It’s vacation time! After nearly two years of economic slump, we’re ready to go places. Here are some free tech tools to help keep those travel costs in check.

• Use this site to get email alerts on best travel special deals of the week:  http://www.travelzoo.com/
• Use Seat Guru to reserve the best seat on the plane:  http://www.seatguru.com/
• These sites can help you find cheap lodgings:  http://www.airbnb.com/ and http://roomorama.com/ and http://www.couchsurfing.org/
• Learn from the pros, like Matt Gross of NYT: http://frugaltraveler.blogs.nytimes.com/