original post – 04.16.2006

We’ll it’s vacation time at the cribb and I’ve been spending alot of time on all the major travel sites online. We originally we’re heading to Germany to watch some World Cup games and check out Europe but, that plan fell through once we had the new baby. Then we decided on a beach and non stop flight which limited our options some but, we narrowed it down to Mexico and I set out to do some research on our options. Since we are headed to Cancun, I first hit the major “all in one” sites to see exactly how much money it would cost to hit a 4 star on the beach. The kings of travel sites are Expedia, Priceline, Orbitz, Travelocity, Hotwire, JetBlue and SideStep. They are all excellent sites and good places to start. Each major site offered several package deals that seemed awesome however getting direct flights from Kansas City to Cancun was not happening. There are also a ton of great “value” sites that are worth mentioning when you are looking for travel online. Check out Cheaptickets, Travel.com, Lowestfare, Mobissimo, Kayak, and travel zoo for more online travel bargains. I searched on all the sites for a June 5 through June 11 stay in Cancun and got back hundreds of options. Looks like we are gonna have to shell out about 3500 for an all inclusive with flights for two adults and two kids. But how do I get a non stop? Even though all these sites are great for modeling and booking vacations, do I still need to go to a travel agent to book the perfect getaway?