With summer vacation fast approaching if you have booked in advance you will be filled with excitement. If, on the other hand, you are more of the last-minute holiday planner you may be in a bit of a panic. You don’t want to get stuck with what no-one else wants - the room with no view or over-inflated prices, but what else is left?

The internet, with its abundance of travel sites, may have the answer especially if your dates are flexible. A survey of the NST team and in-dependent parents showed that increasingly the Internet is used to plan and book holidays. Buying airline tickets is also popular online especially as carriers offer exclusive internet deals such as fare reductions on departures on Wednesdays or Saturdays and discounted car hire rates. A number of sites are very popular for a variety of reasons - child-friendly destinations, travel tips, competitive prices, responsible tourism policies, etc. Here is a selection of those sites which may give you some ideas. Happy holidays!

What was I looking for?

Searching for internet travel options can be time-consuming and many of the respondents preferred to use a selection of sites to make their choices. Travel search engines which specifically trawl through large numbers of airlines, trip con-solidators, and hotel sites at once (so you don’t have to!) can cut down the searching time. Two popular companies are Mobissimo and SideStep which offer worldwide travel deals through their international sites.
www.sidestep.com
www.mobissimo.com

Online travel agent sites offer it all - holiday packages, airline tickets, insurance, last minute deals, and increasingly customer service help lines should there be questions - which in my experience can be quite often! As with high street agents the sites will have deals with specific carriers or holiday companies so the offers that show up will be linked to those specific companies so if it is the most competitive prices you want you may need to do some more cross-checking.
www.ebookers.ch
www.expedia.co.uk
www.travelocity.com
www.opodo.co.uk

Baby on Board
Going on holiday with very young children presents a new set of challenges but with good planning it is possible for everyone to have a relaxing time. These links are to travel tips (within commercial sites) which cover the basics, sun protection, clothes etc., but also have specific advice on breastfeeding in warmer temperatures or water sterilisation for example. The charity Tamba has a members area dedicated to traveling with twins and multiples.
www.tinytotsaway.com/general/traveltips.php
www.travellingwithchildren.co.uk
www.tamba.org.uk/members.php

And for some specific baby-friendly destinations check out the reports written by parents at this site. Departures are from the UK only but the reviews of deluxe beach hotels in exotic locations to cosy cottages in picturesque settings may give you some ideas anyway.
www.babygoes2.com

Family Holidays
You can’t please everyone all the time and that is definitely true for family vacations. However, the extensive holiday information here may improve your chances. For each hand-picked destination, whether it is in a European country or on a remote exotic island, there is a summary of why, and for which family group, it is most suitable. Even more infor-mation can be found on the forums which have some out of the ordinary questions "where can I find out about Gastronomic Evenings for kids?" and lots of instant feedback.
www.takethefamily.co

If it is a family holiday in Switzerland there are some dedicated sites to look at, not forgetting Kinderhotels which offer everyone the chance of some R and R.
www.tiscover.ch
www.swisshotels.com
www.kinderhotels.com

Cotttages to Castles
If you prefer to operate at your own schedule, or want to hook up with friends or family, self-catering in a villa or farm property can seem like a good idea especially if you have young children. However, in my experience the accommoda-tion has not always lived up to expectation. Personal recommendations are the safest option but may be in short supply. These commercial sites claim to offer the next best thing - quality properties that have been researched for child-friendliness and taste.
www.babyfriendlyboltholes.co.uk
www.toddlerholiday.com
www.rentvillas.com
www.cottagestocastles.com

For further advice you could try out the 5,000,000+ traveler reviews and opinions of hotels, vacations etc. on Trip Ad-visor. This is one of those sites you can end up loving or hating. Hours of life can tick away viewing ‘candid’ pictures of hotel rooms and reading reviews from people whose opinion you wouldn’t ask for in real life. If you go there re-member everyone has different tastes and several days research on a weekend hotel break is probably over the top!
www.tripadvisor.com