When times were better, I used to tell American tourists to use London as the base for their international vacations. The UK's diverse society supports a wealth of steady traffic to points all over the globe, and that steady traffic means that there are usually seats going cheap. Particularly for Commonwealth or post-Empire countries, it was often cheaper for an American to fly from New York and catch the cheap charter flight from London than it was to fly directly from their own city.

These days, that's changed. So how can you benefit?

Tickets are getting cheaper in the US. Flights to places such as Australia have multiplied, and the fares to the US have plummeted. Those Americans with any money left don't find it so hard to get good deals to the major destinations any more (save some holdouts such as India or South Africa). I still tell Americans to go via London if they want a summery holiday somewhere preferred by Europeans - say, a rental in Spain or at a Red Sea resort - but the days of reliably catching a charter flight at Gatwick are ending.

The tables have turned. Now I tell the British to book their holidays via America if you're going to North America, South America, or the Caribbean.

There's a distinct advantage to buying from an American source and not a British one: price. You may not want to believe it after coming off a $2-to-£1 high, but the British pound is still perceived as stronger as the American dollar, and so if you pay in pounds you may not always get the best price. Why, there's even an entire Orlando theme park, SeaWorld's Discovery Cove, that more or less exists to take advantage of foreign visitors and their strong currencies; it's priced over $150 a day, which is much more than most Americans can afford. (If you go, the only American voices you'll hear belong to the staff.)

Cruises are especially cheap these days for Americans. Rather incurring the expense of flying to a Caribbean island and then booking a hotel - an expensive route - you could take the more affordable course of flying somewhere such as Miami and getting on a ship there. Considering prices these days are as skimpy as $849 (£575) for two weeks aboard the Celebrity Infinity this October that - bonus! - goes through the Panama Canal. Savings like that are certainly worth the price of the transatlantic fare.

All you need to do is keep your eye on a few websites that Americans use to catch wind of excellent travel deals. Among the sites I regularly use (ones covering lots of deals and not just dissecting every twitch of the airline industry) are the blog of travel writer Arthur Frommer, the one for the Travel section at the New York Post, SmarterTravel.com, BookingBuddy.com, and two terrific RSS feeds, the Deals feed at Kayak.com and the PriceBreakers (which can be bought off-the-shelf and don't require bidding) of Priceline.com. There are more, but that's a good start. Just remember: If it's a good deal to them, it's probably going to be a sublime deal for you, especially if it's not for a place that is well covered by the British holiday companies.

Jason Cochran is a writer on culture and affordable travel for our US-based sister site