No matter where our vacations take us this summer, we can depend on it costing more than last year's. Road trips, even close to home will certainly have their moments of sticker shock at the gas pump, and forget trying to find any bargain airfares to Europe.

One way to save on a vacation is to package as much as possible together from one source. Always check the individual prices first to be sure it's the bargain it claims to be, but there are some excellent packages to Ireland, Spain, even Italy offered by well-known and reliable travel providers such as Tourcrafters. These are not nickel-and-dime tours, but offer luxury lodging and top quality dining along with the security of knowing that all the arrangements are in place before you leave.

What are your favorite ways to save money traveling?

Hi Barbara:

Do you think summer trips are more expensive than winter trips?

Reason for asking:
Back in my island (Jamaica, West Indies) - everything goes up for the winter tourist visits, so the locals and folks like myself who are overseas suffer the consequences of these higher rates.

I guess they figure this is the time to cash in on some tourist dollars but seem to forget that regular folks would also like to visit family and friends during the holidays too.

Hey Everyone, My friend and I will be traveling from may in the north (Manali, Lah, Ladakh, Dharamsala, etc). Then we have 2 more weeks in may and want to see parts of Rajasthan that we missed on our last trip. Yes, I know it will be hot!