Best Travel Sites

Best Site for Airfare Deals:
SideStep.com
One of the biggest drawbacks to shopping for airfare deals on websites like Expedia or Orbitz is that they don't list all airline fares available. Enter SideStep, a free program you download onto your PC that searches multiple travel booking sites (including online agencies; consolidators; and airline, hotel and rental car company sites) for the lowest fares. It presents all fares side by side to make them easy to compare.

While you can't book trips with SideStep, it provides links to the websites where the best deals are posted. Recently, SideStep added the ability to search for fares from a web-based platform--good news for Mac users who couldn't use the software program designed for PCs. For more information, see www.sidestep.com.

Best Site for Travel Advice:
USAToday.com/travel
When it comes to covering the travel business, there's no better site than USAToday.com/travel. With a full staff of reporters and freelancers covering the travel beat, business travelers are sure to find every shred of news, advice or opinion that can keep them in the loop and improve their lives on the road. The day's top travel stories are listed on the main page, and from there, you'll find links to other articles and columns that apply to your travel habits. For example, if you're a frequent flier, check out the daily air travel blog, "Today in the Sky." Frequent hotel guests should tune in to the weekly "Hotel Hotsheet." There's also a weekly "Business Traveler" column that offers advice or takes on an issue of importance to road warriors. Check it out at www.usatoday.com/travel.