Cheap summer travel advice for the vacationing attorney

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With the Memorial Day weekend almost behind us, summer is officially here and it is time to think about making an escape.

I am off to Ireland in two weeks, thanks to the the efforts of a colleague and friend of my sister who found a great deal on Travelzoo.com. I paid $1,092 for a flight from O’Hare to Shannon, six nights in a two-bedroom townhouse at the 5-star Adare Manor, a historic Irish castle, and a full-size car rental with unlimited mileage. I’ll be sharing the accommodations and car with my two sisters and my sister’s friend – she did find the deal, after all, so we’re letting her hang with us. For a trip to Ireland during high season, that’s a phenomenal deal.

She found the package by signing up for the Travelzoo weekly Top 20 Deals e-mail. If you can handle a little rain and cooler temperatures, that same package is now available, off season (Nov. 1-Feb. 14), starting at a mere $499.

While my sister’s friend is to be commended for tracking down that amazing bargain, she nonetheless pales in comparison to the travel-bargain expertise of one of my college roommates from the University of Wisconsin. Attorney Caryn L. Belobraidich, of Bunch & Brock in Lexington, KY, is without question my hero when it comes to cheap travel. Our 20-plus year friendship was cemented over countless “dinners” at Chi-Chi’s happy hour; we discovered our mutual love of bargains generally, and in particular half-price margaritas, and free chips and cheese dip.

Every few months, we catch up on each other’s lives. It typically includes her telling me about her latest trip with her husband and two children, followed by “And you wouldn’t believe what a great deal it was!”

She, too, is a huge fan of Travelzoo.com for deals on flights, hotels and packages, and she often finds discounts on local attractions, or in nearby cities as well. She also likes Travelzoo’s Top 20 weekly e-mails, as well as those from Kayak.com and Shermanstravel.com. Other favorite travel sites include Lastminutetravel.com, Frommers.com and Faredeals.com.

Then there’s Vacationstogo.com, dedicated to cruises only. The cruise industry seems to be suffering badly in this economy and as a result are offering tremendous discounts.

Belobraidich has found a number of exceptional deals using its “Find a Bargain” service for booking in advance and when she has a specific destination in mind, as well as its “90-Day Ticker,” which finds last-minute cruises.

You’ll need to register first, which takes about 20 seconds, and Belobraidich assures me that the e-mails you’ll get from them are actually somewhat interesting. Then you can access deals such as a seven-night cruise departing from Whittier, Alaska starting at $289 per person. Ask for the free bottle of wine – it’ll be waiting in your state room when you arrive. (Of course, you might want to do some independent investigation about the various cruise lines’ BYOB alcohol policies, because “all-inclusive” doesn’t include that, typically.)

If you’re just looking for a cheap flight, she recommends Bookingbuddy.com and especially Airfarewatchdog.com. What she likes about the latter is, you can see flight deals from your city — who really cares about the awesome deals between New York and D.C. that some travel sites show you?

Or, try the discount carriers’ Web sites directly, such as Airtran.com (flying out of Milwaukee), Southwest.com (flying out of Milwaukee soon and generally an exceptional bargain), Jetblue.com and Spiritair.com (flying out of O’Hare) and Allegiantair.com (flying out of Rockford or Rochester). It might be worth a road trip to a neighboring state’s airport for a very cheap flight, especially if you’re taking the whole family. Then there’s the possibility of using Frequent Flyer miles for travel. The easiest way to rack up miles for attorneys whose practices don’t take them far from the office is to get one of those credit cards that gives you miles, use them for everything, and then pay them off every month. Belobraidich has a card that awards her Delta miles, which airline gives free domestic flights for 25,000 miles. Not bad, considering the cuts to frequent flyer programs that many other carriers have made in recent years.

As for deals on hotels, when she and the family are driving to Florida, for example, they always pick up the fliers at interstate highway rest areas and look for bargains. They then call ahead from the cell, mention that they’re AAA members, and negotiate the rate. Belobraidich always says, “Is that the best rate you can give me?” They almost always knock down the price or upgrade some aspect of the deal, if they have vacancies.

Or, I personally like Hotwire.com for hotel rooms, too. With Hotwire, they won’t tell you the name of the hotel but they will say “Four-star hotel in the Westshore neighborhood of Tampa,” for example — that’s where my family and I went over spring break. They tell you where you’ll stay after you pay. By Googling “Tampa Westshore four-star hotel,” I figured out there were two possibilities. They both looked appealing, and we ended up in the Hotel Intercontinental for $82 per night, regularly priced at $200 per night.

And never, I repeat, never, be tempted by the spectacular deals advertised by time shares. You know — an exceptional price in exchange for sitting through a sales pitch.

Belobraidich actually tried it once in Puerto Vallarta, was promised it would take one hour, and three hours later, she was still there (stranded because they’d provided the transportation). Needless to say, she didn’t buy the time share, either. Check the fine print on these offers carefully.

Finally, there’s the possibility of combining travel with CLE. Fairly close to home, you might want to consider the State Bar of Wisconsin’s Solo & Small Firm Conference, scheduled for Oct. 29-31 at the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells. The Super Early Bird rate of $199 for the conference ends June 15, and a hotel room and four water park passes is $149 per night. I attended last year and can personally attest to the big fun possibilities at the water park (We liked the “Master Blaster” ride best), even for a 40-something like me traveling without my kids.

Oh, yes, the programs were interesting, too.

Happy summer, bon voyage and slainte!