The way you move through an airport has changed in the past decade. Everything from the boarding pass you carry to the security line you navigate has been transformed by world events, market forces and travel patterns.

It's time to examine the top 10 budget travel developments of the decade. You might not like my list. I tried to cover both positive and negative developments. To be sure, there were other events that didn't make my top 10 but perhaps should have been included. Leave a comment and post your opinions. Click on the links and read more about how you can plan for these realities of travel and perhaps save money in the process.

The college football bowl schedule is complete and official. Texas and Alabama will play for the national championship in Pasadena. But there are other great matchups, too. Follow your favorite team (or adopt one) to combine the pageantry of college football with a nice holiday getaway. Host cities are all too happy to welcome visitors, and sometimes extend deals. But you must start your budget trip planning right away.

Take a look at the top 15 college bowl games with links for finding game tickets; airfare and hotel searches; and some money-saving tips for each host city.

_{Logo courtesy BCS National Championship Game}

Here's the latest list of 10 travel deals. Many of these links lead to offers with a very limited shelf life, so if you're interested, act quickly. But don't act so quickly that you miss the fine print. For deals that aren't quite so fleeting, check out Winter deals. This week's deals include discounted hotel rooms in the Pacific Northwest, cheap airfares to London and half-off stays at a popular Mexican resort.

Somewhere along the way, the term "Black Friday" came into common usage to refer to the kickoff of the holiday shopping season on the Friday after the U.S. Thanksgiving. Soon thereafter, the term "Cyber Monday" was born. It refers to that following Monday as a time when people begin ordering online gifts. I've not found much evidence to support that Cyber Monday is the most active online shopping day of the year, and I'm more apt to believe it's the product of some aggressive marketing propaganda.

But no one can deny that online shopping is increasingly popular and now widely accepted. There are some valid reasons to be cautious with your credit card number and those fine-print terms of sale, but clicking through a few screens has distinct advantages over driving to a crowded mall or market, finding a parking space and fighting the crowds to find gifts.

Perhaps it's fairly obvious at this point that I'm not much of a shopper. Although I wouldn't buy just anything online, there are many items for which I'd gladly substitute cyberspace for the concrete marketplace. I find it often makes sense for budget travelers to shop for travel gifts online because in some cases, you can't buy these things off of a shelf anyway!