Headed to Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport but don’t want to pay exorbitant parking fees? I found this service online the evening before flying out of Atlanta for vacation.

My husband and I were heading out on a much-needed vacation to the Southwest. But aside from needing some relaxation, we also needed a budget-friendly trip. Armed with tents and sleeping bags for camping in the Utah desert, we still faced the conundrum of every thrifty traveler - how to park cheaply at the airport.

Luckily, the website I found offered $4.75 a day parking – fully half as much as everything else I could find online or on the phone. The service was easy to use. Simply print your receipt after paying securely online via credit card and drive to the indicated parking lot, which in our case, was the airport Embassy Suites(where parking was listed as $8 per day.)

The hotel runs airport shuttles every half hour, which suited our schedule well. We were a bit nervous to test the system with an early flight, yet we headed to the hotel indicated on our receipt.

We quickly gave our proof of payment to the parking attendant, parked the car behind a security gate in a well-lit, front area, and grabbed the hotel shuttle to the airport, making it through airport security with time to spare for an 8:00 AM flight.

Upon our return over a week later, reuniting with our car was nearly as easy. Since we arrived home on a Monday night, many business travelers were flooding the area of "Ground Transportation" where hotel shuttles pick up customers. Still, we were efficiently taken back to the hotel, where we found our car just as we had left it.

My fears of using an unknown, online parking service quickly disappeared and I would recommend this parking alternative for any thrifty traveler looking for inexpensive parking at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport.

The same parking service is also offered in Nashville, Dallas, Orlando, Miami, and several other US destinations. Safe travels!

www.airportparkinginc.com