"Never pay retail" is my mantra and I reckon I'm able to stick to it more often than not, which might be something to do with my Scottish surname.

I'm a sucker for buying gifts throughout the year from foreign countries that sell unique (read cheap) jewellery and tidbits that will impress my friends and family. I can even manage to put them away for birthdays or Christmas for the big reveal on the appropriate day.

But sale season freaks me out. I hate the jumble and clutter of picked-over sales racks, lonely shoes lying on the floor separated from their mate, cardies hanging by one shoulder on a dangling coat hanger while a pile of them lie on the floor and people wander aimlessly without seeing and quite frankly, standing in my way!

All the coupon-clippers and discount doyens of this world know it takes an eagle eye for a bargain and the ability to act quickly when you find it to make the best possible purchase.

[IMG1 R] But if, like me, you hate crowds, here's a book of discounts that can be emailed to your desktop for you to print out and use in 10 of America's major cities as well as one in Canada.

I discovered Citypass a few years back when visiting New York. They are booklets of vouchers that cost about half of what it would should you rock up to each museum, gallery or attraction and pay full price.

For example, New York's Citypass has 6 discount coupons in it: Empire State Building, American Museum of Natural History, Guggenheim, Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Cloisters, and either a Circle Line sightseeing cruise or a Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island cruise.

If you paid retail for all of these you'd part with $140 US dollars, but this little booklet is yours for US $79 (and cheaper for kids).

So if you're off to America and want to see everything without paying retail in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Hollywood, Houston, Philadelphia, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Southern California or Toronto, click here to jump through to Citypass to buy it online so you don't even have to queue because you'll also get VIP status to whiz past the ticket line.

For more of Megan Singleton's travel blogs, tips and reviews, jump to www.bloggeratlarge.com