This Year, The Heat's Really On

"Everyone's trying to figure this out," Banas said. " 'Should I even travel, and should I fly or drive for my vacation?' " And if you decide to brave those once-friendly skies? "You need to book early," she said, particularly if you have a specific destination and inflexible time frame.

"And then there are always the tried-and-true tricks," said Hotwire's Bason. "Look to fly on a Tuesday or Wednesday if you can" and take advantage of booking sites that allow travelers to see when airfares are the lowest in the days around their target dates. Other useful tools in that regard are Farecast ( http://www.farecast.com), FareCompare.com ( http://www.farecompare.com) and Hotwire's own TripStarter ( http://www.tripstarter.com), the last of which can tell you when air costs to a destination from your home city have been lowest and highest during the previous two years, as well as allow you to factor in a few variables.

Finally, don't overlook our own "What's the Deal?" column, which is usually posted Friday afternoons on our home page at http://www.washingtonpost.com/travel.

How to Drive There Now

Let's not mince words. Only a chump would take a long driving vacation this summer unless there was a gas card waiting for him when he got to his destination. Really. Let's say that you take Leffel's advice and try to play in your own back yard this summer. Maryland and Virginia, in other words. With regard to the latter, visit the state's tourism site ( http://www.virginia.org), specifically the "Park the Car Getaways" page, where you'll find, among other things, that the Boar's Head Inn in Charlottesville ( http://www.boarsheadinn.com, 434-296-2181) is offering a $20 gas card for each night of your summer stay, the Crowne Plaza in Williamsburg ( http://www.cpwilliamsburghotel.com, 757-220-2250) will give you a $25 gas card and Skyland Resort in Shenandoah National Park ( http://www.visitshenandoah.com, 888-896-3833) has two-night midweek packages that include a $30 gas card.

"I've seen hotels that offer a $50 gas card," said Banas, who also advised road-trip types to check BedandBreakfast.com ( http://www.bedandbreakfast.com). You'll find dozens of properties throughout the country offering gas card promotions. To save even more money with those gas cards, check such sites as GasBuddy.com ( http://www.gasbuddy.com) before you leave home. An aggregator of gas price sites from around the country, GasBuddy works by having consumers alert the site to good gas prices at pumps in their neighborhoods.

How to Cruise There Now

"No business is recession-proof, but we have proved currently and over time that we have been somewhat recession-resistant," said Bob Sharak of the Cruise Lines International Association, an industry trade group. Translation: Don't look for any real cruise bargains in the next few months; then again, Sharak had lots of ideas on making your travel dollar go further, particularly if Europe is on your summer dance card.

"I had a friend recently who was in Paris," he said. "There were two of them: They had an omelet, a croissant and cups of coffee. Ninety dollars." Small wonder, then, that more and more Americans are taking cruises through Europe; meanwhile, the lines add more ships and sailings each year.

"They buy their cruises in U.S. dollars and get to go from country to country without arranging transportation," Sharak said.

"But consider booking as early as possible," Banas said, "because chances are that prices will only go up, especially after Memorial Day." Sharak agreed, noting that although Caribbean cruises are cheaper in summer than in winter, ships are sailing at 105 percent capacity (that extra 5 percent comes courtesy of two-person cabins that allow three passengers or more), in part because cruise lines allow bookings months or even a year in advance.

If you can't find a bargain this summer, consider a repositioning cruise (generally in the spring and fall, when companies move ships back and forth from the Caribbean to Alaska and Europe). Because these are one-way sailings from, say, Copenhagen to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., a one-way air ticket is required. Still, Sharak said, "these are often offered at a bargain."

Where to Stay Now

At last we come to the part of the journey where travelers might actually catch a break this summer. "I think that this year, if you're a bargain hunter for the summer, you have to focus on hotels," said Bason of Hotwire. Given his site's emphasis, you might be inclined to take his recommendation with a grain of salt. Then again, lodging prices are one of the few aspects of summer travel that are not tied to oil prices and therefore are under the industry's control.

"San Diego is kind of my number one [destination] for the summer," Bason said. "It had one of the bigger building booms in hotels over the last three to five years," and several properties "opened up just as we entered this soft time," among them a Hard Rock Hotel ( http://www.hardrockhotelsd.com, 866-751-7625).