| Acknowledgments | xi |
| Introduction | xiii |
| CHAPTER 1 Internet Travel: The World on Your Desktop | 1 |
| Made for Each Other | 2 |
| Nobody’s Perfect | 3 |
| Seven Varieties of Sites | 5 |
| Gateway Sites | 5 |
| Single-Supplier Sites | 6 |
| Agency Sites | 7 |
| Information Sites | 8 |
| Government Sites | 8 |
| Consumer Sites | 9 |
| Travel Publication Sites | 10 |
| About Prices | 10 |
| CHAPTER 2 Where to Go, What to Do | 11 |
| What’s in a Destination Site? | 13 |
| How "Good" is a Destination Site? | 13 |
| The State of the States | 14 |
| City Sites for the Details | 16 |
| Hundreds of National Sites, Worldwide | 18 |
| The Americas | 18 |
| Europe | 20 |
| The Rest of the World | 22 |
| A Walk in the Park | 23 |
| Attractions, Too | 24 |
| What’s Playing? | 25 |
| Download a Mini-Guidebook... | 26 |
| ...Or a Magazine Story | 28 |
| Do I Need an Umbrella? | 29 |
| Through the Gateways | 31 |
| Home Pages and Search Engines | 35 |
| CHAPTER 3 Winning the Airfare Game | 37 |
| The Easy Trips: Buy in Advance, Stay Saturday | 40 |
| On Sale by a Giant Airline | 41 |
| Fly a Low-Fare Airline | 50 |
| Charters: Still Around, Still Cheap | 54 |
| Consolidator Tickets for Real Discounts | 58 |
| Still More Places to Look | 62 |
| Short Trips, No Saturdays | 62 |
| Low-Fare Airlines | 63 |
| Consolidators | 63 |
| Name-Your-Price Tickets | 63 |
| Back-to-Back | 67 |
| Let’s Go—Right Now | 68 |
| Weekend Internet Specials | 68 |
| Other Last-Minute Specials | 70 |
| The Ways Less Traveled | 71 |
| The One-Way Ticket Thicket | 71 |
| Multistop Marathons | 72 |
| Escaping the Cattle Car | 73 |
| The Long Way Around | 75 |
| Carry the Mail—Somebody Else’s | 77 |
| Hitch a Flight | 79 |
| Not Just Tickets | 81 |
| Frequent Flyer | 81 |
| Legal Coupons... | 81 |
| ...And Not-So-Legal Coupons | 82 |
| Scanning the Seats | 83 |
| How Late This Time? | 83 |
| Beware: Airfare-Shopping Pitfalls | 84 |
| CHAPTER 4 A Place to Stay | 87 |
| On Sale from a Hotel | 90 |
| Big-City Discounters | 94 |
| Broker a Deal | 95 |
| Negotiate a Rate | 99 |
| Name Your Price | 99 |
| Half-Price Programs | 100 |
| Airline Tie-Ins | 102 |
| Out of Season | 103 |
| Budget Motels: When List Price Is a Good Deal | 103 |
| Bed & Breakfasts | 105 |
| Vacation Rentals | 107 |
| Other Accommodations | 110 |
| Beware: Hotel Price-Shopping Pitfalls | 112 |
| CHAPTER 5 Floating a Deal | 113 |
| Where to Cruise | 115 |
| Which Ship? | 117 |
| Getting the Best Price | 120 |
| Cruise Discounters | 122 |
| Cruise Lines | 123 |
| Auctions | 123 |
| Hop a Freighter | 124 |
| Barges and Boats | 125 |
| Barge Cruises | 126 |
| Be Your Own Captain, Cook | 127 |
| Beware: Cruise-Buying Pitfalls | 128 |
| CHAPTER 6 Vacation Packages | 131 |
| Transportation and Rooms Only | 134 |
| Airline Sites | 135 |
| Agency Sites | 138 |
| Tour Operator Sites | 140 |
| Don’t Miss the Bus | 141 |
| For Extended Hand-Holding | 143 |
| For Focused Tours | 146 |
| Beware: Vacation Package Pitfalls | 148 |
| Internet Caveats | 150 |
| CHAPTER 7 The Rest of It | 153 |
| Riding the Rails | 154 |
| Trains in the United States | 154 |
| Canadian Rails | 158 |
| Great Trains in Europe | 159 |
| Other Countries | 164 |
| Wheels and Deals | 164 |
| Driving the United States | 165 |
| Rentals Outside the United States | 167 |
| Taxers Target Travelers | 169 |
| Piling on the Extras | 170 |
| Insurance: Hate It but Need It | 170 |
| Using Plastic Money | 173 |
| Making the Call | 175 |
| Away-From-Home Long Distance | 175 |
| Schlep a Phone | 177 |
| Beware... | 177 |
| CHAPTER 8 Troubles, Scams, and Deceptions | 179 |
| Hidden Extras | 180 |
| Phony Fees and Charges | 180 |
| Tie-Ins | 182 |
| "Pack Your Bags" Certificates | 183 |
| "Travel Like a Travel Agent" | 184 |
| Timeshare Tribulations | 185 |
| Building Your Scam Firewall | 187 |
| CHAPTER 9 When Things Go Bad | 191 |
| An Ounce of Forethought... | 192 |
| Make Your Complaint Work | 195 |
| Endnote: Using a Travel Agent | 195 |
| Internet for Data | 201 |
| Travel Agents for Savvy, for Speed | 202 |
| Which Way? | 203 |
| Appendix: Travel URLs | 205 |
| Accommodations | 205 |
| Bed & Breakfast Agencies | 205 |
| Hotel General Information and Gateway Sites | 206 |
| Home Exchange Agencies | 206 |
| Hotels and Resorts | 207 |
| Miscellaneous | 211 |
| Pet-Friendly Accommodations | 211 |
| Timeshare Agencies | 212 |
| Vacation Rental Agencies | 212 |
| Agencies | 214 |
| Auction | 215 |
| Air Travel | 216 |
| Baggage Delivery | 216 |
| Domestic Airlines | 216 |
| International Airlines | 217 |
| Frequent Flyer Sites | 219 |
| Gateway Sites | 219 |
| Other Airline Information | 220 |
| Ticket Agencies | 220 |
| Cruises | 222 |
| Barge and Boat Agencies | 222 |
| Cruise Agencies | 223 |
| Cruise and Barge Lines, Conventional | 224 |
| Cruise Lines, Sailing Ships/Yachts | 225 |
| Gateway Sites and General Information | 226 |
| Destinations | 226 |
| Activities | 226 |
| Commercial Attractions | 227 |
| Destinations within the United States | 228 |
| Destinations Outside the United States | 232 |
| Events | 236 |
| Gateway Sites | 237 |
| Other Destination Information | 238 |
| Parks and Natural Resources | 239 |
| Financial Information | 239 |
| Banking | 239 |
| Charge Card Information | 240 |
| Travel Insurance | 240 |
| General Travel Information | 241 |
| Help and Support | 242 |
| Government and Public Organizations | 242 |
| Consumer Gripe Sites | 242 |
| Telephones—Long Distance and Cell Phone Rental | 242 |
| Tour Packages | 243 |
| Gateway sites and General Information | 243 |
| Tour Operators | 243 |
| Tour Packages | 244 |
| Transportation (Ground) | 246 |
| Bus Travel | 247 |
| Driving | 247 |
| Local Ground Transport | 248 |
| Rail Travel | 248 |
| Agencies | 248 |
| General Information and Gateway Sites | 249 |
| Railway Systems | 249 |
| INDEX | 251 |
