Google Flights - My favorite way to get there!

Google Flights officially launched their site a few weeks ago. Although I've been using their flight search option for at least the past six months. Little did I know it was a Beta version, well it's worked just perfectly for me. I've booked at least 4 flights and searched for numerous others with no issue.

I've used other sites in the past, but Google Flights so far is my favorite.

It's a simple design; just a clean look and a lack of clutter. 

There are some standard options such as selecting which city to start from.
One neat feature to try is the plus (+) next to your city.
This will display surrounding cities which might give you a cheaper priced flight.

There are also options for number of stops, maximum price, preferred airline, specific travel times, and more.

Of course you'll also want to pick the date you want to fly. 
(I'll show you a cool option later for a new way to pick what dates you travel.)

You can select alternative for your destination as well.
 I actually used this option this past week. My family and I are traveling to Disney World later this summer. I found some awesome priced flights a few weeks ago, but I waited to long and the price went up.
I expanded my search to include Melbourne, Daytona Beach, and Sanford. I found a flight into Daytona Beach that was $84 cheaper per person. For a family of 6 that saved us quite a bit.

Once you've picked your options sit back and let Google do the rest!

Choose your outbound flight.

Google makes choosing easy. They even move all the best flights to the top of the list!

The also give you a "TIP". In the search above they found that if I left 2 days later and returned two days later I could save $76 per ticket. Google has got my back :)

There you go! Now that you've selected you options, you book your flight directly with the airline. Or you can save your itinerary for later.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain

I mentioned above about a new way to search for travel. One of the new ways Google is helping me find new places to travel is the "Explore Map" option.

You can explore the map by clicking on the map on the main search page or by clicking the link on the left hand side.

The cool thing about their Explore Map is that you do not have to input a destination. You can see the cost to travel to different destinations and see their cost.

Expand your horizon, maybe that trip is cheaper than you thought! It's free to look!