Front end noise... wheel bearings? HELP!

Hello,

My car is a 2004 Saturn Ion.

A few months ago I had my tires rotated and my brake pads replaced. After doing so I noticed a loud noise coming from the front end. It sounds like a "whummmmmm" that gets louder as the car moves faster. The noise is not effected by whether or not I am braking but it does get louder when I turn. It does not sound at all like it's coming from under the hood as much as from the wheels.

After returning to the shop immediately upon noticing the noise, they said it was likely flat spots. Sure enough my rear shocks were blown which did cause flat spots on my tires that when rotated up front could have likely made the noise more noticeable. They and I checked the brakes and that did not seem to be the source of the noise. Also, my gas mileage and ability to coast were not effected so I don't think it is brake-related.

I just bought four new tires (mine were quite worn anyway) and got an alignment as well as replaced the shocks.

My car handles better but the noise persists. In fact it seems to be even more accentuated (or at least more noticeable) when I corner and occasionally a slight vibration occurs at speeds at or above about 45mph.

Is this the wheel bearings or perhaps something else?

I'm leaving in 2 weeks for a trip from GA to NY and back and want to know if my car can make the trip without being unsafe or the problem getting worse. I don't have much money at all to fix any more issues and I've already spent enough that I want to make sure anything else I fix/replace definitely fixes this noise/vibration issue.

Please help!

Thank you,
Jesse