As the economy splutters and prices rise, anything you can do to save money on travel (at least for those of us who would rather give up retiring than give up travel) means you can travel more. Below are a variety of tips, only one of which is self-serving.

1. Use Priceline.com, at least for hotel and car reservations. Laura Bly wrote an excellent article on the ins and outs in USAToday, which you can read here:http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2008-02-21-priceline_N.htm. To check out Priceline for yourself, click here. We use it all the time for our guides for hotel rooms and other than the fact that they don't always get rooms with two beds and end up paying a bit more once they get there, it works well.

2. Buy the cheapest airline ticket you can find. Well, duh! But how? The sites we use most frequently are Kayak.com, Itasoftware.com and Farecast, all of which we've discussed before. A nice feature of both Kayak and Farecast, and many of the other sites, is that you can set up an email alert to be notified when prices go down. But see tip #3 before you buy the ticket.

3. Don't book your flight on a third party web site (e.g. Orbitz, Travelocity, Expedia) without checking the airlines web site first. Sometimes that third party will be cheaper, especially if using multiple airlines, but increasingly airlines are not making their best fares available on those sites. And even if the fare is the same, you won't pay a booking fee on the airlines site.

4. After you have bought your plane ticket, keep an eye on prices (two web sites that can help you with this are discussed below). I bought my ticket to Albuquerque a couple of months ago and then saw that there was a big price drop. I rebooked my flight on Southwest and now have a $100 credit towards my next Southwest flight. Some airlines charge a change fee in that situation so you'll have to check with them, but it will often still be worth it.

5. If you have a big carryon, request a window seat when you book. United Airlines and US Air have started charging for a second piece of checked baggage. If they get away with this, you can be sure other airlines will follow. This ensures that everyone will try to carry on more. So how do you guarantee overhead bin space? Instead of boarding by rows, airlines now board by groups. And after the First Class, families with kids etc. get to board, people with window seats go next (I finally figured this out when I was on a long flight, which is the only time I ask for a window seat). People with aisle seats are the least likely to find overhead bin space still available on a crowded flight.

6. Bring something to eat on the plane. The food they sell is overpriced and often neither good or healthy. Grab an apple and bagel and you're good to go. NB. Jars of peanut butter will be confiscated by TSA. I had not realized until I flew to Hawaii to check out our latest trip that they don't give you food even if it is a 6 hour flight.

7. Think twice before you buy something new. There are tons of ways to find equipment and clothing that are completely adequate, and the internet has opened up even more. In addition to all the "outlet" stores on the web site (you can often get great deals at REI-outlet and Sierra Trading Post) check out Craig's List and EBay, as well as your local thrift stores. If you have not checked out Craig's List before, this site is definitely worth exploring. People can post items for sale for no cost and with patience you can find some great deals. As an example, I just went to the Baltimore section and put in "backpack". Found one for $50 that had only been used once. Not my size, unfortunately, but you get the idea.

8. In general, don't buy car insurance when you rent a car no matter what the hard sell is. First, your car insurance probably already extends to rental cars. And even if it doesn't, your credit card probably includes CDW insurance. Check the fine print of both to make sure - for example, Visa doesn't cover 15 passenger vans- but in general car insurance is almost pure profit for the rental companies.

Here's the self-serving tip:
9. Look for places where the plunge in the value of the US dollar hasn't made it outrageously expensive. For example, the reason that our Bulgaria trip is relatively inexpensive is that Bulgaria, despite joining the EU, has not yet converted to the euro. It is in the process of conversion so it is likely that there will be a big increase in the price next year. How about our Spain, Greece and Slovenia trips? We will not change our prices for 2008, despite the 15% change in value of the US dollar since last summer. However, if the dollar continues its free fall against the euro, next year's prices will unfortunately reflect that.

Web sites of interest

I've mentioned Airfare Watchdog before and it was an email from them about airfares from Baltimore that alerted me to the decrease in fares to Albuquerque. They have just added a new capacity- instead of letting you know about airfares from a city of your choice to everyplace, there are two new features: 1) fare alerts on specific routes, such as BWI to ABQ. When a fare is at a level that they consider a "buy" on a given route, they'll send you notification. And unlike other sites, they include promo code fares, and deals on all airlines, including Southwest, JetBlue, Skybus, Allegiant and those wacky Spirit 2 centers.
2) International alerts. Say you just signed up for our Tour du Mont Blanc trip and you want to see fares to Geneva? Maybe it's cheaper to fly from another city than your own. So now, if St. Louis to Geneva costs $900 RT and Chicago to Geneva is $600 RT, you can make an informed buying decision.

The second web site is yapta.com. I'll try to explain it but you will probably have to play around with it yourself. With this website you download a little piece of add-on software that is installed in your browser and appears as a button. You click on this button to go to the Yapta website, where you can search the airlines in their system one by one. You tag the ones you're interested in and then Yapta will email you if the price drops. Also those trips will come up in a sidebar with their current prices, so it's easy to keep an eye on them. I've tried it with mixed results- it didn't show the Yapta tag on Delta flights and only the more expensive American flights. But it has an additional feature that may be key- after you buy the ticket, submit your confirmation code and Yapta will email you if the price drops below a certain amount which you can specify.

Book of interest

I was completely prepared to be totally absorbed by Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Relin. After all, it combined three elements that fascinate me- mountaineering, a different culture, and the inspiring message that one person truly can make a difference. And it is definitely worth reading. If you haven't heard about it, the basic story is Greg's effort to build schools in rural Pakistan, particularly for girls, after he accidentally wanders into a remote village having not succeeded in climbing K2. He's an amazing guy who exhibits amazing perserverance and depp caring about humanity. So to complain that it isn't well written seems petty. But it isn't. When one person is writing another person's story, it needs to be either written in the first person's voice or clearly a biography, and the cross between the two comes across as awkward. But enough- read it anyway because it is an amazing story.

Do you like to pack up?

Some people enjoy living out of a suitcase during a trip. Other people just want to unpack and make wherever they're staying their own. We have plenty of trips for the former type but we also offer three trips for the latter, each one very different. For those who want to be removed from civilization, we offer the Boundary Waters Retreat, a week at the world famous Gunflint Lodge. If, however, you love the idea of access to lots of lovely little towns with great shops and cafes (in between all the biking, hiking, kayaking and sailing), then Summertime in Door County will suit you well. And if you love to sea kayak but also want a bed at night, then Sea Kayaking the Low Country, which includes a day trip to Charleston, may be just what you're looking for. All combine lots of activity with great food and delightful company, our idea of the perfect vacation when you don't want to pack more than once.

Attention Maryland, Virginia and Washington DC area women

On March 22 I'm leading an 8 mile hike on Sugarloaf Mountain for Washington Women Outdoors, the women's outing club I belong to. If you have been interested in checking out WWO, this would be a great time and I'd love to meet you. For a longer break, consider Almost Heaven, West Virginia, May 8-11. Hiking, biking, canoeing, longing in the hot tub and eating at the Elk River Inn- the perfect way to enjoy spring!

In the last enewsletter called Washington Women Outdoors that, despite the name, also draws people from Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. I've really enjoyed all the day trips I've done with them and encourage anyone in this area to check them out. Another one that I've heard good things about that serves the New Jersey area is Adventures for Women. If you know of any others, let me know and I'll publish them in the next e-newsletter.

-Marian, for all the guides at Adventures in Good Company