Family vacation time is right around the corner and you need some travel tips to save you money? No problem, here are a few tips to get you started.1. Consider buying your ticket through a consolidator. This is something not a great many people know about, and those that do don’t often exercise this option. A consolidator is a type of travel broker and you can save quite a bit off the regular price.2. Purchase an Entertainment Guide for the city you plan to visit. These books are filled to the brim with coupons for money off and freebies for restaurants, shows, and all sorts of activities in the city of your choice. They are cheap and you can recoup your money tenfold easily.3. Here’s a little tip for reserving your airline seats. It won’t actually save you any money bit it could save you space! If there are two of you traveling, and there are 3 seats together, reserve an aisle and window seat, leaving the middle seat empty. Unless the plane is completely filled, that middle seat will usually not be filled, and you’ll have the whole row to yourself. If someone does sit there, you can easily ask them to move to the aisle or window so that you can sit with your mate.4. Even if you don’t think you travel often enough to earn any rewards through frequent flyer miles, go ahead and sign up anyway. There is no cost, and these programs offer a lot of bargains and perks.5. Take along a kit of medications you may be taking, including prescription and non-prescription meds. You may also want to include such things as aspirin, antacid tablets, diarrhea meds, and motion sickness medication just in case. That way you won’t be stuck buying these things in the airport or hotel gift shops where you will pay extra.6. If you are traveling out of the country be sure and update your immunizations if needed. Not doing so will cost you in both time and money.7. Before visiting a city, check online to see if you can obtain free information and coupons. Usually you can be mailed a packet of visitor information that will include free maps of the city, brochures, discount tickets and passes, as well as general information about the city itself.8. If you are considering a beach vacation, don’t rule out Alabama’s miles and miles of white sandy beaches. It is much cheaper and less crowded than such places as Florida or California, rates are cheaper, and many restaurants offer meals at budget prices.9. Off-season scheduling of your vacation is the key to bargain prices in hotel rates, theme park tickets, rental car rates, airfares, and also you will have less crowds and spend less time standing in lines.10. Use city transportation whenever possible to avoid having to rent a car. You can usually take a shuttle from the airport to your hotel for a small fee, and then use buses, cable cars, trolleys, or subways to navigate around the town. You’ll have more fun this way and save money on rental car fees.