Planning a vacation is one of my favorite things. Dreaming of perfect sunny days without anything more pressing to do than swing in a hammock with an umbrella drink and an ocean breeze. Ah, grand. But first things first. Before you can start lounging on the beach and summoning the waiter, you have to plan your trip, and planning entails purchasing airfare. Now, since you do not want to spend all your money getting to your destination, it would be best to find super cheap airplane tickets and then keep more money on hand for splurging once you arrive. So how to travel cheap?

Well there are a number of ways, and I would say the most popular nowadays is to buy your tickets on the Internet. And there are several ways you can go about this. First, you could just head on over to the airline website and see what sort of prices they have listed. Actually this is a good idea, and I recommend checking there first. But plan ahead, and buy your tickets at least 14 days in advance. The earlier the better really, in order to obtain the best deals.

Another good place to search is an online travel agency such as Travelocity. You should sign up for their farewatcher alert. This way you will receive an email periodically when fares drop, and I have found some sweet deals this way, really super cheap airplane tickets with no strings attached. But unfortunately what happens quite often is I receive the email, dash over to the site, and find that there is a very limited amount of seats available, none of which match the dates I plan to fly.

This leads me to another suggestion. Be flexible! I admit I am not always as flexible about these things as I should be. I will write my vacation dates on the calendar, ask for the days off work, and I am loathe to change. But if you can have a little flexibility, you can often find that your airfare can be decreased by as much as 25% just by adjusting your days. So try different combinations. If you originally planned on flying out on Wednesday and returning the following Tuesday, check prices for leaving on Friday and flying back the following Thursday. You may be surprised to find a cheaper airfare.

It used to be that you were required to stay overnight on a Saturday in order to get a decent price, but not anymore. That's pretty much not the case, but flying midweek can sometimes help you on your way to super cheap deals. Try buying your airplane tickets to fly out and return on a Tuesday or Wednesday and see if that doesn't knock a few dollars off the price.

If you don't mind flying at night, great deals can be found on the "red eye" where you will fly most of the night. I don't mind these flights too much, just curl up with a pillow and blanket and nap the whole way.

Finally, try a "brick and mortar" travel agent rather than online. You may pay just a few dollars more but sometimes they can find you a package deal that is super cheap and also includes not only airplane tickets but also hotel and rental car. Another plus in using these agencies is if you have any problems you will have an actual person to help you out.

I hope some of these tips will help you on your next vacation in your quest on how to travel cheap.