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Yes, that’s the creepiest picture I could find to depict “holiday travel.”  You’re welcome.  Going home for the holidays, or maybe a ski trip out west?  Here are some tips for booking flights this holiday season, courtesy of MSNBC.com.

You will pay more this year.  Farecast.com predicts that holiday flights are 30% more expensive this year than last.
Don’t hold out for last-minute deals. 
Being flexible with your dates will help a LOT.  Case in point- I’m going to Italy over the holidays this year.  Instead of leaving a few days before or after Christmas like everyone else in the universe, I’m leaving on Christmas day and saving myself about $200 in the process.  And that’s $200 worth of cute handbags I can pick up in Italia!
Try other airports, like if you’re in Boston, try flying out of Rhode Island or New Hampshire. 
Instead …

MSNBC.com has a great article about finding ways to travel for free, 9 ways to be specific.  Here are my favorite ideas from the article, which you can read in full here.  It should be noted that while most of these trips would be virtually free to take, the websites listed below often have fees to join them (nothing astronomical, but it does somewhat infringe upon the whole “free” claim…).

House-sitting: “Take up residence in someone else’s home…” www.caretaker.org, www.housecarers.com, www.housesitworld.com, www.sabbaticalhomes.com

Driveaways: “A driveaway situation arises when a car owner needs his vehicle moved to a new location and either can’t or doesn’t want to do the driving. Rather than pay to ship the car, the owner signs his ride up for a driveaway program—essentially giving a free car rental to a volunteer.”  …