Enjoying Vegas on a Budget – Part 1: Airfare

I recently returned from a weekend-long vacation in fabulous Las Vegas. Vegas is reasonably inexpensive if you know how to maneuver about the city and enjoy all the economical excitement the city has to offer. Over the next few days I’ll be sharing some of my many ways I enjoyed Vegas on a budget. Airfare

As soon as you have the dates available for your trip start shopping the internet. I suggest at this very moment to sign up your email through the airlines website even if at this time you have no plans to travel. This simple step gives you access to upcoming announcements on private and public sales and furthermore creates a profile to gain points from trips.

Additionally, look at your trip and decide if you can go into the city a day earlier. By flying in on a Wednesday as opposed to a Thursday or Friday I was able to get an awesome sale rate of $69. Before purchasing, I always do at least two more searches – www.expedia.com and www.kayak.com.  If for some reason one of those searches comes back at a better rate I go directly to the airlines website and purchase directly from the website. Third party websites tack on a $20-30 increase in price to cover their fees.

And finally, search your trip as a roundtrip and then as one-way fares. Sometimes it is less expensive to do one-way flights into and out of the city as opposed to a roundtrip. If you are up for it, one-ways on different airlines can save you extra money for gambling! Most importantly, read the fine print for the airlines on their baggage policy. Some airlines allow two free bags (Thank you Southwest!), while most other airlines charge a fee for checked bags and sometimes carry-on bags. Also, some discount airlines charge an extra fee on bags over 40-50 pounds with an outrageous fee at the counter as opposed to paying the fee while checking in online. You can save at minimum $10 paying for the bag online during check-in than at the counter.

The time of year and timing of the flight (very early, very late vs. mid-day), and any connecting flights will also play a role in the cost of the flight. Check back tomorrow as I discuss low-priced transportation options.

NASA Wins $17.9 Billion

On Friday, the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives approved the $17.9 billion 2015 budget for NASA. The approved budget was $250 million more than 2013 and nearly $440 million more than the amount originally requested by the White House.  This will ensure continued funding for NASA's two human transportation projects - the Orion Multi-purpose Crew Vehicle and the Space Launch System (SLS) - so that it can end its dependence upon Russia for space station access by 2017. Check out NASA's slide-deck outlining what they'll be developing  next year: