Airfares:  Hands down, the best website for finding airfares is going to be www.itasoftware.com.  I am impressed by the flexibility in finding one-way, R/T, and multi-city fares.   It is nothing fancy, there is no advertising, it just does what you need it to do.  For instance, the other day I easily planned a multi-city tour running with options of departures from either ALB (Albany), BDL (Hartford) or BOS (Boston) into Dallas (DFW) leaving on June 9 or the day before or after, then flying to LAS (Las Vegas) on the morning of the 11th then back to DFW in the early evening, then back to LGA (LaGuardia) or any airport within a 50 mile radius all on American Airlines.   It got me the itinerary I wanted at the price I wanted right away.  The one thing I don't like about itasoftware is that some discount airlines are not included such as Southwest.  Also, after finding your airfare and itinerary on itasoftware.com, book your airfare directly with the airline.

Hotels:  It's no secret to get the best and most honest hotel review the place to go is www.tripadvisor.com.  But you need to be careful what to look for.   When reading a review, I like to read them from discriminating travelers who have the same background as me.  For instance, a 21-year old from Great Britain is not going to give me the same advice as a 57-year old from New York City on hotel location, comforts, and amenities.   The phone app I use to get last-minute hotel deals is HotelTonight.  By the way, if you use the referral code ssolosky, you'll get $50 off your next booking.    Looking for a great place to book a real cheap, but good European hotel?  Check out my friend Tom Meyer's website:  http://www.eurocheapo.com/

International Communications:  One of the most confusing, frustrating, expensive, and convoluted things for travelers to do is make a simple phone call from overseas back to the U.S. or to fellow travelers in Europe.  On my upcoming small group tour to Italy I am going to try our an app called Viber.  I have used Skype in the past and I like it, but I will report back to you about viber.

Sites I never use:  Expedia, Orbitz, and Kayak.  I sometimes use Priceline, but only for rental cars.

For more information on my small group tours to Peru, Spain, Italy, and Paris, see www.travelingprofessor.com.