At a time when the world is debating on the balance between a company’s access to our information and our right to privacy, I find myself celebrating the joys that come with looking at the trends associated with all of the information. At this time in history, unlike anytime, we have access to excessive amounts of information at an increasing pace. Personally, I begin to research all kinds of random tidbits until I have either systematically organized the data into something I can use, or until my mind is so numb and eyes so heavy that I want to throw my computer through f***ing wall.
For this reason I say ‘luckily’ we have organizations like Kayak and Google who not only have access to infinitely more data, but they also have high powered algorithms to mine it into graphics that, if used correctly, can seriously enhance our standard of living. That’s why I am happy to show you some very useful travel info presented by Kayak’s latest ‘Travel Hacker’ series. They monitor flight data all year long and track over a billion searches to give us advice we may have never learned on our own. Hopefully with this information you will find yourself standing on Kayak’s giant shoulders and becoming one step closer to the savvy traveler you want to be. I encourage you to click the pictures and play around with their site as there are a lot of other fun things you can explore. Enjoy!
When to Book – When to Depart and Return – Median Airfare*
Spontaneous Adventures
One of my other favorite features is the KAYAK Explore search. Basically you enter in your home city and set some search boundaries depending on your timeframe, desired destination, budget, or activities, and it will populate a bunch of prices and destinations. Or if you are feeling spontaneous and a little daring (and can be flexible on dates), just do the home city and let Kayak show you the cheapest prices for all destinations.
There are a lot of other fun features to explore. Know that you are looking at the cumulation of billions of pieces of data from the previous year. And remember that while the odds are many patterns will hold true, things are subject to change.
*note: this information is specific to flights leaving the U.S. and Canada