People often ask me about my go-to sites for booking travel. Ask and you shall receive---perhaps more than you bargained for. Here are my not-so-secret, preferred travel sites divided into categories so you can refer back to this page when you're planning your next jaunt abroad.
There are thousands of travel sites that do a thousand things, but, the below candidates are the clear and simple 'winners' as far as offering a great user experience and good prices. Let me know if there's a site or category you'd add.
Bon voyage!
Best 2010 Travel Sites & Apps
All Round
Kayak - One of the world's largest travel meta search engines. {app}
ITA Software - The site that powers other travel sites like Kayak, Orbitz, etc... {app}
Flights In addition to always checking the sites listed above for flights, for routes I know well, I book through an airline directly, otherwise: DoHop SkyScanner HipMunk Allegiant - For short-haul trips out of Vancouver or Seattle. See my best practices for booking with Allegiant here. Seatguru.com - Find out the best seat on the plane, before you fly!
Hotels
Kayak {Best for North America}
Booking.com {Best for Europe and Australia}
Opodod {Best for Europe}
Cars I'm not too picky about what car I drive, so I usually book my rental vehicles via discount travel sites (below) or the rental agency direct.
Discount Travel Sites Hotwire Priceline
All-Inclusive iTravel2000.com AirCanadaVacations.com WestJetVacations.com Cheap Caribbean Apple Vacations {USA}
Cruise Vacations To Go - A great place to find excellent cruises from most major and boutique lines in one place. Check out what's available in the short-term with their 90-Day Ticker. CruisesOnly - USA's largest cruise agency. RepositioningCruise.com - A great place to find cruises with interesting and off-beat itineraries in the off-season.
Luxury Travel Jetsetter - The Gilt Group's foray into travel... {join here} Vacationist - A joint-venture between Travel + Leisure Magazine and LuxuryLink.com. {join here}
Best Travel Review Site Trip Advisor {see all my trip advisor reviews here}
Vacation Rentals VRBO - Large vacation rental site with large presence in Canada and the US. AirBnB - Vacation rentals, private rooms and sublets.
Itinerary Planning/Management TripIt - Organizes all your travels plans into one intuitive list {app}.
Ones to Watch TripAlertz.com - The Groupon of travel. Kayak Explore - Love the visual flight search concept, and don't think it's been given enough credit.
Note You may be wondering why I'm not featuring Expedia or Travelocity in the above list. Though I've booked multiple hotel room stays with both of these travel suppliers, I usually---but not always---find better prices elsewhere. If you do plan on booking through one of these sites, compare and contrast the hotel you're looking at on both sites, as well as on the Canadian and US versions. Sometimes the price difference is minor, and sometimes it is major.