The Secret Benefit to Booking Your Flights Early

There are two types of people in this world: People who book their flights early, and people who wish they booked their flights early. In addition to the last-minute stress of scrambling to find a flight for that Memorial Day weekend wedding, waiting to book your flights until the eleventh hour also means you're more likely to encounter more expensive fare and limited seating availability. No more!

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As travel giant KAYAK pointed out in a recent blog post, there are many convincing reasons to book your flights (and hotels) with plenty of time to spare. Of course, when you plan ahead, you can take into account the best days to score cheap airfare and set price alerts (on KAYAK, you can filter by hotels that offer free cancellation and then change your original reservation if you're alerted to something better) to help you score the best deals. Another bonus? You'll have ample time to tweak your itinerary, and maybe even squeez in that last-minute day trip to Hot Springs National Park.

But there's also a less-discussed major upside to booking flights and hotels early: Riding the wave of pre-travel excitement. As KAYAK points out, "Studies show that anticipating a vacation can improve your overall attitude and make you happier. So don’t delay the euphoria. Even something as simple as a weekend getaway can get the dopamine going." If you're not sure where you want to go, try KAYAK's neat tool that lets you enter your budget, how far you're willing to fly from home, and when you want to travel.

And for those under-the-wire travelers who refuse to give up their nick-of-time ways, did we mention how nice it is to not fret over expedited passport renewal service or finding an affordable car rental on a holiday weekend?