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Today I’m trying to wrap my head around all the travel searching websites out there and how they all differ. I’m putting a list on mandymandy.com so that in the coming months I can keep track of airfare, cruise and hotel prices from SLC to MIA. Today I’ve found some interesting information which I don’t want to forget.

First of all, Kayak.com apparently is the mother of all search sites. They search Orbitz.com and CheapTickets.com, so there isn’t any reason to visit those directly. Yahoo travel ALSO searches orbitz and cheaptickets.

Therefore, Kayak > Orbitz.com, CheapTickets.com, Yahoo Farechase.

Then there is a system called ITA. This is the system that Kayak, Orbitz, CheapTickets and Farecast uses. So, no need to use ITA or Farecast, right? Just use Kayak since it covers all 3. I do have to say though, I like the farecast history report — assuming its truthful.

Bookingbuddy.com

Therefore, Kayak > Orbitz.com, CheapTickets.com, Yahoo Farechase, Farecast, ITA.

Sidestep.com is actually owned by kayak, so cross sidestep off your list also.

Therefore, Kayak > Orbitz.com, CheapTickets.com, Yahoo Farechase, Farecast, ITA, Sidestep.

The top 3 websites are Kayak, Farecast, and Mobissimo.com (never heard of it??).

Searching on the Mobissimo website, I find that they search orbitz, CheapSeats, Cheaptickets, oneTravel.com, Opodo and a bunch of airlines like AA, Jetblue, Spirit, Virgin, etc.

Hmmm, sounds like they use the ITA system? Maybe thats just me. I again refer to the above and now add Mobissimo….

Therefore, Kayak > Orbitz.com, CheapTickets.com, Yahoo Farechase, Farecast, ITA, Sidestep, Mobissimo.

So what are you missing out on if you ONLY use kayak.com? One thing I found is Southwest doesn’t like to be part of any metasearch site, so you should always check southwest.com directly. If you have time after checking Kayak, I would go down the list and check Farecast and Mobissimo.

Other Notes:

For last minute deals, it looks like the best sites are Kayak, Hotwire, Travelzoo, Expedia and Bestfares.

For flexible searching, try Kayak, Travelocity and CheapFlights

Something else to know, besides flying on Sat, Tues or Weds, also try to book at least 2-3 weeks in advance for the best price.

I should stress that you may still be able to get a better deal from some of these websites I’ve disregarded. PLUS they might have a coupon code you can use. Check retailmenot.com for any possible coupons.

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Today we have the day off and needed to take both our cars in for an oil change. I looked online and found a coupon for $7 off at Jiffy Lube. I called and for fully synthetic oil, its $54.99. Seven bucks doesn’t save me much when walmart is charging $49. Then I found a coupon for an oil change and tire rotation for $14.99 at firestone. I called then up and fully synthetic is $20 more. I scored a oil change and bonus tire rotation for $37 and some change after taxes. A better deal than just going to the closest place I could find.

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Yesterday Mandy and I put in an offer on 3 different short-sales in Provo. These houses are pretty much brand new and in excellent condition. With our budget, these are at the high end of what we can afford, but if we can get them at or close to our offer, than we will be extremely lucky. Basically these houses have bottomed out in price, and can’t really go any lower. Since they are short sales, we will likely be waiting for a month before hearing anything. We will keep looking for other homes since even with an offer in, (according to our agent) we have no obligation to accept.

If you would like to take a look at the homes we have chosen, here are a couple links:

Today we intended to wake up bright and early to watch the sunrise on the beach. That obviously didn’t happen. We woke up around noon again, and went to McDonalds to eat (again). Afterwards we walked back to our hotel on 22nd and collins and changed into our swimming suits. Our hotel is just a block and a half from the beach, so it only takes a few minutes to get there. Not having a car hasn’t been a big deal, we have made great use of our legs and the public transportation system.

We pretty must just hung out at the beach until it started to rain, then we headed back and change again, then walked to mcDonalds again to eat. We honestly need to find some variety. Afterwards we walked down a

different street, Washington. Down there are more options for us to eat, too bad we didn’t discover them sooner. Tomorrow we plan on waking up early enough to get breakfast so we can stop eating double bacon cheeseburgers and chicken nuggets.

This evening it was obvious that it was Friday night. Everywhere we went there were limos or shuttles unloading party-ers onto the streets. It is definitely black beach week as they call it. Rap music and fancy cars everywhere. I saw a couple Bentleys and Lamborghinis.

Tomorrow we depart on the Carnival Truimph for a 8 day cruise. We will be back on Sunday June 1st. I am pretty certain we will not have internet access because it is so expensive. Tonight I booked a deal on Expedia.com for the Catalina hotel just a few blocks from here. It was a steal at $53.00 a night plus $30 off coupon plus $50 mastercard by mail. Compare that to our hotel which I payed just over a hundred a night, and they quoted me $155 if we wanted to come back.

Its one AM here now, I don’t have a lot of time to blog since we are going to bed now. Nessa and K will be departing on their flight in about an hour. We are going to meet them at the port of Miami. I’ve got the bus schedule that should take us right there. We are taking the S bus for 24 minutes from Collins to N America Way. Wish us luck. We will try to take tons of pictures. Love ya -Jason and Mandy.

Today I booked our hotel at a different website instead of what I had in a prior post HERE. I got the price down to $105.60 a night including all taxes. Total cost for 3 days = $316.80

The site is hotelopia.com and using a coupon code I found on retailmenot.com I got 10% of the price they had listed. Checking still, the other websites are still way up there at $389.00 a night. I’m going to call the hotel tonight to confirm my reservation.