There are many travel resources and companies out there that will offer to plan your trip or help you to narrow down accommodation options, flights, transport and other travel details. Some are great, and others are not.
I want more people to have a confident, streamlined travel experience. Therefore, in one place, I’ve put together a list of trip planning resources that I personally return to time and time again, and that I would recommend to everyone, whether they’re my friends, family, readers, or new or experienced travellers I meet on the road.
Please note that this page includes some affiliate links. If you find my advice helpful and choose to book through one of my affiliate links, I may receive a small commission. With this support, I can continue to provide free and valuable information that helps more people to get out of their comfort zone.
Booking Accommodation
Booking.com: Booking.com is my favourite way to book hotels, hostels, homestays and other types of accommodation. The platform and app are intuitive, making it easy to navigate, filter your search, and compare accommodation.
Their Genius program means that you also get discounts on accommodation the more you book through them; I’ve had discounts of over several hundred pounds at times.
Hostelworld: Hostelworld is the original hostel booking website. Therefore, it usually has the most complete list of hostels for most destinations.
It’s one of the best ways to find hostels with a large number of reviews, which is imperative to finding a good-quality, sociable hostel. They also list private rooms in hostels.
Homestay: Homestay is a website dedicated to homestays only. Their hosts offer long- or short-term stays for individuals.
By booking through their site, you can stay at an authentic homestay run by locals, providing you with a more immersive travel experience and an insight into everyday life in your destination.
Agoda: Agoda is another site I return to to book hotels. I particularly like Agoda for comparing prices with Booking.com, or for looking for private apartments and houses.
The main difference between Agoda and Booking.com is that Agoda has a smaller inventory of hotels because it is a newer website.
TrustedHousesitters: TrustedHousesitters has saved me thousands of pounds on accommodation in expensive countries like Australia and allows me to travel the world for free.
After paying a yearly fee, you get access to housesitting and petsitting opportunities around the world, where you look after someone’s house (and possibly pets) in exchange for free accommodation. Don’t be put off by the yearly fee; by housesitting once, I spent less than I would have on a dorm room in a hostel in Cairns, Australia.
Travel Insurance
Staysure: I use Staysure to book single or multiple trips per year. They provide affordable but comprehensive travel insurance, which covers your belongings, trip delays and cancellations, Covid-19 cover, and medical expenses for accidents or emergencies. They also cover a large range of pre-existing medical conditions.
SafetyWing: SafetyWing is one of the best travel insurance choices for digital nomads or remote workers, designed by those who also work and travel remotely.
Booking Flights
Skyscanner: Skyscanner is my go-to site to search for flights because it instantly generates a list of the cheapest flight deals for your destination.
Google Flights: I also like Google Flights. Although basic, it has a map tool which displays the cheapest routes. It’s great if you’re flexible upon your destination or putting together a multiple-country itinerary. You can also set alerts for cheap deals.
Booking Tours and Experiences
GetYourGuide: When it comes to finding local-led tours and unusual experiences, GetYourGuide is excellent. The intuitive site allows you to search based upon your destination or book and plan experiences before your trip. Reading the reviews of experience will help you to decide upon the best experiences.
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