TRAVEL

There are nearly as many travel sites on the Internet as there are sights on Earth for a tourist to visit. You’ll find sites that specialize in discounted hotel rates (https://www.hoteldiscounts.com), those that list only cheap air fares (https://www.cheaptickets.com), others that offer nothing but last-minute packages and air fares if you can leave tomorrow (https://www.site59.com), and still more that offer destination information (https://www.frommers.com). That’s the trouble: You’ll be training for a Web surf-athon.

What’s a traveler without a lot of time to do? Here are a few timesaving sites.

Best site to shop: Smarter Living (https://www.smarterliving.com) and ITA Software (https://www.itasoftware.com) are two excellent tools.

Although still in beta format, ITA Software is an easy-to-navigate site to comparison-shop for the lowest air fares. It even lists the smaller carriers and organizes fares from cheapest to most expensive. The catch: You’ll have to visit the airlines’ Web site or call to buy your seat.

Smarter Living is a great all-around portal to find bargains in hotels, air fares and car rentals. It posts alerts to current last-minute bargains, lists Internet-only sales and links to vital sites to find out the weather or travel warnings from the U.S. State Department. Although you can’t buy on the site, it provides links to other Web sites so you can.

Best site to buy: Expedia.com. Forgive me for succumbing to the Microsoft juggernaut here, but Expedia has most of what a traveler needs: good consumer advice, alerts to help you monitor air fares between Mom’s house and yours, the ability to book and compare air fares (excluding Southwest Airlines) and hotel rates. A new feature, a booking engine for tour tickets before you leave home, gives it a slight edge over other online agencies such as Travelocity. Its prices are competitive but not always the lowest.

Convenience: Expedia is a real timesaver. You can plan and book a complete vacation, from air fare to tour or theater tickets.

Customer service: Expedia’s ticket confirmation is usually speedy, and it has a telephone hotline with real people on the other end available 24/7.

How it compares with offline: The Internet is a great tool to compare and buy air tickets, to research destination information or to get ideas on where to go on your vacation. The information, though, can be outdated, wrong or biased. Often, a good, informed travel agent--a person you can ask questions of--can save you money and a lot of time.