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Came the holiday season, and everyone phoned me up to use me as their personal travel agent…

That's when I discovered that as far as searching for airfares, holidays or any travel-related information, the Web is crying out for a system as terrific as the one real travel agents use. Still, you can cut down dramatically on time spent hanging on the telephone to such folk, by doing some simple research on your own.

So in this article, I'll be breaking from our usual academic discussion of the world of search and giving out useful advice on how to find and book your next holiday or business trip. I will, however, be giving tips about how to search for travel from the UK.

I'm aware that many of our site visitors are from elsewhere, including the US, but since an article recently appeared in Time Magazine about searching for fares (for travel from the US, of course), you might as well read that. It is also worth adding that a new service named Sidestep (http://www.sidestep.com) has recently been announced, which like a couple of the tools mentioned in the Time Magazine article, allows you to search for airfares across several of the major travel sites. The difference is that Sidestep integrates itself into your browser. You must, however, start your travel from a US city.

Last Minute Deals

Contrary to what those bus shelter ads in London would have you believe, you can find last minute travel deals at ever so many more sites than the famous http://www.lastminute.com. Try searching for ("late availability and flights) in your favourite search engine to see that most travel agents offer such a section on their Web sites. However, lastminute.com do have a very useful search facility that allows you to search on a number of interesting parameters, all the usuals plus such desirable features as temperature of the destination. The main disadvantage of lastminute.com is that you have to be pretty flexible - the chances of finding just what you want for just when you want are slim in my experience (and that of many friends).

Other sites which consolidate last minute travel from the UK are http://www.laststop.co.uk, http://www.holidaysearchengine.co.uk, and http://www.lateholidays.com. Don't expect to get away without having to make a phone call though - most of these sites do not have the expensive availability software that lastminute have, so you'll need to phone the company to check availability and booking. I tried a one out as a sample, and it did in fact have availability on the flights/holidays listed.

Also try http://www.cheapflights.com (UK and Ireland only), http://www.bargain-flights.com (Europe only), http://www.bargainflights.com (no hyphen, different company - for UK, USA, Canada and Germany departures), http://www.flights4less.co.uk to name a few. From the USA you might try http://www.lastminutetravel.com (different company to lastminute.com).

Cheap Fares

If you're just looking for a fare, you can check out the late availability specialists, but also a whole host of sites that aggregate cheap flights. This is where travel comparison-shopping sites like http://www.qixo.com and http://www.farechaser.com come in. These search across the major travel sites (such as www.expedia.com) and then present you with the best fares. The technology certainly seems impressive; there's practically a drum roll as the fares come rolling in, in order of price. However, a sneaking suspicion that you could always do better turned out to be justified - at least in the case I tested. I was able to get a better fare from London Heathrow to Mexico City by simply visiting the excellent site of my favourite 'bucket shop'; Airline Network (http://www.airline-network.co.uk).

Where To Stay

You'd be crazy not to use the Internet to find places to stay - the smallest B&Bs often have a Web page. I've used the Internet to book all my hotel accommodation since 1995! You can start at directory sites which list hotels and boarding houses - such as http://www.bookings.org/uk/ or http://www.a-thru-z-hotelfinder.com (both of which allow you to find availability and book rooms in UK hotels or guest houses). A search of the Google Web Directory (http://www.directory.google.com) using simple terms like 'accommodation' 'lodging' and the name of the country or city you plan to visit will lead you to a list of such directories for the city of your choice.

A more powerful way to search can be to use my favourite technique for Web searching, i.e. being really specific. For example, if you want a place in a given small town, try searching like this: +hotel +cuenca +spain (remember to specify the country - most towns have a double somewhere!). This technique often leads you to an aggregator's site rather than the hotel's own home page, but that's fine because the aggregator's often let you book the hotel online. Might be worth double checking that everything has gone through okay with an old fashioned phone call or fax, particularly if dealing with smaller towns in communications-challenged countries.

This last technique works also well for finding villas to rent. I remember poring through glossy villas-for-rent catalogues with a neighbour, searching for a place in the South of France. It took us hours to choose a few and when we phoned, every last one was gone. Half an hour on the Internet searching for villas in Narbonne, France, took us straight to a couple of candidates, with photos, and we were able to book the whole thing over email and fax.

Which just goes to show that you shouldn’t underestimate the power of the Internet to help you find what you need. If you don't find, then it could simply be your technique that is at fault! (In which case, read this article again, or try our free online search tutorial in an effort to hone your skills!).