2,400 miles. 6 tanks of gas. $4.19 a gallon. $157 round trip. These were the numbers I worked with as we debated to drive or fly to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We had been there a few years ago with some dear friends. We stayed only one night, but loved the ocean and the area. I have always wanted to return, so this year we hoped we could.

If we drove the 2,400 miles from Milwaukee to Myrtle Beach, it would be take about 6 tanks of gas costing about $75 each fill-up for a grand total of approximately $450. It would also take about 2 days and 19 hours of driving. My son would have his license, so there would be three drivers, but the thought of spending that much time in the car didn’t thrill me.

So, I browsed some of the travel websites only to find that the airfares were too rich for me. Driving now sounded better than parting with all of that money.

In one of our Leisure articles, “Planning on Taking a Trip This Summer”, we mentioned getting great travel deals on Airfarewatchdog.com. Let me tell you about my personal experience with that website.

I entered in my trip details and signed up for email alerts for fare specials to my destination. Almost daily I received emails notifying me of the best prices for that route. A simple click showed me prices with $350 being the most common price. Those fares are OK but nothing great.

One night I checked my email and found an alert with an unadvertised special. Now the fare was $220 flying from Milwaukee to nearby Raleigh/Durham. Southwest Airlines offers web only fares on their website and this price seemed really good. We talked it over and didn’t decide quickly enough. Within a day, that fare was replaced by a new one of $385. Bummer! We waited too long, so in my mind, it was back to driving.

Special people in my life are teaching me to be grateful for the many blessings we have in life. So, I shifted my disappointment to excitement that we could even take a vacation. Hey, driving will be fun! I can pack all kinds of snacks and games and we will have fun being together.

The next night, I received another email alert about great fares. Some prices now were around $315. Having to purchase 4 tickets put it over $1,200 so I just couldn’t justify it. However, this time, I noticed a button at the top listing a fare from a nearby airport. So, I changed my departure airport and now could fly straight in to Myrtle Beach, and guess what? The roundtrip fare was $157!

Quickly we talked it over and then booked it! I wasn’t going to let this deal escape. So, my rating on Airfarewatchdog.com is a 10! I learned about unadvertised specials and secured a fantastic fare. Just remember to check your email and click on it! Now I’m going to enter in my next city location. Can’t wait to see how well we do!