One of the most stressful parts of travel can be trying to book a flight. Airfares are expensive, and because prices change, we often worry that if we buy now, prices might go down, and we’d be the person who paid the most for the flight.

I used to look for the best price for hours and hours. I would look at a lot of different websites, second-guess myself, and worry about what would happen if the prices went down. I would wait until the right time to buy something. It was like trying to predict the stock market, which doesn’t work at all. You lose 99 times out of 100.

Prices are hard to guess. Most of the time, today is the best day to book.

I went to see the people at Google Flights last year, and while we were eating lunch, they told me about a study they did that looked at thousands of flights. They found that the price of a drop is, on average, about $50 USD. That means that if you wait, you might save about $50 USD, but you might also have to pay hundreds more. (Sales and mistake fares are not included.)

As someone who looks for flights to places all over the world every day, I can tell you that you shouldn’t second-guess yourself. Even if airfare goes down, if you’re happy with the price you paid, you need to accept it and move on.

If you search for a flight price a few times in your web browser, you are not crazy for thinking that the price has changed. Based on the cookies in your browser, flight prices do go up when you search for the same route over and over again. This is because the site wants to scare you into booking the flight quickly before the price goes up even more. Always look for flights in “private” or “incognito” mode to find the best prices.

To turn on incognito in Google Chrome or Safari, press Command (or “Control” on a PC), Shift, and “N.” For Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer, press “Command” (or “Control” on a PC), “Shift,” and “P.” This will open a new window in your browser where your information won’t be saved, so prices won’t go up as you search. Note: If you’re using an older version of OS X, open Safari, click “Safari” in the menu bar, and then click “Private Browsing.”

Every time you open a new incognito window, your cookies are cleared. So, if you want to start each flight search with a clean slate (so that your previous searches aren’t “remembered,” which could cause prices to go up), close all your incognito windows, open a new one, and then do your flight search.

Breathe in. You aren’t having a heart attack, though. Yes, that disgusting and expensive airport food does make you feel like you’re going to throw up. Don’t worry, this is just your adrenaline starting to kick in. Not sure where you want to go? Have no idea what you’re doing? Didn’t you know that fight-or-flight was made for situations like this? At least once in their lives, everyone should take a trip they didn’t plan. When you don’t know where you’ll go or what you’ll do next, you feel both scared and excited. This makes the experience 100 times better. Your heightened senses will make this trip stick in your mind for a long time. The sound of the ocean will take you right back to that last-minute road trip from Bilbao, Spain, to the beaches of Biarritz, France, and San Sebastian, Spain (Spain). You never thought you’d be able to visit so many different places (and even two different countries) in one day. The unexpected nature of these experiences will make sure you never forget them.

There are many ideas about how to save money on flights, such as booking on Tuesdays. However, there is no consistent truth about which days are cheapest. Most of the time, leaving on a weekday is cheaper, but this isn’t always true. The best thing to do is look at prices for a whole month to see which days are the cheapest for your route. This is how:

Step 1: Go to Skyscanner’s website or get the app.

Step 2. Enter your departure & arrival cities

Step 3: Choose “one-way” (even if you’re flying round-trip; you’re just looking for the cheapest day to leave first).

Step 4: On a computer, click “Depart,” but don’t enter a date. Instead, click “Whole Month” and then “Cheapest Month” so you can look at all the dates to see which one is cheapest. By clicking “Search Flights,” you can quickly see which date is the cheapest.

In the app for phones: Tap the date you want to leave, and then switch the view to “Chart.” Swipe left or right to find the cheapest date, and tap on a bar to see how much it costs.

If you need to, repeat these steps for your return flight. You can still book a round trip all at once, but if you do these steps first, you’ll be able to see which dates are generally cheaper to fly in and out of for your round trip.

Skyscanner is similar to Kiwi.com and Google Flights, but they also have map views so you can see where the airport is. Hopper also offers price analysis and keeps track of changes so you can find out when and where you can fly for the least amount of money (i.e. when is best to fly)

The cheapest flight you can book is one that is free, and using points is the easiest way to do that. If you don’t have any, don’t worry. If you sign up for just one travel rewards credit card and spend the minimum amount, you can get a big points bonus, often enough for a free flight.

You can get an airline rewards card that lets you earn points with a specific airline, or you can get a more general travel rewards card that lets you use points with a number of airlines. The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card is a good card for people who are just starting out. You can get up to 60,000 bonus points if you spend $4,000 within the first three months of opening your account. This is worth $750 through Chase Ultimate Rewards, which is more than enough for a flight to another country. It’s the best all-around travel credit card because it covers trip cancellation, car rental collision damage, lost luggage, and there are no fees for transactions made in a foreign country. You can compare this credit card to other good ones.

Tickets on budget airlines are much cheaper than tickets on full-service airlines. It should be clear, but there are trade-offs, like less leg room and no “free” food or drinks on board (which by the way, is normally covered in your higher-priced ticket with full-service airlines).

If you’re thinking about flying budget, which we think is a great way to save money, you should read our guide on 7 things you need to know about budget airlines.

Here is a full list of all the low-cost airlines around the world. Red shows budget airlines, and blue shows the cheapest companies where budget airlines don’t exist or aren’t common.

But First… A NOTE ON BOOKING BUDGET AIRLINES. Read the fine print every time and do the following:

Find out where the airport is (some budget airlines fly to airports further out of town).

Make sure you’ve booked your luggage allowance and paid for it. Follow the limits on weight, height, and number of bags. If you’re over, some airlines, like Ryanair, will charge you a lot of money. Remember that budget airlines can keep their prices lower than traditional airlines because you only pay for the space and weight you need.

Read the details. The best example is that Ryanair WILL CHARGE AN AIRPORT CHECK-IN FEE OF €/£55 IF YOU DON’T CHECK-IN ONLINE IN ADVANCE, PRINT YOUR BOARDING PASS, OR USE THEIR MOBILE BOARDING PASS. In the first sentence of your e-confirmation, this fee is made clear with all capital letters. In short, always read and do what the instructions say.

Remember, if you want to book the cheapest flight possible (not the service-of-the-year winner), you need to be flexible, do your research, and know the requirements and restrictions of the budget airline.