  • A New Travel Option For Pet Owners

    Do you do a lot of domestic travel? Do you bring your pets? Are you tired of airlines that require your pets to travel as cargo?


    Well, for all you pet loving travelers out there, a new airline just might have the solution. PetAirways, the official airline for pets, is expected to launch this July.

    Passengers who travel with airlines find that many airlines require pets to travel as cargo. This consistently put pets under stressful flying situations. Temperature, pressure and long flights put undue stress on pets that occasionally, succumb to psychological and physical damage. With PetAirways, travelers can rest easy knowing that their pet is in a temperature and pressure controlled flying situation with experts in animal care. What makes this possible? Kennel crates instead of seats and animal caretakers instead of flight attendants.

    Inaugural flights will cost pet owners around $140 and should hover around $250 each way once the airline is running consistently. It could cost you a lot less then car rental prices for the same distance, or paying cargo fees for flights. It’s worth looking into and we think, a pretty cute idea.

  • Book the trip of a lifetime and travel to South Africa for the World Cup

    If you needed more conventional reasons to travel to South Africa you might think about it’s gorgeous cities, beautiful coastlines, romantic plains and South Africa’s famous wine country; all good reasons to go on a vacation to South Africa.


    Animal lovers and adventure seekers are common visitors to South Africa because of the variety in what it offers to travelers. Baboons are famous in South Africa as is the Great White Shark, which brings in thousands of adventure extremists to boat off the South African coast or go shark diving in infested waters. Wildlife game reserves provide visitors with the chance to see black rhinos, giraffe, zebra and wildebeest on one of the many tours in William Pretorius Game Reserve, a favorite amongst visiting tourists. For a more luxurious vacation South Africa hardly disappoints, as wine lovers roam the vineyards on sunny afternoons taking in the fine varieties that make up South Africa’s booming wine industry. These are just a few of the things awaiting you on a South African vacation of normal sorts and, right now travelers are enjoying new routes from the United States and Europe at low costs when you travel South African Airways.

    There is however, something buzzing underneath the normal excitement felt by vacationers on a trip to South Africa. The 2010 World Cup will be taking place in June as nearly one million travelers visit Johannesburg. The city is pulsing with preparations and anxiousness in the responsibility of housing certainly, the world’s biggest sporting event of the year. Next year, potentially 36 teams will represent the world’s most popular sport in the biggest World Cup yet. For soccer fanatics, sport lovers and travel extremists, the fusion of South African travel and the love of soccer is a combination that is hard to beat.

    Johannesburg hotels and accommodations are already filling up in preparation for the world event.


    If you’re thinking of attending, you will need to book your tickets (both flights and hotels) as far in advance as possible. Additionally, coming to see the World Cup is an excellent chance to enjoy South African travel. So as Johannesburg prepares for the influx of tourists, the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism in cooperation with FIFA and Match Hospitality group are putting together vacation packages that include World Cup tickets and South African travel highlights. With packages suitable for all types of budgets, planning to attend the 2010 World Cup and travel South Africa has never been more facilitating. That is why in addition to hotels, lodges and other more traditional means of accommodations, guest houses, large dorm-style sleeping and other arrangements will be available for last minute travelers or those with a smaller travel budget.

    Travel fanatics and sports lovers alike will be taking over South Africa come mid-May and June as the 2010 World Cup goes underway. Think about the amazing memories awaiting you as you enjoy South African travel and and a world wide sporting event. Cheer your home country along, or jump on board with the millions of South Africans who are proud and excited to host not only the World Cup, but the thousands of travelers coming to visit their country.

  • Some Changes In The Way Cruising Is Done

    Sunsets over the water, casino night, excellent entertainment and amazing excursions. These are just a few of the things people think about when they imagine their next cruise.


    With the cruise ship industry growing steadily you can now access, Alaska, South America, the Caribbean, Europe, New Zealand and even Antarctica by cruise ship. Anywhere you want to go, there is a cruise ship that will take you there. So as cruise lines add more and more destinations they’re also making some changes to the way things are done onboard.

    Recently, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Princess, Holland and Royal Caribbean enacted “flexible dining” as a part of the cruise ship experience. This means that instead of rushing to the dining table and missing the sunset at sea, if you picked ‘Your Time Dining’ while booking, you can eat dinner anytime between 5:45 and 9:30. This new flexible schedule is a big departure from classic cruise ship etiquette which had pre-arranged dinner dining times and assigned seating. Now, if you’re enjoying the Northern Lights on a warm summer night on a cruise into Alaska you don’t have to skip out just to get to dinner on time.

    Carnival will allow cruise ship members to pick ‘Your Time Dining’ along with early dinner or late dinner with assigned seats at the time of booking, a new feature that will be available for customers fleetwide by 2010. This has parents excited at the prospect of traveling with kids and the convenience of doing dinner when they so choose. It will certainly be a nice reprieve on cruises to Cabo San Lucas and other tropical locations, where a big part of vacationing is eating at gorgeous beachside diners and restaurants when you disembark. It is simply another way in which travel is becoming more user-friendly. Who wants to be worry about the time while they’re on a South African cruise anyway?