Next, make a list of the phone numbers and Web addresses for your travel agent, airline, hotel, rental car company, and any other travel related contacts.

FORBES: Travel Tips for Hurricane Irene and Other Weather Disasters

Call your travel agent or the airline, hotel or rental car company.

FORBES: Travel Tips for Hurricane Irene and Other Weather Disasters

These are important to have, as cancellation and change decisions are made by the airline, hotel, and rental car company, Mr. Ek said, so the travel agent is going to abide by the instructions received from those companies.

FORBES: Travel Tips for Hurricane Irene and Other Weather Disasters

In the end, I used a combination of the airline representatives from United and US Airways and my travel agent, I spent one extra day, with the night on the plane, and ate the rental car fee for one day.

FORBES: Hurricane Sandy's Lesson to Travelers: Use A Travel Agent