Good question, and not an easy one to answer; or maybe too easy -- depending on perspective.

For starters, do you have a budget for your vacation? If money's no object, then you can grab what you want when you like what you see. That could be either a total package or air fare from one place and a land package from another.

More likely, you have financial limitations. You need a *baseline* cost from which to compare special sales, deals, offers, etc. Start by looking at and listing individual air fares and individual land packages for the specific hotel(s) at which you might want to stay. Compare these to total air/land packages. Unless you have a LOT of time on your hands to research and shop around like a pro, you'll do better with a total package than piecing it together yourself.

Register (FREE) at travel sites like expedia, travelocity, and orbitz, signing up for their **email alerts** which will notify you when your *chosen destination/route* prices change. You MUST check your email often, and I dont mean daily ... I mean severl times a day! I sometimes get several emails in ONE day that a specific route I'm tracking has gone up, down, and up again. You need to respond immediately when you get notification of a (downed) price you want to lock in! Sometimes that offer only lasts a few hours or is limited to a few seats on a given plane on a given day.

Meanwhile, compare your data with some local travel agents, AAA, etc.

AND ... if you are going to book way in advance, seriously consider the optional TRIP INSURANCE. One to two hundred more dollars now could save you thousands later! You never know what could happen with health, home, family, weather, or even your trip to the airport that day! Carefully check the details of the insurance. Yes, some will cover you the day OF the trip if you miss the plane!

-HMP-