| How
to score those winter travel deals | | By Dana
Dratch • Bankrate.com |
| The end of summer doesn't mean
the end of vacation dreams. And it might mean the beginning of some real travel
bargains.
If you want to get a good deal on winter travel,
"you have to embrace a contrarian view of seasonality," says Peter Greenberg,
author of "Hotel
Secrets from the Travel Detective: Insider Tips on Getting the Best Value, Service
and Security in Accommodations from Bed-and-Breakfasts to Five-Star Resorts."
While it's a great time to see Europe -- off-season prices, no crowds -- if you
dream of sitting at the pool sipping pina coladas, it's not the time to go. For
Europe, "great deals extend until March," says Greenberg. And this is
where it pays to shop those plane tickets carefully. "The euro is pretty
strong against the dollar; it all balances out if you can get a cheap airfare,"
says Greenberg. For deals on airfare, "you have to look at
alternative airlines," says Greenberg. Some airlines that you would never
think to book might be going to -- and offering a great deal on -- your vacation
spot, he says. "There are all kinds of secret flights
out there," Greenberg says. "You just have to ask." Don't go by
where the airline is based, he says, "go by where they're going." Some
of his favorite examples:
Malaysia
Airlines now offers service from New York to
Stockholm. And as of Nov. 7, it was offering a round-trip
ticket for $330.
And Icelandair
has some great deals to Europe, which include stops
in Iceland. The fares are pretty standard, but the
deal is in the stop-over.
Greenberg's
tip: "Look for last-minute deals on airlines offered on routes you'd never
expect them to be on." Some places Greenberg recommends
to check online for last-minute deals: www.site59.com
or http://www.11thhourvacations.com.
This is "truly last minute stuff, which is bundled," says Greenberg.
Often it comes with not just airfare, but also hotel and rental cars. The reason
it's cheap: "It will truly evaporate if it's not sold."
When you want to find a real steal,
look for places where the U.S. dollar is still strong,
for example: Argentina. "Argentina’s currency
swings wildly. It’s up about 4 percent vs.
the dollar for 2006, and has risen more than that
since 2004, when it was very low. So Argentina is
still cheap, just not as cheap as it was in 2004.
It’s still a good deal, overall," he says.
Other
venues where the dollar is strong: South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. And,
since all three are in the Southern Hemisphere, it will be summertime. Or, if
the Caribbean region entices you, the dollar is strong in Barbados, Aruba, Costa
Rica and Jamaica.
But you don't have to spend a day
on a plane just to get a good buy. Canada "is
still a bargain," says Edward Hasbrouck, author
of "The
Practical Nomad: How to Travel Around the World."
"The fact that their dollar has come back up
so much against the U.S. dollar means it isn't as
good a bargain as a couple years ago.
"Americans
assume the whole place is one big ice cube, which is not true," Hasbrouck
says. If you want a taste of sophisticated metropolitan life, Canada's major cities
have a lot to offer. And if you're into winter sports, it costs less to spend
a week in the Canadian Rockies than in the American Rockies, he says. Looking
for another great metropolitan experience? Try Mexico City, says Hasbrouck. "It's
extraordinarily non-touristy, and there are an extraordinary number of things
to do," he says. | 
