5 Eco-friendly Packing Tips

Renting a vacation pad—where you typically enjoy more room and more personality, at a lower cost than a hotel stay—became the first choice travel method for more than a million Americans this year, according to surveys. But how to pinpoint the best spots near desirable locations and skip the lemons? Enter, Rentmix.com, a site that pins on an online map vacant vacation rentals at your destination. It's like a Kayak for vacation rentals, fetching listings from services such as AirBnB, HomeAway, FlipKey. Say you're trying to stay in London for the Olympics and all of the local hotels are charging astronomical prices. Punch in your trip dates, budget, and preferred number of bedrooms, and Rentmix will fetch the houses and apartments in a district you specify. (For what it's worth, there are condos for rent from $59 a night in London during the Olympics, according to our recent search on the site.) The clincher: Rentmix brings together the broadest array of lodging options of any site, and its map feature enables you to make sure you're choosing a rental in the right location. Tip: When comparing listings, use the "Street View" feature of Google Maps to double check that the block matches the lister's description. ("Is it really only two blocks to the subway?") SEE MORE ON BUDGET TRAVEL Which Rental Is Right for You? Are Vacation Rentals Still Legit? Yes. A Service for Finicky Vacation Home Renters

It seems like there's one on every flight: The passenger who has to be told—and told again and again—to turn off his electronic devices for takeoff. As if they've never had to turn them off before. As if the whole thing is a big surprise. As if they're not actually in a hurry to get anywhere, even though the interior of an airplane might be the place most full of people-in-a-hurry-to-get-somewhere that could possibly exist. (Just wait to see how everyone scrambles to be the first one off at landing!) And yet, time after time, someone needs a reminder (Alec Baldwin, for instance). There's certainly plenty of skepticism around the actual dangers involved in using electronic devices during landing and takeoff—specifically, whether there indeed are any. But we've lived with the restriction for so long that to see someone openly flouting the rule—not just taking their sweet time complying—seems as shocking as watching a passenger light up a cigarette in the aisle. It just isn't done. I recently spent the entirety of a 3.5-hour flight fighting off mild terror after the woman in the seat next to me missed a cell phone call during takeoff—even the ringer was still on!—and then proceeded not to turn off her phone and stash it in her bag like I had assumed she would, but instead to return the phone call! In mid-flight! Not even whispering! There were no flight attendants around, as we were in the back row of the plane, and no one else seemed ruffled (or awake) but me. But boy, was I ruffled—probably irrationally so. It was just a phone call, after all. Right? Or was it grounds for summoning assistance? Perhaps the simple fact that something so expressly forbidden was happening and no one was reacting is what threw me off, but I couldn't shake the anxiety until we'd landed at the gate hours later and were leaving the plane. Have you ever seen someone make a cell phone call during a flight? Would you make a big fuss about it if you did? What other electronic-device shenanigans have you encountered on an airplane? Tell us about it in the comments! MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL: Do You Turn Your Cell Phone Off on Planes? Family-Friendly Travel Tips: Mobile! Do You Pay Attention to Airline Safety Videos?

As the competition heats up between travel sites, everyone's coming out with new booking, reviews, and rewards tools to win your trust—and transaction. But which ones make your life easier? We name a few that solve common travel problems in a way other, better-marketed websites don't. FLASH-SALE CLUBS The Problem: Sure, the discounts on sites like Jetsetter and LivingSocial are solid (50 percent off is common), but how good are the actual properties? The Fix: Incorporate real-world ratings. A year ago, TripAdvisor launched an invitation-only sale site, SniqueAway, that only promotes hotels with a minimum four-out-of-five-star TripAdvisor user rating. Each week, three new hotels are typically offered at discounts of up to 65 percent. A recent example: The Restoration on King, a luxury hotel in Charleston, S.C., had rooms at $189 a night, up to 43 percent off regular rates. CUSTOMIZED SEARCH The Problem: You trust your friends' opinions on restaurants, hotels, shops, and more. So what are their favorites and how can you find them easily? The Fix: Enable like-minded linking. One-year-old Hotpot, by Google, is a mapping tool that combines the best of Yelp, Facebook, and Foursquare. Rate the places you've recently visited on a scale of one to five, and then invite your friends to do the same. When you next trawl Google, the site uses your network as a filter, retrieving related results from the Web and putting the most relevant recommendations first. GETTING TRUSTWORTHY TRAVEL ADVICE The Problem: Reviews are only as useful as the users who generate them. And who knows who they are? The Fix: Amp up reviewer transparency. The dozen-year-old travel community IgoUgo isn't new—and its 1 million user reviews don't come close to TripAdvisor's 35 million—but a new interface emphasizes trustworthiness. Reviews are written only by IgoUgo members (with clickable profiles) or come from larger online travel agents such as sister site Travelocity, which allows posts only by hotel guests, not anonymous commenters. SEE MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL 10 Most Useful Travel Websites New Site Advises on How Not to Be a "Tourist" Thanksgiving Travel Myths Debunked

Whether you favor smartphones, laptops, or landlines, VOIP (Voice–over Internet Protocol) providers make transatlantic talk cheap—in a good way. Using them is easy: In many cases, you simply download the software, create a contact list, and click, "call." Plus, most companies (including the three below) post how–to–videos on their sites for first–timers to reference. Ready to reach out to someone? Service: ooVoo Works with: Smartphones (Android, iPhone); computers (Windows, Mac). Calls to U.S. land–lines: 1.8 cents per minute. Range of service: 70–plus countries, mostly in Europe, North America, and the Middle East. Good to know: Up to three people can video chat on ooVoo for free, and only one of you needs to be an ooVoo user. The others can join the conversation through any Web browser, although there's no cost to download the program. Service: Skype Works with: Smartphones (Android, iPhone); computers (Windows, Mac); select TV sets. Calls to U.S. land–lines: 2.2 cents per minute. Range of service: Worldwide. Good to know: While the software itself is gratis, Skype charges for features—like group and video calling—that come standard elsewhere. Service: Jajah Works with: Any computer, paired with any phone; smartphones (Android, iPhone). Calls to U.S. land–lines: 3.2 cents per minute Range of service: 156 countries. Good to know: You don't have to download any software to use Jajah. Just type your phone number and the one you want to dial into your browser, and wait for the phones to ring. When you and your friend both pick up, you'll be on the call together. *Based on calls originating in the U.K.; similar rates generally apply throughout Europe. MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL: The Ultimate Guide to Travel Apps Travel Tips for Android and iPhone Users 10 Most Useful Travel Websites