I'm finally on my own, per se (through staffing firm), and this is
the first time I've had to deal with covering my own travel expenses
for work. Normally I would just stay somewhere and submit expense
reports and get reimbursed from my employer. Now I'm the
employer. :-)

A couple of things I would like to discuss or get feedback on.

The first is getting money from the client to cover travel
expenses. What's typical to get this or negotiate for it?
Initially I started out by trying to negotiate for something similar
to what I was use to with a full time employer. I soon found out
that it doesn't always work that way when dealing staffing and
consulting firms. I was advised from a independent veteran that
should increase my hourly rate by $20. That gives me $800/week to
cover airfare/hotel/car/food. Good, bad, or something else?

Second how do guys normally handle scheduling their travel? Are
there any travel agents/sites/etc..that are used more than others or
any good tips or tricks on getting the best deals? I've been using
Kayak.com to track down cheap airfare and was told to call a few
different hotels and ask to speak to the "Business Services Manager"
and let them know that you'll be staying with them for an extended
period of time. That ended up working well for me. I got an room
at an extended stay place for $16/night less than any published
price I had seen. That's a savings of $112/week. Some didn't seem
to care much but I called about 5 different places just to see what
would happen. I've also contemplated just trying to find a cheap
place on Craigslist.com that's a sublease or something like that.
Again, any ideas or things to discuss?

Thanks all and I hope this brings in some others to discuss.
Erik