TRAVEL SPECIAL .............7 things to do now and travel smart

7 things to do now and   travel smart   If you are a frequent traveller, pay heed to these  smart tips and enhance your experiences Cross-reference destinations Make a list of everywhere you might want to go this year.  Then run a few tests to rank them by where you might get the most for your money. Start at the site Numbeo (numbeo.comtravel-prices), which ranks countries by cost of living, restaurant costs Amit Bhatia, and VC of Qu and cities by travel cost Rangers foo (and “backpacker travel bitten by the cost“). Then log onto a site like Fareness (fareness.com) to compare how much you might have to pay on the approximate dates you're planning to go. Finally, score extra points for the destination where your friends or relatives or friends' relatives live and might provide money saving advice, a free meal or even a spare bedroom. Schedule your airfare purchases You probably already have a few specific dates you need to be somewhere in 2016 -Durga Puja at the in-laws, a friend's wedding in New York. Tickets through the end of November are already on sale for most airlines, so you could buy them right now and lock in a decent price. To find out when the best time is, try Kayak's Travel Hacker global pages, which will give you the best data-based guess. Also set an airfare alert (on Airfare Watchdog, for example) in case really cheap tickets come up in the meantime. Unhappy holidays It's happened: You buy a plane ticket to a foreign country and then discover you've scheduled your trip during a national holiday, or the first week of school vacation or some other time where hotels may be overbooked, local flights pricey, restaurants closed, streets deserted. So take that destination wish list and search online for a calendar of national or local holidays as well as major festivals. Otherwise, you might end up in Sumatra during Ramadan or Seoul during the Korean New Year.’’ Apply for a credit card The easiest way for occasional fliers to get in on the miles  game is to sign up for credit cards that offer a huge bonus  and one year without an annual fee. Crack the codes Have you ever been ready to type in your credit card number when you spot a “Discount Code“ box on the screen and then feel that you might have made a bad deal? Install the Honey browser extension, which works on several prominent travel sites, like Hotels.com, Priceline.com and Trivago.com (as well as many other non-travel retailers). Once it's in there, it will alert you to any discount codes as you are making a purchase, and will even test them all automatically with one click. Switch your cellphone plan If you want to use your cellphone abroad, figure out a carrier that gives you maximum coverage across the globe on maximum continents. While you are at it, ensure that you also lock in on a data plan that may be slower when on roaming, but still works well enough to give you access to mail, maps and VoIP calls. Depledge allegiance What's your favourite car rental agency? Wrong! Prices vary so widely and unpredictably across companies, locations and dates that it is insane for occasional travellers to pay extra so they can collect points or save a few minute or get a free upgrade. Instead, just search your favourite online travel agency and pick the cheapest rate from a company you've heard of. Do some companies have nicer cars? It's possible, but plenty of hotels have nicer beds, and you don't pay extra to stay in them. And here's a final thing you can do right now: Find out what your credit card and personal car insurance covers so you can vehemently decline what you don't need at the checkout counter. New York Times