Travel and Travel Expenses - Any tips / suggestions / advice?

I'm finally on my own, per se (through staffing firm), and this is 
the first time I've had to deal with covering my own travel expenses 
for work.  Normally I would just stay somewhere and submit expense 
reports and get reimbursed from my employer.  Now I'm the 
employer. 

A couple of things I would like to discuss or get feedback on.

The first is getting money from the client to cover travel 
expenses.  What's typical to get this or negotiate for it?  
Initially I started out by trying to negotiate for something similar 
to what I was use to with a full time employer.  I soon found out 
that it doesn't always work that way when dealing staffing and 
consulting firms.  I was advised from a independent veteran that 
should increase my hourly rate by $20.  That gives me $800/week to 
cover airfare/hotel/car/food.  Good, bad, or something else?

Second how do guys normally handle scheduling their travel?  Are 
there any travel agents/sites/etc..that are used more than others or 
any good tips or tricks on getting the best deals?  I've been using 
Kayak.com to track down cheap airfare and was told to call a few 
different hotels and ask to speak to the "Business Services Manager" 
and let them know that you'll be staying with them for an extended 
period of time.  That ended up working well for me.  I got an room 
at an extended stay place for $16/night less than any published 
price I had seen.  That's a savings of $112/week.  Some didn't seem 
to care much but I called about 5 different places just to see what 
would happen.  I've also contemplated just trying to find a cheap 
place on Craigslist.com that's a sublease or something like that.  
Again, any ideas or things to discuss?