Booking on foreign sites/travel agents also works for hotels, I was able yo get two cheap fares from Paris to Madrid on a Columbian airliner as well as two low priced/centrally located rooms in Madrid by using a Spanish booking company.
This was much lower than any US site.
Very often I booked hotels online while standing in their lobby. It’s much cheaper.
I’ve flown those cheap local airlines. I draw the limit when they have duct tape on the broken window.
I used to fly Ryan Air quite a bit. The discount flights were cheaper than a taxi ride. I remember flying Dublin to Berlin for 10 Euro. You felt like cattle as they herded you across the tarmac and up a set of steps into the plane. No assigned seats, just pile in.
Prior to the internet, the town welcome station was the booking agent for rooms at B&B’s all across Europe. They would have pictures of the home and room. They would use a landline to the home to arrange the room for you.
I enjoyed staying with and meeting the locals when I traveled. Made for some strange and unusual experiences.