Visiting a luxury desert oasis doesn’t have to break the bank. When planning a Palm Springs vacation, take advantage of the bountiful free events and activities allowing you to save for those occasional splurges.

Backstreet Art District Art Walk
Interact with artists in the hippest art destination in the desert during the art walk held the first Wednesday of the month between 6 and 9 p.m.  www.backstreetartdistrict.com

Palm Springs Art Museum
Feed your need for contemporary art on Thursday afternoons when admission is free into this museum as well as the second Sunday of the month. See the collection of Western art, Cahuilla basketry collection and sculpture garden.  Bring home a cultural memento from the gift shop and grab a bite at the restaurant. Free admission is between 4 and 8 p.m. on Thursdays and all day the second Sunday of the month.  www.psmuseum.org

VillageFest
Fabulous Palm Canyon Drive transforms into an old fashioned street fair with musicians, arts, crafts and food vendors and a farmers market every Thursday night between 7 and 10 p.m. www.villagefest.org

COD Street Fair at College of the Desert
In Palm Desert, start your weekend day with a visit to this street fair with about 340 vendors offering new merchandise, food, arts, crafts and farmers market. Located on the College of the Desert campus, the street fair opens at 7 a.m. every Saturday and Sunday.  www.codstreetfair.com

Coachella Valley Preserve and Thousand Palms Oasis
In Thousand Palms, discover the flora and fauna by taking a hike or enjoying a picnic. Be sure to start a visit at the rustic Palm House Visitor Center. During the summer, be sure to plan your visit around the heat and keep hydrated. www.coachellavalleypreserve.org

Be sure to visit the official website of Greater Palm Springs for more affordable ideas.

Palm Springs lodging doesn’t need to break the bank, either. View affordable Palm Springs accommodations with Resort Rentals International to save a bundle on your next desert vacation.

Image Source: Palm Springs Visitor Center

As the old adage goes, if it sounds too good to be true, it is. News outlets are indicating more and more vacationers are being scammed when reserving vacation rentals found through online websites such as Craiglist.

Sure, Craiglist is great for finding used furniture and posting garage sales but it’s not the most ideal site to book a family vacation. Now, we’re not suggesting every vacation rental on this site results in a scam, it’s just happens to be an easy vehicle for scammers to use.

An online listing may promise accommodations in a great location at an unbeatable price but when travelers show up, they oftentimes find a non-existent vacation rental. Or, as what happened to this New York Times travel blogger, the reservation is canceled right before arrival, payment is never returned and the rental condo doesn’t exist.

Don’t let this happen to you! Following are a few tips to minimize being scammed when booking your vacation rental.

Book through a Reputable Vacation Rental Website
Yes, we admit to being a little biased toward Resort Rentals International, but there are also hundreds of reputable vacation rental companies online to plan your perfect getaway. Do your homework by checking these sites first.

Use a Credit Card
A red flag with a vacation rental scam is paying upfront through a wire service. When paying with a credit card, you usually have some fraud protection from the issuing bank. When paying with a check, cash or through wire service, there is minimal protection.

Pay Attention to Detail
If dealing strictly by email with the rental agency, pay attention to the email’’ grammar and sentence structure. We’re not saying it needs to earn an A in English class but if it’s poorly written, and we mean extremely poorly written, proceed with caution. Would be a good idea to pick up the phone and speak to the rental agency.

Tap Your Resources
In addition to using a reputable rental agency, ask friends for advice on vacation rentals or, search for the rental on TripAdvisor or other community travel sites.

Be Realistic
If the rental rate seems too good to be true, it probably is. Use the Internet to research the vacation rental and vacation agency. Also, pull a sentence or two from the listing and run it through Google. Does the description pull up another vacation rental? If so, proceed with caution.

Vacations should create happy memories, not nightmares. Luckily, Resort Rentals International is a reputable agency offering great rates in popular vacation destinations. Where do you want to go?

Today, JetBlue Airways announced the return on the All You Can Jet (#AYCJ) Pass! AYCJ is a month of air travel for one unbeatable price. This means if you’re planning a vacation to Las Vegas, a romantic getaway to St. Maarten or  weekend jaunt to Orlando, #AYCJ may be for you!

How to Book an #AYCJ Pass
This is how it works. Travelers wishing to pick up one of these passes need to become a TrueBlue member. Don’t worry, it’s free!

Then, choose your travel option with either the AYCJ-7 Pass which has no day-of-week travel restrictions for $699 or the AYCJ-5 Pass which excludes travel on Fridays and Sundays for $499. Better hurry. The announcement is burning up Twitter and the blogosphere and will probably sell out before the August 20, 2010, deadline to purchase. Travel can be booked beginning Aug. 23 for travel between Sept. 7 and Oct. 6, 2010.

Customers who purchase the popular #AYCJ Pass will have no boundaries - every available seat on every flight between Sept. 7 and Oct. 6 will be available with no blackout dates - to travel to more than 60 international and domestic destinations in JetBlue’s route network as often as they like. TrueBlue members will receive 4,200 points with the purchase of the AYCJ-7, or 3,000 points for the AYCJ-5. With one-way Award Flights starting at just 5,000 points, customers who purchase a Pass will be almost half-way to another roundtrip JetBlue flight.

What Do Jetters Have to Say?
We spoke with one last year’s Jetters, Matt Orr, co-founder of a Sarasota-based think tank called The Hub, to get his take on All You Can Jet. He told us the pass allowed him to meet up with his L.A.-based significant other in different cities across the country. During his jet setting journey, two of the most rewarding experiences were finding the best restaurants and meeting new people. Matt said, “Traveling makes me happy,” and JetBlue made him a very happy boy!

Additional Details About the #AYCJ Pass
Customers may book new travel or make changes or cancellations to #AYCJ reservations online at www.jetblue.com/aycj without a fee up to three days before departure. Changes or cancellations made less than three days before departure will be subject to JetBlue’s $50 change/cancel fee. Customers can upgrade to Even More Legroom seats on each flight for as little as $5 extra, depending on the flight. Other terms and conditions apply. Detailed information is available at www.jetblue.com/aycj.

Image Source: source: JETBLUE AIRWAYS