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?

Japan and the Pacific Rim region are in recovery mode following an 8.9-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami. During times of natural disaster, Travel Guard® North America, a leader in travel insurance plans and assistance services, steps up to provide emergency travel and medical assistance to all travelers. This time is no different. The travel insurance provider is offering assistance to all U.S. and Canadian travelers and their families impacted by this most recent disaster.

Services include emergency travel assistance such as emergency cash coordination, message relay, flight rebooking and hotel booking plus emergency medical assistance including medical referrals and access to air ambulance and medical providers. Travelers and family members seeking these services for their traveling relatives can call Travel Guard’s 24-hour World Service Center at 1-866-644-6811.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with those whose lives have been devastated by this morning’s tragic events,” said Carol Mueller, Travel Guard North America Vice President. “We have a number of Travel Guard customers who are affected by this natural disaster and we’re diligently working to provide them the assistance they need. When major events like this occur, we believe it is our responsibility to extend our expertise to affected travelers and have already been able to assist callers with emergency assistance, flight rebooking and message delivery to family members.”

Travel Guard’s assistance service centers have access to the most current information regarding airline flight schedules, can act as emergency travel counselors and are prepared to help travelers with alternative travel solutions. Travel Guard North America’s core insurance plans (Platinum, Gold, Silver, My Travel Guard, Basic and other select plans) include coverage for trip cancellation, interruption and delay in the event of a natural disaster or inclement weather. All coverages are subject to policy terms, conditions and limitations.

For additional information about Travel Guard’s selection of travel insurance and assistance service plans, travelers can Travel Guard’s World Service Center at 1-800-826-1300 or visit their website www.travelguard.com.

What happens if you’re on vacation and the front desk informs you a tsunami is on its way? Travel journalist Christopher Elliott was in a Hawaii hotel when he received word of a tsunami heading his way. Read “How to Survive a Tsunami in Your Hotel” to find out.