Australia and New Zealand
"As we go into the summer," says Leisman, "I think we'll start to see three-digit fares that are comparable to fares to London or Paris," due to increased airline service from the United States. And once you land in Australia or New Zealand, your dollar of course goes 30 percent further than it did last year.

Last-minute deals
Travel companies have been unveiling their biggest discounts at the last minute. "The smart consumer with flexible travel dates who doggedly checks prices online will be rewarded," says Berman. One way for travelers to get a sense of the last-minute hotel deals available in a city is to do a "dateless search" on Orbitz. If you type your destination in without typing in a date, you'll get results that show the lowest prices at available hotels within the next 30 days.

Frequent-flier-mile redemption
It's relatively easy these days to get a free domestic plane ticket in exchange for only 25,000 miles (as opposed to 50,000). Condé Nast Traveler readers are even reporting success with that holy grail of point redemption: free tickets to Hawaii. However, it's important not to waste miles by using them for tickets that would otherwise be cheap. "Don't cash in an award that pays you less than a penny per mile," advises Brancatelli. "Try to get at least two cents per mile."