A Collection of Travel Blog Highlights, Airfare Sale Sites, and Insider Travel Tips that Will Get You Traveling Faster and Smarter.

Spring break travel, honeymoon travel, summer travel. There’s always time to get a good tip, score a fresh deal, or take down an insider restaurant recommendation.

Hip Travel

For the hyper-conscious urban millennial, travel tends to wax experiential, and the magazine ReadyMade is on the trend. You probably have no idea what I’m referring to. Regardless, any demographic can appreciate ReadyMade’s travel-related blog posts, from destination listings (hotels in Berlin, details on art traveling to you, Chattanooga, Pittsburgh, Kansas City), to an actual worthwhile travel project. Check out the instructions for how to create a Multipurpose Picnic Blanket for about $26. Srsly! Right?!

For the ReadyMade crowd, I see a discounted Michael’s Gift Card getting you a deal on fabrics for your picnic blankets.

Travel Savings To-Go (without the Kayak windows)

Families love and share the website TravelZoo.com, but it’s a hot bargain-price aggregation site for just about anybody. Check out their Top 20 Deals, which at time of writing advertises a $60 nationwide airfare sale and a 4-star Scottsdale resort for $99 per night. Yowza.

Find a bargain link on TravelZoo for American Airlines, and use a discounted American Airlines Gift Card for purchase to sweeten the deal.

High-End Travel Guides

Perhaps you’re done with dusty road trips and bourgeois mid-scale hotels and it’s time to indulge in the niceties that a lot of cash can afford you. Whether it’s a one-time honeymoon or a once-in-a-lifetime getaway or even better, the way you’ve always meant to travel, find camaraderie and like-minded recommendations in Luxe City Guides, which cover the high-end luxury dining and accommodations. Book your room via Luxe Hotels & Villas online, which is an exclusive collection of elite hotels, villas, boutiques, and B&B’s around the world. Afraid it’s out of your budget? Check out the “More Dash Than Cash” page.

Pay $1,000 a night, but save on the Prada sunglasses you’ve got your eye on with a discounted Sunglass Hut Gift Card  >>>

Ready to Go, See, and Do

Have you heard about a destination, read about it, researched it, and still have questions that can only be answered by someone who’s just been there? Off-the-beaten path Lonely Planet travel guides maintain an online, ready-to-assemble army of travelers on their Thorn Tree who can answer travelers questions ranging from “Can I drink the water, really?” to “Must travel despite government warning. Any tips?”

Lonely Planeteers might not admit they love a chain restaurant, but between you and me, Cracker Barrel is a secret favorite. What you save on a discounted Cracker Barrel Gift Card you can use for gas on your LP Deep South road trip.

But Where Should We Go?

Need to do some quick research to plan a family vacation, or a weekend getaway, or a romantic night? Time to visit Uptake.com, where you can plan travel by genre, not destination.

Get a discounted Borders Gift Card, discounted Barnes & Noble Gift Card, or trade in a gift card on Plastic Jungle to get an Amazon.com Gift Card and purchase a travel guide to complete your destination research.

It Can and Will Be Done: Travel with Children

When they’re only eating chicken nuggets made in the shape of dinosaurs and no other variety will do, any regular mom resorts to thinking a vacation only offers more hassles than downtime. Check out the award-winning site WeJustGotBack.com, where advice abounds on avoiding having to choose your battles on the road. Start with their handy, printable Packing Lists, and read on from there and your anxiety will be soothed.

Moms and Dads: before you go, get discounted Loews Cineplex Gift Cards for rainy days at the beach, Cold Stone Creamery Gift Cards, Jamba Juice Gift Cards, and Starbucks Gift Cards and maybe you can send the older ones off with the younger ones and get some rest!

Let us know how these work for you. And, if you’ve got a travel tip you’re willing to share, let us know in your comment!

How soon can Spring Break start? Well, if you’ve got a few weeks like I do, take a minute’s break to enter April’s giveaways and sweepstakes from around the web.

Dial for Men 30 Days of Dirt – Dial for Men has plenty of prizes to give away, including $50 Gift Cards, riding lawnmowers, and dirt bikes, when you enter their sweepstakes through April 20, 2011. Just go to their Facebook page and “Like” Dial for Men to gain access to the entry page. See the sweepstakes official rules for details. Then, use this handy $1.00 OFF coupon for Dial for Men along with a discounted Walmart Gift Card from Plastic Jungle and watch your savings pile up.

$250 Old Navy Gift Card Giveaway – My Wee View is giving away a free $250 Old Navy Gift Card. Just visit Old Navy online and make a comment back at MyWeeView.com on what you would like to get for your family. Get bonus entries by using Facebook and Google Connect. Hurry! Sweepstakes ends on April 15^th, 2011. Can’t wait to get a deal at Old Navy? Purchase discounted Old Navy Gift Cards and Old Navy eGift Cards (at time of writing up to 12% OFF) right now on Plastic Jungle.

Wilton Easter Prize Pack Giveaway – Here’s a quick one: the blog Two of a Kind Working on a Full House has regular giveaways, and this weekend take a second to check out the Wilton baking website then enter the Two of a Kind drawing to win the cute baking prize pack. While on Two of a Kind, see their many other sweepstakes, where you could win Tangled DVDs, mini-roller coasters, fishtanks, and more! The Wilton baking prize-pack contest ends on April 11, 2011.

ReadyMade and Wüstof Slice It & Dice It Sweepstakes – Do-it-yourself mag ReadyMade and the knife experts at Wustof want to put a knife in your hands. Win one of five top-quality Wustof knife sets when you enter your information for the drawing, which ends May 22, 2011. Check official rules for details.

Can’t wait to get a set of Wustof or Henkels or anything else for your kitchen? If you’ve been saving up and are that close, a discounted Williams-Sonoma Gift Card or eGift Card from Plastic Jungle might just make those perfect kitchen utensils within your budget!

Chiquita’s Make Your Way to Rio Sweepstakes – The Grand Prize in this Chiquita giveaway is a trip for four to Rio de Janeiro, and there are so many other prizes to win it’s hard to list them, including Xbox consoles, T-shirts, books, iTunes Gift Cards, Best Buy Gift Cards, and they’re even giving away bananas and avocados. Sweepstakes ends May 31, 2011; check official rules for details. Actually, Chiquita has a new snack, called Chiquita Duos and you can get a 2-for-1 Chiquita Duos coupon right here.

If you have a sweepstakes or giveaway, don’t hesitate to contact us at blog@plasticjungle.com; we’re happy to post it here.

Enjoy a lovely April weekend, and if you have stress about travel, keep an eye on the Plastic Jungle blog for tips and ideas to make your Spring Break more of a break than a working vacation!